Which Coffee Bean Represents the Bourbon Lineage: The Turbulent Journey of Bourbon Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee - An Introduction to the Bourbon Variety

One thread of coffee's breeding history runs back to 1715, when coffee was carried from Yemen to Reunion. The Bourbon variety was the first cultivar planted on that island along this lineage. The island later fell under French occupation during the Bourbon dynasty's reign, which is how it picked up its name: Reunion became known as Bourbon Island, and the coffee grown there took the name Bourbon. After the French Revolution, the island reverted to its original name, Reunion. The Bourbon dynasty may have fallen and the island may have reclaimed its identity, but the name "Bourbon coffee" has endured to this day.

Bourbon is a genetic mutation of the original Typica variety that occurred on Reunion Island. It stands as the paternal--even grandpaternal--variety behind many popular Latin American cultivars, including Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, and Mundo Novo. Bourbon remains widely planted across Latin America today, and it has also crossed the ocean to Africa, taking root in Rwanda and Burundi. Most Bourbon cherries ripen red, though yellow and orange variants exist as well. Bourbon's yield runs roughly 20-30% higher than Typica's, and while its flavor is a touch sweeter and sometimes more balanced, the two varieties are overall very similar.

Yellow Bourbon

In 1871, something strange happened in Botucatu, in Brazil's Sao Paulo state: Typica trees suddenly mutated to bear yellow berries instead of red. Since no such beans appeared in any local records, they were simply called "Yellow Botucatu." Curious about the unusual color, farmers kept cultivating them, and some researchers of the era concluded this was a natural mutation of Red Bourbon.

By 1930 the name "Yellow Bourbon" had officially emerged. It was first identified near Pederneiras, Brazil, on a Red Bourbon farm whose trees produced yellow cherries even though they were cultivated exactly like Red Bourbon--which is why some suggest it may have been a natural hybrid of Red Bourbon and Yellow Botucatu. (The logic behind that theory is admittedly murky.)

This development caught the attention of the Agronomic Institute of Campinas in Brazil, where Carlos Arnaldo Krug began researching Yellow Bourbon in 1942. He uncovered the genetics behind coffee cherry color--in short, the dominant gene AaAa produces red fruit, while the recessive gene aaaa produces yellow fruit. Yellow Bourbon carries the aaaa gene. The ripe yellow color of this variety can be considered a signature trait of Bourbon coffee beans.

Key point: Typica and Bourbon, the two ancient varieties, have spent three hundred years being cultivated across the diverse environments of the New World, spinning off countless varieties and hybrid cultivars.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil grows an enormous range of coffee, and its beans carry a moderate acidity with an excellent balance of sweetness, bitterness, and body--which is exactly why they respond so well to medium roasting, unlocking nutty aromatics and a mellow, gently tart cup suited to both single-origin and blending.

If you want to taste that classic Brazilian profile, FrontStreet's semi-washed Cerrado Red Bourbon is the classic starting point: roasted medium, it shows rich creamed-peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a rounded mouthfeel, no sourness and only a light bitter note--at home in a pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press.

For something rarer, FrontStreet's Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana--a natural mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character--offers a sugarcane sweetness plus fruit and chocolate notes through pour-over, moka pot, or home espresso machine.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mission

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research house dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. Our unreserved sharing aims to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month, we hold three coffee events with significant discounts because FrontStreet Coffee wants to enable more friends to enjoy the finest coffee at the lowest possible price. This has been our mission for the past six years!