What is Bourbon Coffee? How to Introduce Pink Bourbon: Sweet and Aromatic Flavors

Introduction to FrontStreet Coffee's Pink Bourbon Coffee

Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Bourbon Island - today's Réunion Island, which lies roughly 650km east of Madagascar.

Alongside Typica, Bourbon ranks as one of the oldest and finest coffee varieties in existence.

Trace the family tree and Bourbon and Typica actually share a lineage: the earliest Typica carried to Bourbon Island reproduced naturally over several generations and mutated. In vigor, disease resistance, tree form, and cup flavor, the new tree improved markedly on its Typica parent, and the variety eventually took the island's name - Bourbon.

Bourbon coffee thus springs from the natural mutation of Typica, and both belong to the Arabica species. Typical Bourbon cherries start green and ripen to bright red - the Red Bourbon we know best. The fruit is short and round, hence the alternative name Round Bourbon, with high density in both flesh and seed, delivering high sweetness and bright acidity.

But beyond Red Bourbon there are also Yellow Bourbon, the rare Orange Bourbon, and the precious Pink Bourbon.

Pink Bourbon is a natural hybrid of Yellow Bourbon and Red Bourbon. Yellow and Red Bourbon both express "dominant traits" carried by dominant genes, which gives them strong reproductive stability. Pink Bourbon, the child of their union, expresses a "recessive trait" carried by recessive genes, so its offspring readily segregate back into other forms.

What is more, coffee trees reproduce sexually through pollen, and neighboring trees carrying dominant traits can easily cross-pollinate Pink Bourbon, disrupting its flowering and fruiting in the next season. That is precisely why Yellow and Red Bourbon are everywhere while Pink Bourbon remains a rare sight.

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Pink Bourbon

Flavor profile: sweet orange, sugarcane sweetness, cherry tomato, and a pleasant juice-like sensation.

The Pink Bourbon variety was first discovered in Paez, Huila, Colombia, and is cultivated today mainly in the Huila region.

About FrontStreet Coffee

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a specialized coffee research establishment that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation, hoping to help more friends fall in love with coffee - a mission FrontStreet Coffee has carried for the past six years!

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Pink Bourbon's genetic story fascinates you, taste its family tree in the cup: FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon - one of the earliest discovered Yellow Bourbons - offers cream, peanut, toast, and sugarcane sweetness, mellow and clean across pour-over, moka pot, or espresso. For a modern hybrid with equally vivid fruit, the FrontStreet Colombia Sidra, medium-light roasted, shows florals, tropical fruit, grape, dried fruit, and passion fruit with a juice-like body.