Sidra.

An Ecuadorian emergence now finding a distinct expression in Colombia.

Sought-after beans1 lot on offer ↓

Sidra emerged in Ecuador with a parentage the trade got wrong. Its appearance suggests familiar lines; the marker work points somewhere else entirely. Colombian producers have begun to make it their own.

The house buys it to order, and each Lot recordThe house's own account of a lot: ground, grower, process, harvest, score and who scored it. A record kept by the house, not an independent grading.More → names only what is known.

Correcting the record

Sidra is described almost everywhere as a cross between Red Bourbon and Typica. It is not. Christophe Montagnon, who has done most of the fingerprinting in this corner of the trade, puts Sidra alongside Pink Bourbon and Chiroso as having no relationship whatsoever to either Bourbon or Typica, placing it instead in a Core Ethiopia group: a landrace selected by farmers, an Ethiopian escapee of the same kind as Gesha.

Peer-reviewed work published in Frontiers in Plant Science in July 2026 read eleven microsatellite markers and reached the same placement, describing Sidra as a selected Ethiopian landrace rather than a variety of hybrid origin. The claim is recent enough that most sellers have not caught up. Cafe Imports, normally dependable, still carries the cross in its glossary.

Why the house buys it to order

The same study is candid about a problem. There is no fixed genetic or morphological reference for Sidra, which complicates authentication and limits exactly the traceability claims a specialty buyer wants to make. World Coffee ResearchThe research institute whose variety catalogue is the trade's reference for lineage, bean size and resistance. The house cites it where it has an entry, and says so where it does not.More → has separately suggested the name may cover several distinct varieties, and has no catalogue entry for it.

One number makes the point. Of three plants labelled Sidra in that study, one was not Sidra at all: it matched Batian, a Kenyan composite. The house does not hold Sidra on the shelf. It is bought against a confirmed sample, with the ground established before anything is offered, because the name alone cannot carry the weight.

Colombia's best green coffee beans, at auction · 2023

31 prize lots: NZ$44 to NZ$269 a kilo.

A dot for each lot of green coffee beans sold at Colombia's best-coffee auction in 2023, by its price in New Zealand dollars a kilo, beside the price of everyday Colombian green coffee beans imported into New Zealand that year.0$50$100$150$200$250$300Everyday green coffee beans, 2023: NZ$9.52 a kiloEveryday NZ$9.52Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, 87.78 points: NZ$44 a kiloBourbon, 87.89 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 87.22 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 88 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 87.28 points: NZ$48 a kiloColombia, Typica, 87.11 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 88 points: NZ$49 a kiloAjí, 87.61 points: NZ$51 a kiloBourbon, 87.44 points: NZ$51 a kiloGeisha, 87.56 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.06 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.5 points: NZ$55 a kiloChiroso, 89.39 points: NZ$62 a kiloCaturra, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloGeisha, 88.17 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra Chiroso, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra, 88.89 points: NZ$75 a kiloCaturra, Castillo, Colombia, 88.06 points: NZ$76 a kiloGeisha, 88.83 points: NZ$81 a kiloGeisha, 89.5 points: NZ$87 a kiloGeisha, 87.44 points: NZ$95 a kiloGeisha, 87.89 points: NZ$99 a kiloGeisha, 89.78 points: NZ$140 a kiloGeisha, 90.06 points: NZ$144 a kiloAjí, 89.56 points: NZ$151 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$253 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$269 a kiloA dot for each lot of green coffee beans sold at Colombia's best-coffee auction in 2023, by its price in New Zealand dollars a kilo, beside the price of everyday Colombian green coffee beans imported into New Zealand that year.0$100$200$300Everyday green coffee beans, 2023: NZ$9.52 a kiloEveryday NZ$9.52Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, 87.78 points: NZ$44 a kiloBourbon, 87.89 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 87.22 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 88 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 87.28 points: NZ$48 a kiloColombia, Typica, 87.11 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 88 points: NZ$49 a kiloAjí, 87.61 points: NZ$51 a kiloBourbon, 87.44 points: NZ$51 a kiloGeisha, 87.56 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.06 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.5 points: NZ$55 a kiloChiroso, 89.39 points: NZ$62 a kiloCaturra, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloGeisha, 88.17 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra Chiroso, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra, 88.89 points: NZ$75 a kiloCaturra, Castillo, Colombia, 88.06 points: NZ$76 a kiloGeisha, 88.83 points: NZ$81 a kiloGeisha, 89.5 points: NZ$87 a kiloGeisha, 87.44 points: NZ$95 a kiloGeisha, 87.89 points: NZ$99 a kiloGeisha, 89.78 points: NZ$140 a kiloGeisha, 90.06 points: NZ$144 a kiloAjí, 89.56 points: NZ$151 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$253 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$269 a kilo
Source: Cup of Excellence, Stats NZ · 2023

Prize lots: Cup of Excellence, Colombia's national competition, where the top-scoring green coffee beans are sold at an online auction. Winning bids in Colombia, before shipping, at each year's average exchange rate.

Everyday green coffee beans: the average value of green coffee beans imported into New Zealand from Colombia that year, with freight and insurance, before GST.