Villa Sarchi
A naturally occurring dwarf mutation of Bourbon identified in Costa Rica, grown particularly in the country's western valley and Tarrazú growing regions.
In short
Villa Sarchi is a compact arabica variety from Costa Rica, a natural mutation of Bourbon in which a single gene makes the plant grow smaller. It is also known as La Luisa or Villalobos Bourbon.
The World Coffee Research catalogue singles out two things about it: it is well adapted to the highest-altitude conditions, and it tolerates strong winds. Its other importance is to breeders, as one parent of the rust-resistant Sarchimor group.
A variety with a specific place
Sourced
Most variety descriptions are lists of general strengths and weaknesses. Villa Sarchi's catalogue entry is more specific: it is described as suited to the highest farms and able to stand wind. Both follow from being a short, sturdy plant, and both matter on exposed mountain slopes where a tall tree is battered.
The catalogue places it in the Bourbon-related part of the Bourbon and Typica group, gives the Instituto del Café de Costa Rica as the breeder, and notes that like Caturra and Pacas it arose from a Bourbon population through one dwarfing mutation.
On the farm, by the catalogue
Sourced
| Variable | Typical range | What moving it does |
|---|---|---|
| Stature | Dwarf, compact | |
| Lineage | Natural mutation of Bourbon | |
| Leaf tip colour | Green | |
| Bean size | Below average | |
| Yield potential | Medium | |
| Quality potential at high altitude | Good | |
| Optimal altitude | High | |
| Nutrition requirement | High | It needs feeding to perform. |
| Coffee leaf rust | Susceptible | |
| Coffee berry disease | Susceptible | |
| Nematodes | Susceptible | |
| First production | Year 3 | |
| Planting density | 5,000–6,000 plants per hectare |
As listed in the World Coffee Research catalogue.
Half of a Sarchimor
CoffeeHQ explanation
Villa Sarchi resists none of the major diseases, so it has been steadily replaced on farms. Its genes have travelled further than its trees. Breeders crossed it with the Timor Hybrid, the natural arabica and robusta cross that carries rust resistance, to produce the group of varieties known as Sarchimors, in the same way that crossing Caturra with the Timor Hybrid produced the Catimors.
The reasoning was the one behind most twentieth-century coffee breeding: take a compact, well-liked arabica and add resistance from outside the species. The compact parent supplied the stature and the cup; the hybrid supplied the resistance.
The one demanding entry in its own table is nutrition. A requirement rated high, at five to six thousand trees to the hectare, describes a planting that has to be fed to go on bearing. Of the three dwarf Bourbon mutations, Caturra is rated the same and Pacas a step lower. On thin mountain soil that is the difference between a variety that holds its yield and one that declines after a few heavy crops.
Told apart from its near-twins
Sourced
- Caturra — The same mutation found in Brazil. Both are compact, medium-yielding and rated good; it was Caturra that became the Central American standard.
- Pacas — The Salvadoran version, with average-sized beans and a medium nutrition requirement where Villa Sarchi's is high.
- Bourbon — The tall parent population, planted at a lower density of 3,000 to 4,000 trees per hectare.
In the cup
Tendency, not a guarantee
Villa Sarchi is generally described in the trade as bright and clean, in the manner of Costa Rican washed coffee. That description is as much about where and how it is grown and processed as about the variety, and the catalogue's own rating is simply good.
What to do next
- Coffee from Costa Rica — The country it comes from, and its micro-mills.
- Catimor — The parallel group bred from Caturra and the Timor Hybrid.
- Caturra — The best-known of the dwarf Bourbon mutations.
- Become a coffee expert — A structured programme from the plant and its processing to roasting, water and tasting.
Where Villa Sarchi is documented in the atlas
Only countries CoffeeHQ has written an entry for, and only where a document it has read names Villa Sarchi there. This is not a list of everywhere it is grown.
- Honduras. The catalogue says it was introduced to Honduras in 1974 by the coffee institute. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Costa Rica. Discovered in Costa Rica in the 1950s or 1960s, in the north-west of Alajuela province, and selected there; the catalogue says it is not widely grown outside the country. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
Parent varieties
Commonly grown in
Learn it as a course
The Coffee Expert lesson Species and varieties covers this ground in order, with exercises you can do at home.