Does Bourbon Coffee Belong to the Arabica Variety? Bourbon Coffee Bean Flavor Profile, Taste Characteristics, and Major Growing Regions

Arabica is one of the three major original coffee species and the highest quality variety, accounting for 70% of global consumption. Through long-term development, the Arabica variety has produced numerous branches, with the most famous being the Typica and Bourbon coffee bean varieties. These two varieties inherit the excellent flavor and taste characteristics of Arabica, while also inheriting their delicate and disease-prone nature! Bourbon coffee beans are named according to the color of the coffee fruit when ripe, such as red, yellow, orange, and pink Bourbon. FrontStreet Coffee's daily selection includes a typical red Bourbon coffee bean from Cerrado, Brazil, which features cocoa and brown sugar notes.

Bourbon coffee beans are also a natural variety originating from Yemen. Its name comes from its original planting location, Bourbon Island, now known as Réunion Island. Background story of Bourbon coffee beans: During the French colonial period, the French often exported this coffee overseas, especially to the United States. Bourbon coffee beans have short, round fruits with high density in both pulp and seeds. Bourbon coffee beans typically have high sweetness and bright acidity. This coffee variety yields 20-30% more than Typica but is still considered a low-yield variety and is similarly susceptible to leaf rust disease. Most Bourbon coffee beans are red, but there are two natural varieties that show different colors: Orange Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. Orange Bourbon coffee beans have a stronger sweetness, while Yellow Bourbon has higher acidity.

Bourbon variety coffee, like Typica variety coffee, is an old variety belonging to the Arabica coffee species. Bourbon was initially planted in Réunion, which was called Bourbon Island before 1789, hence the coffee variety was named "Bourbon." As an old coffee variety, unlike Typica, Bourbon has broader leaves, grows more densely, and has higher coffee yields than Typica.

Early in coffee history, Typica was transplanted to Yemen and mutated, changing from slender to round shape. In 1715, the French transplanted the round-shaped beans from Yemen's Mocha to Bourbon Island on the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion Island after the French Revolution), which is how it got its name. In 1727, the round Bourbon beans spread to Brazil and Central and South America. In 1732, the British transplanted Yemen's Mocha to St. Helena Island (where Napoleon was later imprisoned), also round Bourbon beans. Simply put, Bourbon is a coffee variety belonging to a branch of the Arabica species, typically bearing red fruits called Red Bourbon. In addition, there are Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon has relatively lower yields but better quality.

Bourbon is a subspecies mutated from Typica, belonging to the oldest existing coffee varieties along with Typica. Green fruits turn bright red when ripe. Compared to Typica, Bourbon has broader leaves, grows more densely, and although it yields more than Typica, it also has a biennial harvest cycle, making it a low-yield variety. However, it offers excellent taste with wine-like acidity and sweet aftertaste. Bourbon coffee beans are large, uniform in size, with even color and luster. For harvesting convenience, farmers prune coffee trees to not exceed 150 cm in height.

Spread Route of Bourbon

Due to the low yield and susceptibility to disease of Typica introduced to Brazil in 1727, Bourbon was introduced to Brazil through Campinas in the south around 1860 and rapidly expanded northward to other regions in South and Central America. Today in Latin America, although most Bourbon has been replaced by its varieties (especially Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo), it is still grown in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Peru.

French Missionary Bourbon

In Africa, French missionaries known as Spiritans (from the Holy Ghost Congregation) played an important role in the spread of Bourbon. 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 (on the Tanzanian coast, then called Tanganyika) and St. Augustine (Kikuyu, Kenya), and another branch was established in Bura (Taita Hills, Kenya) in 1893. Each branch establishment was accompanied by planting of coffee seeds brought from Réunion.

In 1899, seedlings cultivated in Bura were brought 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 "Missionary Bourbon." Later, Kent variety was also introduced in 1920. Therefore, until now, coffee in Tanzania is still dominated by Bourbon and Kent.

Red Bourbon

After Red Bourbon coffee trees flower and bear fruit, the coffee cherries change color from: green > light yellow > light orange > mature red > darker red when fully ripe, hence also called "Red Bourbon variety." 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 even wine-like flavors when tasted.

Brazil Red Cherry

In some estates in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil, ancient Bourbon coffee is grown. The Cerrado plateau in western Minas and southern Minas has altitudes mostly above 1,100 meters, rich topography, distinct wet and dry seasons, large temperature differences between day and night, and abundant microclimates, making it suitable for cultivating elegant Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. It naturally became Brazil's main specialty coffee producing region.

Yellow Bourbon

Yellow Bourbon is a hybrid of Bourbon with other varieties. Due to its lower yield and less tolerance to wind and rain, it has not been widely planted. However, when grown in high-altitude areas, it exhibits excellent flavor characteristics and has become more common in recent years.

