Colombia

The Colombia variety was developed by Cenicafe, Colombia's national coffee research centre, which began working with Timor Hybrid material in the early 1960s and by the late 1960s was crossing it with Caturra to build resistant lines. After five generations of breeding and selection, the resulting Colombia cultivar was released commercially in 1982. It combines Caturra's compact stature and high productivity with the Timor Hybrid's resistance to coffee leaf rust, and its promotion became central to the Colombian coffee sector's response when rust reached the country's coffee zones in 1983. Colombia variety paved the way for later, further refined releases such as Castillo, and remains grown alongside them today.