Flavor Profile Differences and Taste Characteristics of Various Bourbon Coffee Varieties_ Bourbon Coffee Bean Prices

Bourbon Coffee Varieties Overview

Broadly speaking, the different Bourbon varieties — Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon and French Mission — share a similar flavor profile: distinct notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, nuts and caramel, with smooth acidity and low bitterness.

Origin and History of Bourbon

In the early days of coffee history, Typica was introduced to Yemen as a variant and changed from slender, pointed beans into round beans. In 1715, France transplanted those round beans from Yemen's Mocha to Bourbon Island off the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion after the French Revolution), which is where the name Bourbon originated. The round Bourbon beans were later introduced to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727. In 1732, Britain also transplanted Yemen's Mocha to St. Helena Island — where Napoleon was later imprisoned — and round Bourbon beans appeared there too.

Put simply, Bourbon is a coffee variety belonging to the Arabica species. It typically produces red fruit, hence Red Bourbon. There are also Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon has a relatively lower yield but better quality.

Bourbon is a sub-species that mutated from Typica and, alongside Typica, ranks among the oldest coffee varieties still cultivated. When the green fruit matures, it turns bright red.

Compared with Typica, Bourbon has broader leaves and grows more densely. Its yield is higher than Typica's, but the harvest period still runs two years, making it a low-yield variety. In exchange it offers excellent flavor, with wine-like acidity and a sweet aftertaste. The beans are relatively large, uniform in size and evenly colored with a luster. For ease of harvesting, farmers prune the trees to stay under 150 centimeters.

Spread of the Bourbon Variety

Because the Typica introduced to Brazil in 1727 was low-yielding and disease-prone, Bourbon arrived in Brazil via Campinas in the south around 1860 and quickly spread north to other parts of South and Central America. In Latin America today, although most Bourbon has been replaced by its variants — especially Caturra, Catuai and Mundo Novo — it is still cultivated in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru.

Red Bourbon

Red Bourbon trees usually follow this color progression after flowering and fruiting: green, then light yellow, light orange, mature red, and finally dark red at full ripeness. That is why it is called the Red Bourbon variety; Red Bourbon is, in fact, what we generally mean by Bourbon. Grown at high altitude, Bourbon usually has excellent aroma, bright acidity and even wine-like flavors.

Yellow Bourbon

Yellow Bourbon is a hybrid of Bourbon with other varieties. Its lower yield and poor resistance to wind and rain kept it from being widely planted, but grown at high altitude it performs excellently, and it has become more common in recent years.

Yellow Bourbon, whose fruit ripens yellow, was first discovered in Brazil and is still grown mainly there. It is generally believed to have mutated from a cross between red-fruited Bourbon and a yellow-fruited Typica variant known as "Amerelo de Botocatu."

French Mission Bourbon

In Africa, French missionaries of the Spiritan congregation (the Holy Ghost Fathers) played an important role in spreading the Bourbon variety. In 1841 the first mission was established on Réunion, and a branch was founded in Zanzibar in 1859. From Zanzibar, branches were set up in Bagamoyo (on the Tanzanian coast, then called Tanganyika) and St. Augustine (Kikuyu, Kenya) in 1862, with another branch at Bura (Taita Hills, Kenya) in 1893. Each new branch was accompanied by the planting of coffee seeds brought from Réunion.

In 1899, seedlings cultivated at Bura were taken to another French mission at Santa Cruz near Nairobi, and in 1900 they were introduced to the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania, with seeds distributed to locals willing to grow coffee. That marks the origin of what is called "Missionary Bourbon." The Kent variety followed in 1920. To this day, Tanzania's coffee is still primarily Bourbon and Kent.

Bourbon Varieties

The following all belong to the Bourbon family:

Brazil Red Bourbon

Ancient Bourbon is cultivated on some estates in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil. The Cerrado plateau in western and southern Minas sits mostly above 1,100 meters, with rich topography, distinct wet and dry seasons, large day-night temperature swings and abundant microclimates — ideal for elegant Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. It has naturally become Brazil's main specialty coffee production area.

Brewing Recommendations:

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind Size: 4 (Fuji R440)

Water Temperature: 88°C

Dripper: V60/KONO

Dry Aroma: Nuts, cocoa

Taste: Low acidity, strong nutty flavor, excellent chocolate sweetness and body

Brazil Queen

This lot comes from Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate), which covers 280 acres in an ancient volcanic valley called Vale da Grama in Brazil. Fazenda Rainha belongs to the renowned Carvalho Dias coffee family. The four major estates under Carvalho Dias have won awards every year since the first Brazil Cup of Excellence in 1999, taking more than 12 wins in 7 years. In 2004 they swept the championship, 9th place, 11th place and more among Brazil's many large and small estates.

Brewing Recommendations:

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind Size: 4 (Fuji R440)

Water Temperature: 88°C

Dripper: V60/KONO

Dry Aroma: Roasted hazelnut, spices

Flavor: Slight fruit acidity, nuts, creamy peanut, chocolate sweetness, with rich body.

Kenya Chania

In Kenya, the K72 processing method and the SL28 and SL34 varieties are the names you hear most often, which makes naturally processed French Mission Bourbon quite rare. The unique red volcanic soil of Chania Estate, together with temperatures and rainfall well suited to coffee and an excellent natural environment, creates the distinctive flavor of French Mission Bourbon from Chania Estate.

Brewing Recommendations:

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind Size: 3.5 (Fuji R440)

Water Temperature: 90°C

Dripper: V60

Dry Aroma: Fermented, dried fruit, vanilla

Flavor: Slurped, you taste caramel, vanilla and mixed fruits with a solid juice sensation. The aftertaste brings berries, rich jackfruit and coffee flower notes, showing the wild regional character of Africa.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Bourbon's nutty, chocolatey side comes through clearly in two FrontStreet Brazilian lots. FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic single origin from the well-known Cerrado region, a red Bourbon at a medium roast with creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut, round in the mouth with low acidity and a light bitterness; it suits pour-over as well as a moka pot, espresso or siphon. FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate is the rarer Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, grown on the region's fertile red volcanic soil, and at a medium roast it gives the sugarcane sweetness other origins lack alongside fruit and chocolate notes. Both are medium roasts, so expect nuts and cocoa rather than sharp acidity — a natural fit for the pour-over recipes above at 88°C.