Specialty coffee techniques illustrate that expert farming and production practices can elevate a commodity to remarkable quality.

Catimor takes its name from its genetic parents: Caturra, that delicious-but-fragile Arabica variety; and Timor, a hardy and high-yield Arabica/Robusta hybrid discovered growing wild on the eponymous island in Maritime Southeast Asia. It was developed in 1959 by the Portuguese Coffee Institute for its Arabica flavor profile and higher disease and pest resistance, resilience to low altitudes, and an increased coffee yield during harvest.

Despite its reliable output as a partial Robusta hybrid, Catimor garnered a reputation in the specialty coffee world for its middling cup quality. Robusta contains a higher concentration of chlorogenic acid—a group of plant phenols—than Arabica, increasing its bitter profile in addition to its pest tolerance. The Robusta tradeoff sacrifices flavor for higher production capacity, which brings down Catimor’s typical cup quality.

In the 1990s, Nestlé brought Catimor to the infamous tea-growing region of China called Yunnan. Hardy and ideal for large-scale commodity production, it was mainly cultivated in Yunnan using vast monocrops without shade trees. The profit-chasing practices of commodity production amplified Catimor’s perceived poor quality: trees were grown without shade, cherries were harvested en masse, and lots were mixed with many other origins across Asia for factory processing. This remains the dominant method for most coffee production in China.

Today, however, as the thriving middle class raises new domestic demand for coffee consumption in China, the specialty trade becomes appealing to farmers seeking higher margins at sale. Coffee consumption at origin feeds local economies, makes education accessible, and creates opportunities to discuss the evaluation process. In recent years, producers in Yunnan have demonstrated that Catimor is capable of a stunning and unique profile at competitive quality.

Project One Light is one such producer. Founded in 2021 by Olina Cai and a team of Q Graders and processing experts, the processing station is focused on carefully managing the agricultural landscape and creating dynamic, meticulous processes to showcase terroir.

For instance, this Catimor lot was manually harvested, floated twice for defects, depulped, and subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis to partially break down the cherry mucilage. Then, a yeast inoculation was activated in a sucrose suspension, added to the coffee greens, and placed in two rounds of fermentation: the first, with agitation and limited oxygen exposure for 2-4 days; and the second, with sealed anaerobic conditions for stable microbial activity. The lot dried on raised beds for 15-20 days. This level of experimental processing could compete with some of the super-specialty lots coming from South and Central America.

From Nestlé to specialty coffee freaks like us, the Yunnan Catimor shows us that expert farming and processing can elevate a genetically-designed commodity coffee to remarkable quality—with ecologically sustainable agriculture. As it turns out, coffee tastes better when it’s grown with intention by those who love it.

Scenes from Project One Light’s Yunnan farm. Coffee cherries on the branch, Olina Cai harvesting cherries on the farm, a seedling, and a full grown coffee tree.