The Amazing Story of Green Bourbon Coffee: Uncovering Its Past and Present

FrontStreet Coffee - Bourbon Variety Introduction

The Bourbon variety takes its name from the island where it was first planted. In 1715, France transported round-bean coffee from Mocha, Yemen to Bourbon Island off the east coast of Africa (renamed Reunion after the French Revolution) - hence "Bourbon." In 1717 the French brought over another batch of round-bean Bourbon seedlings from Yemen, and those trees became the true predecessors of the variety.

In 1732, the British East India Company carried Bourbon seedlings from Yemen to Saint Helena. Between 1860 and 1870, Brazil introduced Bourbon to South and Central America, where it gradually displaced Typica and then spread rapidly across both regions.

After 1900, French missionaries carried Bourbon from Reunion to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and beyond. Today Bourbon is a cornerstone of high-quality coffee worldwide.

Bourbon is not a single variety. Compared with Typica, it has splintered into far more types - Caturra, Pacas, and Pointed Bourbon among the standouts. It's also sometimes called the "colorful" coffee family, because the variety comes in Red, Yellow, and Pink Bourbon. Here are the most classic examples.

Red Bourbon

After flowering, Red Bourbon cherries progress from green to pale yellow, light orange, mature red, and finally a deeper red at full ripeness - this is the classic Bourbon most people know. Grown at high altitude, it delivers pronounced aromatics and bright acidity, with flavors that can even recall red wine.

Yellow Bourbon

Yellow Bourbon is unique to Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Its cherries never turn red at maturity, holding an orange-yellow hue instead - hence the name. At high elevations it performs superbly: it once dominated Brazil's Cup of Excellence for two consecutive years, nearly sweeping the top three spots, and shot to fame across the specialty coffee world.

Pink Bourbon

Pink Bourbon is a hybrid of red and yellow Bourbon and remains extremely rare. Though it shows strong disease resistance, it is genetically hard to hold onto: plant it near red or yellow Bourbon and cross-pollination gradually pulls the pink back toward red or yellow, so careful isolation is required to preserve the variety's distinctive color and character.

Knowledge Point: Over three hundred years in the different soils and climates of the New World, the two ancient varieties Typica and Bourbon have given rise to thousands of varieties and hybrid cultivars.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Want to taste these color variants side by side? FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate) Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana shows what high-altitude Yellow Bourbon does best: clean fruit character, sugarcane sweetness, and chocolate and fruit notes across pour-over, mocha pot, or home espresso.

For classic Red Bourbon, FrontStreet's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a semi-washed lot roasted medium - creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut, with a rounded, low-acid body and just a whisper of bitterness. It suits pour-over, moka pot, SOE, siphon, and French press alike.