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The Legendary Bourbon Pointu: A Coffee Story

Earlier this month, I participated in a coffee cupping session featuring Bourbon Pointu coffee beans from Réunion Island.

"Bourbon Pointu from Réunion Island" - these ordinary words might hold no attraction for most people, but to any coffee enthusiast, they would make their heart race and blood boil. Why?

Over a decade ago, two legendary coffee varieties emerged, causing a sensation throughout the coffee world. These two varieties were Geisha [Note 1] and Bourbon Pointu. Regarding Geisha coffee, I briefly mentioned it in the essay "Introducing Two Top Estates," and I'll share its detailed story another time; this article, taking advantage of the impressions left by the cupping, wants to share with readers the legend of Bourbon Pointu. However, before discussing Bourbon Pointu, we must first clarify some matters related to coffee varieties, otherwise readers might find the sensation caused by Bourbon Pointu hard to believe.

The coffee we usually drink, whether from Arabica (Coffea arabica), Congensis (Coffea canephora, commonly known as Robusta [Note 2]), or the rarer Liberica (Coffea liberica), belongs botanically to the Rubiaceae family, genus Coffea. There are many varieties within the Coffea genus, with over a hundred recorded [Note 3], but so far, only two major varieties deserve attention: Arabica and Robusta. This is because approximately 3/4 of the world's coffee comes from Arabica, 1/4 from Robusta, together accounting for about 98% of the total, with the remaining nearly 2% being Liberica coffee.

People pursuing high-quality coffee probably focus their attention on Arabica among these two major varieties, for a simple reason: although Arabica coffee doesn't guarantee good flavor, all high-quality coffee, including all specialty coffees, falls within the Arabica category, while Robusta can only be classified as commercial-grade beans.

Speaking of Arabica, it's actually like a large family with many different members, among which the most influential members in the coffee world are Bourbon and Typica. The reason is that coffee was once an Arab monopoly, and to maintain this exclusivity, Arabs absolutely不允许 allowed seeds with germination ability to leave their native land [Note 4]; but by the 17th century, seeds were eventually smuggled to the New World [Note 5], where they branched out and propagated countless descendants. These smuggled seeds were the Bourbon and Typica varieties. During the propagation process, due to various factors such as natural mutation, intraspecific crossing, and artificial breeding, many new varieties emerged, like Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, Maragogype, Pacamara, SL28, SL34, and a long list of others. It can be said that most of the Arabica coffee we drink today are descendants of those smuggled Bourbon and Typica varieties.

Bourbon coffee got its name because it was first widely cultivated in the New World in a place then called Bourbon Island, which is today's Réunion Island [Note 6]; and the legendary protagonist of this article, Bourbon Pointu, is a natural mutation variety of Bourbon coffee on the island [Note 7].

Bourbon Pointu has two other names, Laurina and Leroy, but none are as famous as Bourbon Pointu. It's called Pointu (pointed) because the beans are narrow and long with pointed ends, while the original Bourbon (some call it Round Bourbon) has shorter beans with a somewhat elliptical outline. The difference in appearance between Bourbon Pointu and original Bourbon can be immediately distinguished by looking at (Figure 1) and (Figure 2); however, their biggest difference lies not in appearance but in flavor and caffeine content. If I were to describe Bourbon Pointu in simple terms, it would be "good flavor, low caffeine content."

Figure 1. Bourbon Pointu

Figure 2. Original Bourbon (Round Bourbon)

I'll discuss the flavor of Bourbon Pointu later, but first, let's talk about its caffeine content. According to statistical data, the caffeine content of general coffee beans is 0.9-1.2% for Arabica and 1.6-2.4% for Robusta [Note 8], while Bourbon Pointu is only 0.6%, much lower than general Arabica coffee and far below Robusta. Although it hasn't reached the standard of American decaffeinated coffee, it's already good news for many people who can't handle too much caffeine but still love coffee.

Due to its good flavor and low caffeine content (not greatly affecting sleep), Bourbon Pointu was loved by people as early as the 18th century. Many celebrities, like French King Louis XV and novelist Balzac, were its "fans." During the two hundred years from the 18th to 19th century, Bourbon Pointu 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 - causing cultivation to gradually decrease. Finally, in 1942, the last batch of Bourbon Pointu shipped back to France was only a pitiful 200 kilograms, and from then on, Bourbon Pointu disappeared without a trace, with no further mention even in official documents. After the 1950s, no one on Réunion Island cultivated coffee anymore; the island's agriculture completely turned to other crops like sugarcane. Coffee and Réunion Island were no longer connected, and Bourbon Pointu was officially recognized by the coffee world as "extinct."

