How Many Types of Bourbon Coffee Are There? Getting to Know Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, and Pink Bourbon (Orange Bourbon) Coffee Beans

Arabica is one of the three major original coffee species and also the highest quality variety, accounting for 70% of global consumption. After long-term development, the Arabica variety has produced numerous branches, with the most famous being Typica and Bourbon coffee bean varieties. These two varieties have excellently inherited Arabica's superior flavor characteristics, while also inheriting their delicate and disease-prone nature! Bourbon coffee bean varieties are named according to the color of the coffee fruit when ripe, such as red, yellow, orange, and pink Bourbon. FrontStreet Coffee's house beans include a typical red Bourbon coffee bean from Brazil's Cerrado region, characterized by notes of cocoa and brown sugar.

The Origins and Characteristics of Bourbon

Bourbon coffee is also a natural variety originating from Yemen. Its name comes from its original planting location, Bourbon Island, which is now known as Réunion Island. The story behind Bourbon coffee: during the French colonial period, the French often exported this coffee overseas, especially to the United States. Bourbon coffee fruits are small, round, with high density in both pulp and seeds. Bourbon coffee typically has high sweetness and bright acidity. This coffee's yield is 20-30% higher than Typica but is still considered a low-yield variety, and it's equally susceptible to leaf rust disease. Most Bourbon coffee fruits are red, but two natural varieties display different colors: Orange Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. Orange Bourbon has sweeter flavors, while Yellow Bourbon has higher acidity.

Historical Background and Spread

Bourbon, like Typica, is an old variety belonging to the Arabica coffee species. Bourbon was initially cultivated in Réunion, which was called Bourbon Island (le Bourbon) before 1789, hence the coffee variety was named "Bourbon." As old coffee varieties, unlike Typica, Bourbon leaves are broader and grow more densely, with higher coffee yields than Typica.

Early (pre-coffee history)变种 from Typica after being transplanted to Yemen, changing from slender-pointed to round-shaped beans. In 1715, the French transplanted Yemen's round Mocha beans to Bourbon Island on the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion Island after the French Revolution), which is how Bourbon got its name. Bourbon round beans traveled to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727, and in 1732, the British transplanted Yemen Mocha to St. Helena Island (where Napoleon was later imprisoned) - also Bourbon round beans. Simply put, Bourbon is a coffee tree variety belonging to a branch of Arabica species, typically bearing red fruits called Red Bourbon, in addition to Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon has relatively lower yields but better quality.

Bourbon, a sub-variety from Typica mutation, is one of the oldest existing coffee varieties alongside Typica. Green fruits turn bright red when ripe. Compared to Typica, Bourbon leaves are broader and grow more densely. Although the yield is higher than Typica, the harvest period is still 2 years, making it a low-yield variety with excellent quality - similar to red wine's acidity and sweet aftertaste. Coffee beans are large in size, uniform in shape, with even color and luster. For harvesting convenience, farmers prune coffee trees to not exceed 150cm.

Spread Routes

Due to the low yield and disease susceptibility of Typica introduced to Brazil in 1727, Bourbon was introduced to Brazil around 1860 through Campinas in the south and rapidly expanded northward to other regions of South and Central America. Today in Latin America, although most Bourbon has been replaced by its varieties (especially Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo), Bourbon is still cultivated in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Peru.

French Missionary Bourbon

In Africa, French missionaries known as Spiritans (from the Holy Spirit Congregation) played an important role in spreading Bourbon. In 1841, the first mission was established in Réunion, and a branch was established in Zanzibar in 1859; from Zanzibar, branches were established in 1862 in Bagamoyo (Tanzania coast, then called Tanganyika) and St. Augustine (Kikuyu, Kenya), and another branch was established in Bura (Taita Hills, Kenya) in 1893. Each branch's establishment was accompanied by planting coffee seeds brought from Réunion.

In 1899, seedlings cultivated in Bura were taken to another French mission in Santa Cruz (near Nairobi), introduced to Tanzania's Kilimanjaro region in 1900, and seeds were distributed to local residents willing to grow coffee - this is the origin of "Missionary Bourbon." Then Kent variety was also introduced in 1920. Therefore, Tanzanian coffee to this day is still primarily Bourbon and Kent.

Red Bourbon

Red Bourbon generally refers to coffee trees where the color change of coffee fruits after flowering follows: green → light yellow → light orange → mature red → darker red when overripe, hence some call it "Red Bourbon variety." In fact, Red Bourbon is what we generally call Bourbon variety. Bourbon grown at high altitudes typically has better aroma, brighter acidity, and even wine-like flavors when tasted.

Brazil Red Fruits

Some estates in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil grow ancient Bourbon coffee. The Cerrado plateau in western Minas and southern Minas have elevations mostly above 1100 meters, rich topography, distinct wet and dry seasons, large day-night temperature differences, and abundant microclimates, suitable for cultivating elegant Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, naturally becoming Brazil's main specialty coffee producing region.