Yellow Bourbon has yellow fruits when ripe and was first discovered in Brazil, where it is mainly grown today. It is generally believed to have mutated from the hybridization of red-fruited Bourbon with a yellow-fruited Typica variety called "Amerelo de Botocatu."

Brazil Queen Estate

From Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate), covering 280 acres, located in an ancient volcanic valley in Brazil called Vale da Grama. Fazenda Rainha belongs to the renowned and respected coffee family Carvalho Dias family. The four major estates under Carvalho Dias have won awards every year since the first Brazil Cup of Excellence competition in 1999, winning more than 12 awards in 7 years. In 2004, they even swept the championship, 9th place, 11th place, etc., among many large and small estates in Brazil.

Pink Bourbon

Pink Bourbon, as the name suggests, has romantic pink coffee cherries when ripe. It is an extremely rare new variety, cultivated by crossing Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The reason Pink Bourbon is considered a rare variety is mainly because maintaining this beautiful pink color is very difficult. Sometimes orange Bourbons are harvested because the final color of coffee cherries is determined by recessive genes in pollen grains. Among the selected pollen grains for hybridization, there are both yellow genes leaning toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes leaning toward Red Bourbon, all of which are recessive genes and easily interfere with each other.

Colombia Huila Isabella

Pointed Bourbon

Bourbon Pointu: Discovered on Bourbon Island in 1810, the bean shape changed from round to pointed, with only half the caffeine content; but it's rare and delicate, extremely precious (mostly cultivated in laboratories).

Bourbon Pointu has two other names: Laurina and Leroy, but neither is as famous as Bourbon Pointu. It's called Pointed Bourbon because the bean shape is narrow and pointed at both ends, while the original Bourbon (sometimes called Round Bourbon) has shorter beans with slightly oval contours.

Due to its good flavor and low caffeine content (less affecting sleep), Pointed Bourbon was popular as early as the 18th century. Many celebrities, like French King Louis XV and novelist Balzac, were its "fans." During the 200 years from the 18th to 19th century, Pointed Bourbon was widely planted on Bourbon Island, reaching a peak of 4,000 metric tons annual production in 1800. However, a series of disasters followed: hurricanes, fire ants, leaf rust disease, etc., leading to gradual reduction in cultivation. Finally, in 1942, the last batch of Pointed Bourbon shipped back to France was only a pitiful 200 kilograms, and since then, Pointed Bourbon disappeared without a trace, not even mentioned in official documents. After the 1950s, no one grew coffee on Réunion Island anymore, and agriculture on the island completely shifted to other crops like sugarcane. Coffee and Réunion Island were no longer connected, and Pointed Bourbon was officially recognized by the coffee industry as "extinct."

Given that this bean disappeared for half a century and only reappeared 8 years ago, Pointed Bourbon from its original La Reunion Island now sells for over 500 yuan per 100 grams in the international market. After that, Colombia began to grow this bean, and only Camilo Merizalde, source of beans for multiple WBC champions, dared to take on the transplantation of this bean. Therefore, this coffee bean, with a global annual production of only a few tons, commands a high price.

Laurina Pointed Bourbon Coffee

Pacas

Pacas is a natural mutation of Bourbon, similar to Brazil's Caturra and Costa Rica's Villa Sarchi. Like other widely planted Bourbon mutations, Pacas is a new variety formed by single-gene mutation, which gives Pacas a crucial characteristic: plants can be planted more densely, ultimately resulting in higher yield per unit area.

Pacas was first discovered in 1949 by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador. Fernando Alberto Pacas Figuero found some plants with different morphology on their family's Finca San Rafael estate. He then began collecting seeds and selective breeding, later developing about 3/4 hectare of Pacas "pioneer nursery." The discoverer of Pacas was Fernando Alberto Pacas Figuero.

By 1956, Francisco de Sola and Fernando's son - Fernando Alberto Pacas Trujillo, with the help of Florida professor William Cogwill, began studying the Pacas variety. They compared San Ramon Bourbon with an "unknown" new variety, and this "unknown" variety showed completely different characteristics, with plant morphology different from Bourbon, having shorter internodes and larger fruiting areas. Finally, they named this variety "Pacas." Like the very popular Sherry coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee, they include Pacas varieties from Honduras, with rich vanilla cream and whiskey aromas.

Summary

Overall, Bourbon variety beans [Red Bourbon] [Yellow Bourbon] have similar flavor profiles, with distinct notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, nuts, and caramel, smooth acidity, and lower bitterness. [Pink Bourbon] has more pronounced acidity.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473