Hibrido de Timor

The Timor Hybrid, known in Portuguese as Hibrido de Timor, is a spontaneous cross between Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (Robusta) that occurred on the island of Timor, first documented in the first half of the 20th century. Unlike most arabica by robusta crosses, which are sterile, this hybrid is fertile, and it inherited several disease resistance genes from its robusta parent while retaining a cup quality much closer to arabica. Seed was collected and distributed by Portugal's coffee rust research centre (CIFC) to breeding programmes around the world, where it became the foundation for a large family of rust resistant varieties. Crossed with Caturra it produced the Catimor line, with Villa Sarchi the Sarchimor line, and with Mundo Novo and Catuai further resistant hybrids, making it one of the most consequential coffee discoveries of the century for disease management, even though it is rarely grown or sold on its own.