Assessing the performance of international coffee cultivars in Australia

In 2021, AgriFutures Australia invested in a five-year project with Southern Cross University (SCU) to identify replacement coffee varieties for the Australian coffee industry. The currently dominant varieties, K7 and Catuai, are associated with production or biosecurity challenges that are negatively impacting the profitability and expansion of the industry.

To gain access to a diverse set of high-performance global varieties, SCU collaborated with World Coffee Research (WCR) and became a member of their International Multi- Location Variety Trials (IMLVT).

In 2019, 25 varieties were planted in Alstonville, Northern NSW, in three replicated blocks. In 2022 and 2023, 16 varieties under full production were assessed for agronomic performance, yield, quality and cupping performance (Table 1).

In 2022, a second trial was established in FN QLD, with a first harvest expected for 2025.

This booklet includes product profiles of the currently used and newly proposed varieties for the Australian coffee industry and some research data justifying the choice of the latter.