Yellow Bourbon

Yellow Bourbon is a hybrid of Bourbon with other varieties. Due to its lower yield and less resistance to wind and rain, it hasn't been widely cultivated. However, when grown at high altitudes, it shows excellent flavor performance and has become more common in recent years.

Yellow Bourbon, with yellow fruits when ripe, was first discovered in Brazil and currently grows mainly in Brazil. It's generally believed to have mutated from hybridization between red-fruited Bourbon and a yellow-fruited Typica variety called "Amerelo de Botocatu."

Brazil Queen's Estate

From Fazenda Rainha (Queen's Estate), covering 280 acres, located in an ancient volcanic valley Vale da Grama in Brazil. Queen's Estate belongs to the renowned and respected coffee family Carvalho Dias family. The four major estates under Carvalho Dias have won awards every year since the first Brazil COE competition in 1999, winning more than 12 times in 7 years, even sweeping first place, 9th place, and 11th place in 2004, among many large and small estates in Brazil.

Pink Bourbon

Pink Bourbon, as the name suggests, has romantic pink coffee cherries when ripe. It belongs to a very rare new variety, cultivated by hybridizing Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The reason Pink Bourbon is considered rare is mainly because maintaining this beautiful pink color is extremely difficult - sometimes orange Bourbons are harvested because the final color of coffee fruits is determined by recessive genes in pollen grains. Among the pollen grains we select for hybridization, there are both yellow genes tending toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes tending toward Red Bourbon, all of which are recessive genes and easily interfere with each other.

Colombian Huila Isabel

Bourbon Pointu

Bourbon Pointu: Discovered in Bourbon Island in 1810, beans changed from round to pointed shape, with only half the caffeine content; but rare and delicate, extremely precious (mostly cultivated in laboratories).

Bourbon Pointu also has two other names, Laurina and Leroy, but neither is as famous as Bourbon Pointu. It's called Pointu Bourbon because the beans are slender and pointed at both ends, while the original Bourbon (some call it Round Bourbon) has shorter beans with slightly oval contours.

Due to its good flavor and low caffeine content (less impact on sleep), Pointu Bourbon was popular worldwide as early as the 18th century, with many celebrities like French King Louis XV and novelist Balzac being its "fans." During the 200 years from the 18th to 19th centuries, Pointu Bourbon was widely cultivated on Bourbon Island, reaching a peak of 4,000 metric tons annually in 1800. However, a series of disasters followed - hurricanes, fire ants, leaf rust disease - leading to gradual reduction in cultivation. Finally, in 1942, the last batch of Pointu Bourbon shipped back to France was only a pitiful 200 kilograms. Since then, Pointu Bourbon disappeared without a trace, not even mentioned in official documents. After the 1950s, no one grew coffee on Réunion Island, and the island's agriculture completely shifted to other crops like sugarcane. Coffee was no longer connected to Réunion Island, and Pointu Bourbon was declared "extinct" by the coffee world.

Since this bean disappeared for half a century until reappearing 8 years ago, Pointu Bourbon from its original location La Reunion Island sells for over 500 yuan per 100 grams in the international market. Only then did Colombia start cultivating this bean, and only Camilo Merizalde, source of beans for multiple WBC champions, dared to take on transplanting this bean. Therefore, this coffee bean, with global annual production of only a few tons, commands a high price.

Laurina Pointu Bourbon Coffee

Pacas

Pacas is a natural mutation of Bourbon, similar to Brazil's Caturra and Costa Rica's Villa Sarchi. Like other widely cultivated Bourbon mutations, Pacas is a new variety formed by single-gene mutation, which gives Pacas a crucial characteristic: plants can be planted more densely, ultimately resulting in higher yield per unit area.

Pacas was first discovered in 1949 by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador. Fernando Alberto Pacas Figuero found some plants with different morphology on their family's Finca San Rafael estate, and he began collecting seeds and selective breeding, later developing about 3/4 hectare of Pacas "pioneer nursery." The discoverer of Pacas was Fernando Alberto Pacas Figuero.

By 1956, Francisco de Sola and Fernando's son - Fernando Alberto Pacas Trujillo - began researching the Pacas variety with help from Florida professor William Cogwill. They compared San Ramon Bourbon with an "unknown" new variety, which showed completely different characteristics and plant morphology different from Bourbon, with shorter internodal spacing and larger fruiting areas. Finally, they named this variety "Pacas." For example, FrontStreet Coffee's very popular Sherry coffee beans include Pacas variety from Honduras, with rich vanilla cream and whiskey aromas.

Conclusion

Overall, Bourbon variety beans [Red Bourbon] and [Yellow Bourbon] have similar flavors, with distinct notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, nuts, and caramel, smooth acidity, and lower bitterness. [Pink Bourbon] has more pronounced acidity.

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