The reappearance of Bourbon Pointu in the world is the legend this article wants to discuss; and the initiator of this legend must be credited to a Japanese coffee expert, Jose Yoshiaki Kawashima.

Mr. Kawashima was born in 1956. Because his father ran a coffee roasting business, one could say he grew up in a coffee environment. After graduating high school in 1975, his father sent him to El Salvador, where they had business connections, to study economics at university. However, Kawashima's real interest was coffee, not economics, so he spent a great deal of time researching coffee, even abandoning his economics studies to learn coffee at the "National Coffee Research Institute." When his father learned of this, he stopped Kawashima's financial support in a rage. But Kawashima remained determined, exchanging translation work for living expenses, working part-time while studying coffee, until 1981, when he was 25 years old, El Salvador erupted in civil war, and he returned to Japan.

During his time in El Salvador, Kawashima heard about Bourbon Pointu from experts at the National Coffee Research Institute. Although all experts believed Bourbon Pointu was extinct, he held onto the dream that "perhaps it could still be found."

After returning to Japan, he joined UCC Coffee Company, working in the agricultural research department, supervising UCC's overseas cultivation sites (including Jamaica, Hawaii, Sumatra, etc.). In 1999, due to a business trip to East Africa, he took the opportunity to visit nearby Réunion Island and asked local people to accompany him in searching for any possibly remaining Bourbon Pointu. He discovered that many young people on the island didn't even know that Réunion Island was once an important coffee-producing region in history, and that the famous "Bourbon" variety originated here. According to Kawashima's recollection, one time a young man even took him to a supermarket, thinking what he was looking for were coffee beans on the shelves.

After a short period of searching with no results, Kawashima returned to Japan disappointedly, thinking his dream had finally been shattered. But two years later, a local veterinarian who had accompanied him in searching for Bourbon Pointu found 30 coffee trees in the wild and immediately notified Kawashima. Kawashima rushed to Réunion Island and, after identification, confirmed that these 30 coffee trees were indeed Bourbon Pointu. Finally, with cooperation between UCC and French authorities, after five years of restoration efforts, preliminary results were achieved in 2007: 700 kilograms of green coffee beans. UCC carefully selected 240 kilograms to ship back to Japan, roasted them into mature beans, and sold them in units of 100 grams - 2,000 units total - at a "sky-high price" of 7,360 yen per unit (over 2,000 New Taiwan dollars!), which were snapped up immediately upon release. The next year, the price rose to 8,750 yen per unit, and some coffee shops sold each cup to coffee connoisseurs at 5,250 yen. And Mr. Kawashima, who started the legend and brought Bourbon Pointu back to the world, left UCC in the same year Bourbon Pointu was released (2007), established his own company, and founded Japan's Sustainable Coffee Association.

The Bourbon Pointu cupping I participated in earlier this month is an embodiment of this mission, and the origins of this cupping trace back to 2007. It was that year when I learned that Bourbon Pointu was released in Japan and tried every possible way to see if any friends or family traveling between Japan and Taiwan could bring back some beans. However, not only did I fail to get any in 2007, but I also failed for several consecutive years until last year.

Here's what happened: A few years ago, I entrusted a Mr. Liu who is very dedicated to coffee to try to track down this world-famous Bourbon Pointu. After all, coffee professionals have many more channels to track down coffee than private clubs. Last summer, by a fortunate opportunity, Mr. Liu exchanged a small batch of Bourbon Pointu for some renowned Geisha competition beans, finally allowing the May Fourth Club to fulfill their long-held wish to taste Bourbon Pointu. Unfortunately, that batch of Bourbon Pointu didn't come from Réunion Island but from Colombia (one wonders how the seeds crossed the ocean to Colombia?). The flavor was indeed good, but it didn't quite match the description in the archives of "bright acidity, blueberry and vanilla notes, velvet-like smoothness." Agricultural products are closely related to the natural conditions of their origin - soil, sunlight, rainfall, temperature - any change can alter the final taste experience. So last year I mentioned to Mr. Liu again whether he could track down some authentic Réunion Bourbon Pointu. Heaven rewards the persistent - Mr. Liu finally accomplished this difficult task this year: after the cupping, in another month or two, this "Bourbon Pointu from Réunion Island" will arrive at the May Fourth Coffee Club. Whether the slightly imperfect acidity, aroma, and smoothness experienced during cupping can be beautifully presented through more careful roasting remains to be verified after the beans arrive. When UCC sold this bean, they used a touching advertisement:

A delicious luxury, once a year

This attracted customers seeking Bourbon Pointu, and our May Fourth Coffee Club can finally wait for this long-overdue luxury this year.

Bourbon Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Brazilian natural yellow Bourbon coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer excellent value - a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 85 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 6 yuan. Compared to coffee shops selling cups for tens of yuan, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

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