Understanding varietals, the next chapter of Australian coffee

WHEN PEOPLE THINK ABOUT WHAT SHAPES A CUP OF COFFEE, THEY USUALLY THINK ABOUT HOW IT’S ROASTED OR BREWED. BUT BEFORE ANY OF THAT, THERE'S THE TREE, THE PLANT ITSELF. ITS VARIETY, OR VARIETAL, PLAYS A QUIET BUT POWERFUL ROLE IN WHAT ENDS UP IN YOUR CUP.

AT JACK MURAT, THIS STORY STARTS WITH A SINGLE VARIETAL AND GROWS INTO SOMETHING MUCH BIGGER, A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT BELONGS HERE IN MAREEBA NORTH QUEENSLAND AND WHAT MIGHT COME NEXT FOR AUSTRALIAN COFFEE.

WHAT IS A COFFEE VARIETAL, REALLY

COFFEE COMES FROM A GENUS OF FLOWERING PLANTS CALLED COFFEA, ORIGINATED IN THE FORESTS OF ETHIOPIA BETWEEN 610,000 AND ONE MILLION YEARS AGO. WITHIN THAT, COFFEA ARABICA IS THE SPECIES RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE WORLD’S SPECIALTY COFFEE. BUT ARABICA ISN’T JUST ONE PLANT, IT’S A VAST FAMILY OF SUB-TYPES OR VARIETALS, EACH WITH ITS OWN TRAITS.

SOME VARIETALS ARE PRIZED FOR BRIGHT ACIDITY. OTHERS BRING CHOCOLATEY DEPTH OR FLORALS. BUT FLAVOUR IS JUST PART OF THE PICTURE. FARMERS ALSO CONSIDER

• YIELD POTENTIAL
• RESISTANCE TO DISEASE
• HOW TREES GROW AND ARE HARVESTED
• CLIMATE ADAPTABILITY
• AND PROCESSING

IN OTHER WORDS, VARIETALS AREN’T ABOUT LABELS. THEY’RE ABOUT MAKING THE RIGHT MATCH BETWEEN LAND, TREE, PROCESSING AND CUP.

A YOUNG INDUSTRY STILL FINDING ITS FIT

IN GLOBAL TERMS, AUSTRALIA’S COFFEE INDUSTRY IS YOUNG. IT BEGAN TO RE-EMERGE IN THE 1980S, ALTHOUGH THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN COFFEE PLANTATION WAS ESTABLISHED AT KANGAROO POINT IN BRISBANE IN 1832. EARLY PLANTINGS WERE BASED ON WHAT WAS AVAILABLE, NOT NECESSARILY WHAT WAS IDEAL.

OVER TIME, RESEARCHERS AND GROWERS BEGAN ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS, WHAT GROWS WELL HERE, WHAT TASTES GREAT, WHAT CAN STAND UP TO OUR SOILS OUR SEASONS AND OUR CHALLENGES.

TODAY, THANKS TO WORK BY ORGANISATIONS LIKE WORLD COFFEE RESEARCH ALONGSIDE CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY AND OTHER PARTNERS, AUSTRALIA IS BUILDING ITS OWN VARIETAL KNOWLEDGE, BLOCK BY BLOCK, TRIAL BY TRIAL.

OUR BEGINNING, CATUAI ROJO

WHEN WE STARTED PLANTING AT JACK MURAT, THE CHOICE WAS SIMPLE BECAUSE THE OPTIONS WERE LIMITED. WE PLANTED CATUAI ROJO, A VARIETAL ORIGINALLY SOURCED FROM COSTA RICA AND DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES.

AT THE TIME, IT WASN’T A STRATEGIC SELECTION, IT WAS ABOUT GETTING TREES IN THE GROUND. BUT AS IT TURNS OUT, CATUAI ROJO WAS A STRONG CHOICE. CATUAI COMES FROM TWO LINES OF HERITAGE, TYPICA CROSSED WITH BOURBON PRODUCES MUNDO NOVO, WHICH WAS THEN CROSSED WITH CATURRA TO PRODUCE CATUAI. IT’S A COMPACT, PRODUCTIVE VARIETY, WELL SUITED TO MAREEBA’S GROWING CONDITIONS.

