Centroamericano

H1 - or to give it it’s full name, Centroamericano H1 - is a Catimor. Actually, to be precise, it’s a Sarchimor. The Catimors and Sarchimors is a huge group of coffee varietals created from crossing Arabica varietals with Timor Hybrid - a naturally occurring hybrid of Arabica and Robusta (discovered, you guessed it, in Timor, nearly 100 years ago).

The Timor gives this group it’s “imor” suffix, with the start of the name coming from the plant it was crossed with. In the case of Centroamericano H1 it’s Villa Sarchi (hence Sarchimor), but world wide this group of varietals with a little bit of robusta parentage have become popularly known as Catimors (Timor x Caturra).

Centroamericano H1 is a particularly popular varietal from this group and it’s one we’ve seen often grown as a small part of speciality coffee farms in El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica. The parents of Centroamericano H1 are T5296 (Timor x Villa Sarchi) and Rume Sudan (an Ethiopian varietal). There are some obvious reasons H1 has become popular - the plant is quick growing, resistant to leaf rust (a major problem, particularly in El Salvador) and high yielding. These are characteristics of it’s robusta heritage, but unfortunately it sometimes struggles to deliver a delicious flavour. This is why it’s often only a small part of speciality farms, where it’s an experiment and a backup in case the rest of the crop has a problem. However, we’re big believers in “the right coffee for the right place” and here that holds true. The Centroamericano H1 grown at Argentina just seems to work perfectly there and produces coffee whose quality is on a par with the Bourbon from the farm.

Find out even more: World Coffee Research Arabica Coffee Varieties | Centroamericano