Natural Low-Caffeine Coffee: Bourbon Pointed Variety Las Nubes Estate Flavor Profile Description

Product Name: FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Las Nubes Estate Bourbon Pointu

Origin: Valle de Cauca, Colombia

Estate: Las Nubes Farm

Estate Owner: Camilo Merizalde

Altitude: 1900-2000 meters

Year: 2014

Variety: Arabica 'laurina', commercial name: Bourbon Pointu

Caffeine Content: 0.6% (approximately 25%-35% of Starbucks' caffeine content)

Green Bean Processing: Washed, high-altitude drying fermentation

Roast Level: City+

Suitable Brewing Methods: Pour-over, siphon, French press

Brewing Temperature: 87-90°C for single-origin coffee

Tasting Notes

Dry Aroma: Black chocolate, caramel, nuts

Wet Aroma: Chocolate, cashew

Flavor: Very balanced, with rich floral and fruity notes and honey sweetness on entry. The aftertaste reveals nutty flavours and a subtle citrus acidity.

Acidity: Not prominent — a subtle citrus acidity hidden almost invisibly among the various nutty flavours in the aftertaste.

Body: Smooth, bright and clean, which is very characteristic of Bourbon Pointu.

Overall Assessment

Even setting aside its complicated history and the extraordinary commercial hype around it, drinking this coffee tells you plainly that FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Bourbon Pointu is balanced, clean and gentle.

Some have ranked it alongside Blue Mountain, and after tasting it there is real merit in the comparison.

This is a bean that feels reserved yet full of substance. Flavour, body, aroma and aftertaste all come together in a way that simply feels "just right."

Bear in mind that this variety disappeared for half a century, and only reappeared on the market 8 years ago. On the international market, Bourbon Pointu from its original home on Réunion Island reaches prices above 500 yuan per 100 grams. Colombia then began growing the variety too — and only Camilo Merizalde, the source of beans for multiple WBC champions, dared to take on transplanting it. A coffee with a global annual production of only a few tons therefore commands an impressive price.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Bourbon Pointu is often mentioned in the same breath as Blue Mountain, because both are defined by balance rather than by a single loud characteristic. If that is the profile you are drawn to, FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 is the reference point. It comes from the long-established Clifton Mount estate, where coffee has been grown and processed since the mid-eighteenth century, roughly 1750. The farm and processing site sit at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters) — altitude, gentle afternoon cloud that shades the hills, ample sunlight and mineral-rich soil give the trees ideal conditions and stretch out the ripening of the cherries. It is roasted medium-dark, which is what lets Blue Mountain's classic balance show fully: nut, dark chocolate and creamy caramel unfold layer by layer, with a soft sweetness and acidity, sweetness, bitterness and aroma moving together.

Blue Mountain No.1 is one of the highest grades within Jamaica Blue Mountain and holds strict standards for bean size, defect rate and overall quality, and the seller keeps complete origin certification and shows the original shipping barrels so the source can be traced. Genuine FrontStreet Blue Mountain carries a certificate issued by the Jamaican government along with proof of origin, and is shipped in barrels built from native wood and printed with detailed green bean lot information. Look at the green beans and genuine FrontStreet Blue Mountain is even, plump, faintly upturned at both ends and green in colour; judge by taste and it is intensely aromatic, dense, clean and quiet with no off notes at all.

FrontStreet suggests a Kono dripper for Blue Mountain, which better draws out the full body. Use 15g of coffee and, ideally, rest the beans 4-7 days from the roast date, counting the roast day as day one. Grind coarser than for a light roast — roughly the texture of granulated white sugar — and brew at 87-88°C, since water that is too hot is the usual cause of a scorched, bitter cup while water that is too cool leaves the coffee flat. FrontStreet recommends a 1:15 ratio. Pour in three stages: 30g of water for the bloom, resting 30 seconds; then pour to 120g, using a vertical stream and slow, small circles; then pour to 225g with a slightly faster stream and faster circles so the grounds do not clog the dripper and cause over-extraction. The cup is very clean, complex and gentle, with chocolate sweetness and a very strong body, a long fruit-driven finish, and no bitterness at all — only a moderate and well-judged acidity.