Is Bourbon an Arabica Coffee Bean? Is Bourbon Coffee Bitter? How to Brew Pour-Over and What Are Its Characteristics

Is Bourbon an Arabica Coffee Bean? Is Bourbon Coffee Bitter? How to Make It Taste Good Through Pour-Over and What Are Its Characteristics?

Overall, at this roast level (judging by the color, it appears to be at second crack or the dense-bean drop, a medium-dark roast), both FrontStreet Coffee's Yellow Bourbon and Yellow Sweet show quite pronounced sweetness with low acidity. They have the moderate flavor characteristic of Brazilian beans, with a deep bass note that lacks the light, clean quality of African beans but offers a longer finish. Between the two, Yellow Sweet's flavor is more centered, with higher body and thickness than Yellow Bourbon.

Although many say that despite Brazil's enormous production the quality is fairly average, suited only to canned coffee and as a base for commercial blends, Brazilians have in recent years focused more and more on cultivating specialty beans. High-quality Yellow Bourbon has emerged from that effort, posting impressive results in cupping competitions.

In short, if you are a coffee enthusiast who prefers bold-flavored coffee, Yellow Bourbon will be an excellent choice for you.

The joy and curiosity of tasting the Yellow Bourbon and Yellow Sweet from Guangzhou's FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) was irresistible, so a proper cupping session was in order. With water at 80°C, 15 grams of coffee ground to French press fineness, and 150ml of water, the flavor is known for its sweetness, which makes it very suitable in an espresso blend for enhancing sweetness and aftertaste.

Brazilian Yellow Bourbon has been appearing in more and more places, and demand for it has grown steadily. FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) sourced green beans to try something new, and the trend has clearly taken hold as more roasters and drinkers look to Brazil for high-quality specialty coffee.

Understanding Bourbon Coffee

Bourbon is actually a coffee variety, one of the Arabica types. The name "Bourbon" comes from a place name - a French overseas department, an island in the Indian Ocean - hence "Bourbon coffee." Today the island is no longer called Bourbon; it has been renamed Réunion Island, though the coffee name lives on.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon, as the name suggests, has golden-yellow coffee cherries that look very appealing, making it an important branch of Brazilian specialty coffee.

Coffee Information

Country: Brazil
Grade: COE
Region: Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha)
Roast Level: Medium roast
Processing Method: Natural
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Estate: Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate)
Flavor: Lemon, sugarcane, black tea, smooth and delicate

The Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon acquired by FrontStreet Coffee features full, mature sweetness, rich fruit notes and a persistent aftertaste that wins praise. Whether brewed in a standard American coffee maker or used as the main sweet component of an espresso blend, it satisfies professionals and is considered a must-buy bean.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon has a sweet, clean character. The pulped natural method (or semi-washed) leaves its acidity slightly bright while complementing the sweetness beautifully, and some batches even show tropical fruit aromas. The aroma that fills the room during brewing is particularly delightful.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Bourbon Estate Introduction

Queen Estate (Fazenda Rainha) belongs to the renowned and respected Carvalho Dias family. The family's four major estates have won awards every year since the first Brazil Cup of Excellence competition in 1999, with more than 12 awards over 7 years. In 2004 they even swept the championship, 9th place and 11th place. While many Brazilian estates, large and small, have long hoped to qualify for awards without success, this family's estates have consistently won several. Queen Estate itself has a fine record: 2nd place in 2000, 3rd place in 2001 and 29th place in 2005. To date, Queen Estate has won awards 3 times.

The Carvalho Dias family are also founding members of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association, and their commitment to coffee quality and environmental protection is well known. On their farms they harness natural waterfalls to generate pollution-free hydroelectric power, making themselves self-sufficient in electricity (another of the family's award-winning estates is named after this waterfall - Waterfall Estate). They have built churches, classrooms, nurseries and medical stations, and insist on preserving original forests with native flora and fauna while continuing reforestation. Taking Queen Estate as an example, the environmental protection is thorough. Because of its higher altitude and non-plain terrain, machines cannot harvest here - all fruit is picked by hand. They cultivate low-yield, high-quality Bourbon varieties, which makes it a representative estate of premium Brazilian coffee.

Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate) belongs to the Carvalho Dias family and has been in operation for over 116 years. Located in the mountainous region of São Paulo state near the Minas border, at altitudes ranging from 1200 to 1400 meters, it receives abundant rainfall of over 1800mm annually without disastrous downpours. The average annual temperature is only 19°C, so the coffee cherries grow a little more slowly but with sufficient density. Although production is smaller, its aroma and flavor are unmatched by ordinary Brazilian highland beans. The estate mainly grows Bourbon varieties, with some Bourbon trees over 110 years old. Besides the varieties, Queen Estate's meticulous, thoughtful processing is another key to its exceptional quality.

Queen Estate's Coffee Processing System

Ripe cherries are hand-picked into cloth bags to avoid contact with the ground. Cherries harvested on any given day are always sent to the estate's processing facility the same day for pulped natural processing. Hand-picking into cloth bags during harvest avoids earthy flavors and improper fermentation. When the cherries arrive at the processing facility they immediately undergo "washing": the cherries are cleaned thoroughly, and unqualified or dried fruits (bóia beans) are screened out by bean size. Qualified beans continue to the depulping process (using a pulper machine).

After depulping, the beans still carry some mucilage on the parchment. At this stage the mucilage-covered beans are placed on patios to dry until moisture drops to about 20%. This stage lets the beans absorb their own starch components without the downside of full natural processing, where the drying flavor cannot be controlled. These residual starchy components provide a special sweetness without turning into uncontrolled off-fruit flavors or moldy tastes.

Afterward they go to drying machines for the final stage, where moisture is reduced to 11%, then to storage for resting. Before export they are hulled and graded. This segmented pulped natural method is one of the main reasons Queen Estate's flavor quality is so consistent, and of course insisting on Bourbon varieties is another reason its flavor is so highly regarded.

FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Queen Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon

Country: Brazil
Region: Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha)
Estate Name: Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate)
Owner: Regina Helena Mello de Carvalho Dias of the Carvalho Dias family
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing: Hand-picked, then pulped natural processing
Harvest Period: Latest harvest arriving May 2006

Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha) Bourbon Coffee Bean Detailed Analysis

Origin: Brazil Queen Estate (Mogiana) region
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Altitude: 1200 - 1400m
Processing Method: Pulped natural
Flavor: Sweet, clean character. The pulped natural process leaves its acidity slightly bright while balancing beautifully with sweetness. Some batches even show tropical fruit aromas. The aroma that fills the room during brewing is particularly delightful. Delicate lemon acidity, the fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea notes, a smooth and delicate texture.

Bourbon Related Knowledge

The Cup of Excellence (COE) program and its trademark are currently owned and managed by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), a non-profit organization based in the United States. Each year ACE works with COE host countries to complete the cupping selection and online auctions of specialty coffees, while also recommending and promoting anything related to coffee quality improvement. The aim is to select exemplars of specialty coffee in host countries and share experience for the industry to learn from.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Bourbon is a wonderful place to begin exploring Brazilian coffee, and FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian lineup shows the range. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic entry point - a semi-dry Cerrado single origin and a red Bourbon from a well-known region. Roasted medium, it gives creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut, with a rounded, low-acid cup and a gentle bitter finish, and it works as pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE or siphon.

For a rarer, fruitier expression, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon comes from Mogiana, where fertile red volcanic soil helps the fruit develop intense aromas; the rare yellow Bourbon mutation is cleaner and fruitier, showing sugarcane sweetness, fruit and chocolate that other regions do not. And for anyone who drinks espresso or milk drinks every day, Brazilian beans also anchor many FrontStreet Coffee blends: the low-acid, balanced body and approachable price of Brazilian coffee make the creamy Classic Blend, the nutty Premium Blend, FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend a stable, chocolate-and-cream base with a soft sweet-bitter balance that extracts reliably.