AND IT DOESN’T JUST PERFORM IN THE FIELD, IT SHINES IN THE CUP. MORE THAN THE VARIETY, THE PROCESSING CAN IMPROVE THE QUALITY. IN OUR CASE, CATUAI BEHAVES VERY WELL AS A NATURAL PROCESS. IT IS A VARIETY THAT, IN GENERAL TERMS, IS SWEET WITH GOOD BODY - CHARACTERISTICS THAT WE HAVE MANAGED TO ENHANCE THIS YEAR.

OVER TIME, WE’VE SEEN IT RESPOND BEAUTIFULLY ACROSS MULTIPLE PROCESSING METHODS, INCLUDING WASHED AND HONEY. IT PRODUCES COFFEES WITH BODY, CLARITY AND SWEETNESS. IT’S NOT JUST WORKING, IT’S PERFORMING AT A PREMIUM LEVEL.

LOOKING FORWARD, A MORE LOCALISED APPROACH

EVEN SO, WE BELIEVE IN BETTER UNDERSTANDING. AUSTRALIA'S GROWING REGIONS DIFFER WILDLY, EVEN BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS. OUR FARM IN MAREEBA EXPERIENCES VERY DIFFERENT CONDITIONS TO SAY CRATER MOUNTAIN, DESPITE BOTH BEING IN NORTH QUEENSLAND.

THAT’S WHY BROADER RESEARCH TRIALS ARE HELPFUL, BUT NOT ENOUGH. WE’RE COMMITTED TO BUILDING DATA SPECIFIC TO OUR FARM, BECAUSE PLANTING A NEW PADDOCK IS NO SMALL INVESTMENT AND GETTING IT RIGHT MATTERS.

NATIONAL AND ON FARM TRIALS

WE’RE DRAWING ON THE WORK OF WORLD COFFEE RESEARCH WHO ALONGSIDE ARGI-FUTURES AND SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY HAVE LED VARIETAL TRIALS ACROSS AUSTRALIAN REGIONS INCLUDING NORTHERN RIVERS AND FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND. THEIR EARLY FINDINGS OFFER A MAP, VARIETALS LIKE SL34, BOURBON TYPES AND ETHIOPIAN LANDRACES SHOW STRONG CUP POTENTIAL. BUT YIELD, DISEASE RESISTANCE AND FARM PRACTICALITY ALSO NEED TO ALIGN.

TAILORING TO OUR FARM, THE GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP

THAT’S WHY WE’VE TAKEN THE NEXT STEP. THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP WITH GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY AND PLANT BREEDER DR FAWAD, WE’RE CURRENTLY TESTING A SHORTLIST OF PROMISING HYBRID VARIETALS RIGHT HERE ON OUR LAND. EACH TREE EACH PLOT IS OBSERVED FOR CUP QUALITY, STRUCTURE, YIELD AND ADAPTABILITY TO MAREEBA’S SOIL AND CLIMATE. THIS ISN’T THEORY, IT’S LIVING BREATHING RESEARCH ROOTED IN OUR GROUND AND IT’S ALREADY DELIVERING INSIGHTS.

WHERE WE’RE HEADED

OUR GOAL IS SIMPLE, TO DEVELOP A PORTFOLIO OF VARIETALS AND PROCESSES THAT REFLECT THIS PLACE, FLAVOURFUL, RESILIENT AND UNIQUELY AUSTRALIAN.

WE’RE STILL PROUD TO LEAD WITH CATUAI ROJO. THE NEW PADDOCK’S SEEDS HAVE BEEN TAKEN 100 PERCENT FROM THE CURRENT PLANTATION, GIVING MORE ADAPTABILITY TO THE NEW PLANTING. IT CONTINUES TO ANCHOR OUR FARM AND WILL REMAIN AT THE CORE OF OUR NEXT PLANTING THIS OCTOBER. BECAUSE WHEN SOMETHING WORKS, YOU DON’T REPLACE IT, YOU BUILD FROM IT.

WANT TO TRY CATUAI ROJO FOR YOURSELF

YOU CAN TRY IT HERE