The Story and History of Brazilian Red Bourbon: How to Best Enjoy Red Bourbon Coffee

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FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Red Bourbon

Country: Brazil

Variety: Red Bourbon

Processing: Hand-picked, then semi-sun-dried

Region: South Minas

Altitude: 700m-1200m

Processing Method: Semi-washed

Flavor: High sweetness, clean, smooth, low acidity, with tropical fruit aroma.

Origin Introduction

South Minas, with its hilly terrain at elevations of 700m-1200m, is Brazil's earliest coffee production area. Due to rising labor costs, mechanical harvesting is now predominantly used. This region was also the first to commercialize coffee, and we can see many large exporters established here. The Bahia production area, located in northern Brazil, mainly produces washed Brazilian coffee. The Espírito Santo region near the coast is the main export area for Brazil's Robusta varieties.

Brazil's coffee growing areas are mainly divided into two types of terrain: one is the Brazilian plateau above 500 meters in altitude, and the other is the Brazilian plain below 200 meters. The main varieties cultivated and widely known are Bourbon (including Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, and Flat Bean Santos). FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian coffee is characterized by low acidity, nutty flavors, balance, and moderate body. In the world of specialty coffee, Brazilian coffee may not be outstanding, but it is often used as a blending variety in espresso. Due to its high balance, it is often used by merchants as Blue Mountain-style beans.

Bourbon Variety

Let me briefly explain what Bourbon coffee is. Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Réunion Island, which was also called Bourbon Island before 1789. Bourbon is a sub-species that mutated from Typica and belongs to the oldest existing coffee varieties along with Typica. When the green fruits mature, they present a bright red color.

Generally, after Red Bourbon coffee trees flower and bear fruit, the color change of coffee cherries follows: green → light yellow → light orange → mature red → darker red when fully ripe. Therefore, it is also called "Red Bourbon." In fact, Red Bourbon is what we generally refer to as Bourbon variety. Bourbon grown at high altitudes typically has better aroma, brighter acidity, and may even have wine-like flavors when tasted.

To put it simply, Bourbon is a coffee tree variety belonging to a branch of Arabica species. It generally bears red fruits, called Red Bourbon. In addition, there are Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon has relatively lower yields but better quality.

Spread of Bourbon Variety

Due to the low yield and susceptibility to diseases of the Typica variety introduced to Brazil in 1727, Bourbon was introduced to Brazil around 1860 through Campinas in the south and quickly expanded northward to other regions of South and Central America. Today in Latin America, 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.

In Africa, French missionaries known as Spiritans (from the Holy Ghost Congregation) played an important role in spreading the Bourbon variety. 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 1893 in Bura (Taita Hills, Kenya). The establishment of each branch was accompanied by the planting of coffee seeds brought from Réunion.

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

— French territory of Bourbon Island
— 1860: Pointed Bourbon to New Caledonia and Yemen
— 1732: Round Bourbon to British territory of St. Helena Island
— 1860: Round Bourbon to Brazil
— 1900: Round Bourbon to Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania
— After 2000: Pointed Bourbon to Colombia

Processing Method Introduction

Semi-washed Method

After harvesting coffee cherries, immature fruits and foreign objects are removed through water tanks, the outer skin and part of the pulp are removed, and then a mucilage remover is used to remove the mucilage. Removing mucilage helps reduce the required sun-drying time and lowers the risk of fermentation. This method is often used when climatic conditions are not ideal. If air humidity is high, the climate is warm, or there is rainfall, there is a high risk of mold growth during the drying process. Therefore, most washed beans used for commodity trade in Brazil are processed using the semi-washed method.

Green Bean Analysis

There are many varieties of Brazilian coffee, mainly processed using the natural method, and classified according to origin state names and shipping ports.

Due to scattered production areas and uneven quality, classification standards are not unified:

Brazil's grading system evaluates defect ratio, size, flavor, and cup quality scores, with its own independent grading system that is more complex than other countries. For example, "Brasil Santos, NY 2 SC17/18 SS FC" – NY2 is the defect ratio grading: larger numbers represent higher defect ratios. The sequence is 2, 2/3, 3, 3/4..., with NY indicating the New York grading standard as the benchmark.

SC 17/18 indicates the coffee bean size. SS FC (Strictly Soft and Fine Cup) represents flavor and cup quality, divided into two groups in this classification: the first group includes Strictly Soft, Soft, Softish, Hard, Hardish, Rioy/Rioysh, Rio; the second group is divided into Fine Cup and Good Cup. Brazilian coffee's main characteristics are high sweetness, clean, smooth, low acidity, with quite versatile uses and widely loved by the general public.

Roasting Analysis

Brazilian coffee generally grows at altitudes of 1000-1300 meters, so its density is relatively low, moisture content is moderate, bean texture is soft, and the thickness from the bean surface to the core is thin. Therefore, it is not suitable for roasting at too high temperatures, as this will produce burnt bitterness. We use a medium-fire bean-feeding approach, maintaining heat until the dehydration stage, and making fine adjustments as temperature rises after the first crack begins to promote more complete caramelization. This semi-washed bean heats up slowly after the first crack, and can be dropped just before the second crack.

Yangjia 600g Semi-direct Fire Roaster

Preheat the roaster to 200°C before loading beans. Set the air damper to 3. After 30 seconds, turn on the heat, adjust to 160, keep the air damper unchanged. Return temperature point at 1'30", maintain heat. Turn yellow at 5'00", grassy smell disappears, enter dehydration stage, reduce heat to 130, open air damper to 4. When reaching 168°C, reduce heat again to 100.

Dehydration completed at 8'00, with wrinkles and black spots appearing on the bean surface. Toast smell turns to coffee aroma, as a prelude to the first crack. At this time, pay attention to listening for the first crack sound. First crack starts at 8'50, air damper fully opened to 5. Development time after first crack is 3 minutes and 10 seconds. When reaching 190°C, heat reduces to 50, and reduces to 30 again at 194°C, until dropping at approximately 200°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Red Bourbon is a flavor-balanced coffee with typical Brazilian coffee style. Prominent nutty and chocolate flavors, with low acidity.

Brewing Data

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind Size: 4 (Japan Fuji R440)

Water Temperature: 89°C

V60 filter cup, 15g coffee grounds, water temperature 90-91°C, grind 3.5, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

分段：注水到120ml 断水，缓慢注水到225ml

即 30-120-75，萃取总时长2分钟

Other drip extraction suggestions:

French press: recommended grind size 3.5-4 / water temperature 90°C

AeroPress: recommended grind size 2.5, water temperature 90°C

FrontStreet Coffee's Specialty Espresso Blend Coffee Beans: FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia and Brazil coffee bean blend has inherent sweetness, with some nutty, peach, and almond flavors, caramel sweetness, chocolate-like silkiness, and obvious balance. Today when adjusting the grind, for the first time with a double portafilter, I tried grind size 1.9 with 21.5g dose for extraction and found that the dose was too much, with no liquid coming out after 5 seconds. By reducing the dose to 20.5g with unchanged grind size, I extracted 42g of espresso in 28 seconds using a 1:2 ratio.

Related recommendations: How to brew FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Yellow Bourbon coffee beans with pour-over and introduction of differences with Red Bourbon

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473