British Cultivated Rare Coffee | The History of Organic Coffee from Saint Helena Island in the South Atlantic

British Cultivated Coffee | The History of South Atlantic Saint Helena Organic Coffee

Most discerning coffee enthusiasts can only dream of sipping coffee made from South Atlantic Saint Helena coffee beans, as they are rare and expensive. Saint Helena's green-tipped Bourbon Arabica is a coffee variety from Yemen in the 18th century, producing some of the world's most expensive and captivatingly flavored coffee beans.

The most famous fan of Saint Helena coffee was the French Emperor Napoleon. Napoleon died on Saint Helena in 1821, and during his six years of exile on the island, he lived in a rat-infested house. Legend has it that he said coffee was the "only good thing" on Saint Helena. Saint Helena preserves the legacy of coffee trees planted by the British East India Company nearly 300 years ago. The island's coffee plantations were once abandoned, but enthusiastic individuals began replanting in the 1990s. However, this was short-lived as the main producer went bankrupt, and even selling coffee beans at Harrods department store in London, UK, didn't help. The publicly listed company Solomon & Company later took over in 2009, injecting new vitality into Bamboo Hedge.

However, these organic beans remain in high demand with limited supply. The company's annual coffee bean production ranges from 1 to 1.5 metric tons, which is negligible compared to the global production of approximately 8.5 million metric tons in 2014. All of the company's coffee beans are shipped directly to the UK before roasting. This precious coffee bean is favored by many independent coffee roasters and distributors from the European Union, Russia, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The Historical Discovery

On May 21, 1502, Portuguese Captain João da Nova's warship passed the Cape of Good Hope heading north back to his country and discovered an unnamed small island while crossing the South Atlantic. Nova named the island Saint Helena. When Saint Helena was discovered, Europeans still didn't know what coffee was, and there were no coffee trees in Asia and Latin America. However, a new beverage made from boiled coffee berries called qahwa was beginning to gain popularity in Yemen, the Arab world was caught up in a qahwa craze, while Europeans continued to prefer beer and wine as usual.

In 1732, the British East India Company, following the coffee transplantation trend, obtained Bourbon coffee trees from Mocha, Yemen, and casually planted them on the British territory of Saint Helena. In 1815, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, he was taken to Saint Helena for house arrest, which gave this coffee variety the opportunity to become known to people.

Saint Helena Coffee's Legacy

Saint Helena coffee was actually unintentionally cultivated by the British. After Napoleon's death from illness in 1821, the delicious taste of Saint Helena coffee became renowned, and it remains one of the world's most valuable estate coffees today. Saint Helena produces only 2-12 tons of green beans annually, making it even rarer than Jamaica Blue Mountain's 700-1000 tons.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Method

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Rino grinder setting 3.5

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, using 15g of coffee. First pour 25g of water and let it bloom for 25 seconds. Second pour to 120g and pause, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Total extraction time approximately 2:00.

Analysis: Using a three-stage brewing method to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and drains quickly, pausing the pour can help extend the extraction time.

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