Esperanza

A first-generation (F1) hybrid originating from a cross between T5296, a rust-resistant descendant of the Timor Hybrid, and an Ethiopian landrace from the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) coffee collection (accession ET25), originally collected in Ethiopia by the ORSTOM/IRD collecting mission. The variety was created by a consortium including French research institute CIRAD, a regional network of national coffee institutes in Central America (PROMECAFE), and a coffee genebank in Costa Rica (CATIE). It was evaluated for many years during the 1990s and early 2000s alongside other F1 hybrids including Centroamericano and Milenio-but it was initially not selected for commercial release. However, some plants remained at the Aquiares farm in Turrialba, Costa Rica, where they performed well under conditions of high rainfall and high humidity. Local farmers began to request the variety, and it is now one of the most-demanded F1 hybrids in Costa Rica. F1 hybrid varieties are still relatively new in coffee agriculture; only a handful have become commercially available to farmers in the last 15 years, and only in select countries.