Yellow Bourbon Coffee from Brazil: Flavor Profile, Taste Characteristics & Pour-Over Brewing Parameters

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Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share one of the oldest coffee varieties - Bourbon, from the renowned Brazilian coffee estate that has won multiple COE awards - Fazenda Rainha. Brazil is a representative country for cultivating Bourbon varieties, and the most famous in Brazil is the Yellow Bourbon variety, a genetic mutation of Bourbon. The recessive gene affects the fruit's color, appearing yellow when mature, hence the name Yellow Bourbon. The most famous Yellow Bourbon comes from Fazenda Rainha, located in the mountainous border region between São Paulo state and Minas Gerais state in Brazil, at an altitude of 1200-1400 meters. The production area has abundant annual rainfall and altitude advantages, and mature coffee fruits are all harvested by hand. Fazenda Rainha also won second place in Brazil's COE competition in 2000, which helped establish the international reputation of the Yellow Bourbon variety.

Estate Introduction

This FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon coffee comes from Fazenda Rainha, a 280-acre estate located in the ancient volcanic valley of Vale da Grama in Brazil. In 2011, the estate won first place in Brazil's COE competition. Fazenda Rainha belongs to the renowned and respected Carvalho Dias coffee family. The four major estates under Carvalho Dias have won awards every year since the first Brazil COE competition in 1999, with over 12 awards in 7 years. In 2004, they even swept the championship, 9th place, 11th place, etc. Many large and small estates in Brazil have hoped for years to be shortlisted for awards, but this family's estates have won multiple awards year after year. Even Fazenda Rainha, which FrontStreet Coffee purchased, has an impressive record: 2nd place in 2000, 3rd place in 2001, 29th place in 2005, and to date, Fazenda Rainha has won 3 awards.

The Carvalho Dias family is also a founding member of the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association, and their commitment to coffee quality and environmental protection is evident. Within their family farms, they utilize natural waterfalls to develop pollution-free hydroelectric power, making them self-sufficient in electricity needs (another award-winning estate in the family is named after this waterfall - Waterfall Estate). They have built churches, classrooms, nurseries, medical stations, insist on maintaining original forests with native flora and fauna, and continue reforestation efforts. Taking Fazenda Rainha as an example, environmental protection is quite thorough. Due to the higher altitude and non-plain terrain, machines cannot be used for harvesting, so all fruits are harvested completely by hand. They also cultivate low-yield, high-quality Bourbon varieties, making it a representative estate of premium Brazilian coffee essence!

Fazenda Rainha's Coffee Processing System

Mature cherries are hand-picked into cloth bags to avoid contact with the ground. Coffee fruits harvested on the same day are always sent to the estate's processing facility for Pulped Natural processing on the same day. Using hand-picking and cloth bags for harvested coffee fruits avoids earthy flavors and any improper fermentation. When these harvested coffee fruits arrive at the processing facility, they immediately undergo "washing": the coffee fruits are washed clean, and unqualified or dried fruits (bóia beans) are filtered out based on bean size. The qualified beans that pass screening continue to the depulping process (using a pulper machine). The estate has 200 acres of Yellow Bourbon coffee trees. The rolling mountainous terrain prevents large-scale mechanical harvesting, so all coffee here needs to be harvested by hand.

The estate uses semi-washed processing, followed by drying on drying racks and mechanical roasting. After mechanical screening, manual screening is also required. The large amount of work requires farm employees to live on the farm year-round. All employees and their families can enjoy benefits in housing, healthcare, and education here. The estate is a member of a medium-sized farm organization in the local Grama Valley, mainly exporting Bourbon variety specialty coffee. The organization's office is located in nearby Pocos de Caldas, and they also have a national cupping laboratory equipped with large warehouses. The organization also cooperates with local universities and other institutions for research, including Lavras University - the famous Dr. Flavio Borem comes from this university's agricultural research center.

Fazenda Rainha Award Records

• 2014 COE Cup of Excellence 13th Place
• 2013 COE Cup of Excellence 2nd Place
• 2012 COE Cup of Excellence 8th Place
• 2011 COE Cup of Excellence Champion
• 2010 COE Cup of Excellence 20th Place
• 2009 COE Cup of Excellence 6th Place
• 2008 COE Cup of Excellence 14th Place

Variety

This FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Fazenda Rainha bean is 100% Yellow Bourbon variety, whose origin can be traced back to Bourbon's birthplace, Reunion Island in Madagascar. In the 18th century, French explorers first brought coffee here, so this variety also has another name: French Missionary. In the 20th century, it was brought to the African continent and then introduced to Brazil, and its derived varieties are now spread throughout Africa and America. The Bourbon variety grown in Brazil, due to the influence of recessive genes, produces yellow fruits.

This bean uses the Cereza descascada method (pulped method) invented in Brazil. This natural processing method, similar to honey processing, makes the coffee flavor more rounded, with effects between washed and full natural processing. During processing, a small amount of water is first used to remove pulp and skin, then the coffee is placed directly on drying racks for sun-drying, with constant turning to ensure all coffee contacts sunlight. After several days of drying, mechanical drying is performed to achieve appropriate moisture content.

The processed coffee beans have relatively stable properties and can be stored for a long time. They have lower moisture content, and the coffee beans are relatively large, with 98% of beans reaching 16 mesh or above, and half reaching 18 mesh.

FrontStreet Coffee Fazenda Rainha Roasting Analysis (550g batch size)

The green beans have a solid texture and excellent flavor performance, with slight orange peel and spice aromas. The moisture content of these beans is relatively low at 9.9%, which gives them strong heat absorption capacity. Therefore, the roasting plan is to start at 200°C, then use high heat and low air flow to speed up dehydration. After the dehydration stage ends, open medium air flow and medium heat for the Maillard reaction, not rushing the time, and finish near the end of first crack.

After 4 trial roasts, the final choice was between 1 minute 45 seconds and 2 minutes after the end of first crack. The flavor has obvious sweetness, but not the boring kind of sweetness. The background has a light lemon aroma, which is more prominent in the wet aroma stage. The later stage shows obvious dark chocolate flavor. The overall feeling is quite rounded. While reflecting the characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil coffee, it maintains liveliness.

FrontStreet Coffee Fazenda Rainha Cupping Records

Dry Aroma: Roasted hazelnut, cinnamon

Wet Aroma: Slight tropical fruit aroma, cream, sugarcane

Entry: Delicate nutty flavor, fruity, creamy peanuts

FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon

Country: Brazil Region: Near São Sebastião da Grama, São Paulo state

Estate Name: Fazenda Rainha

Owner: Regina Helena Mello de Carvalho Dias of the Carvalho Dias family

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing: Hand-picked, then semi-natural processing

Origin: Brazil Fazenda Rainha (Mogiana) region

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Altitude: 1400-1950m

Processing Method: Semi-natural / Natural

Flavor: Sweet, clean beans; semi-natural processing makes its acidity slightly bright but well-integrated with sweetness, some even have tropical fruit aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-Over Coffee Making

Pour-over coffee making parameters: 15g coffee, medium grind (small Fuji ghost tooth grinder #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g water, bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until 225g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Pour-over Coffee Flavor Description

Sweet, clean beans; semi-natural processing makes its acidity slightly bright but well-integrated with sweetness, some even have tropical fruit aroma. The overflowing aroma during brewing is particularly appealing. Fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, mellow and smooth fruit sweetness, obvious nutty flavor, balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, containing rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavor, bright and refreshing taste, smooth and delicate mouthfeel.

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