Introduction to Bourbon Coffee Part 1: Pointu Bourbon Coffee Beans with Rich, Mellow Fruity Notes

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to the Laurina Coffee Variety

Laurina is a mutant variety of Bourbon. It is a rare, semi-caffeinated coffee known as the "King of Coffee Beans." In 2007, 100 grams of this miniature coffee sold for 7,350 yen - roughly 24.7 Taiwan dollars per gram, five times the price of Nanshan coffee. The trees are weak in constitution, prone to disease, and low-yielding. With high production costs on Bourbon Island, growers could not compete with emerging countries and abandoned its cultivation. After half a century of absence, in 2001 a fortunate few collaborated with UCC to revive "Laurina," drawing significant international attention. Only by 2006 did production reach 700 kilograms, with the first sales to the UK and Japan in 2007.

Laurina is unquestionably one of the rarest and most expensive coffees in the world. It grows only on Réunion Island, and those who know it are, without doubt, the most discerning drinkers and connoisseurs. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, former French President Jacques Chirac, and the famous writer Honoré de Balzac were all loyal fans.

Laurina is a variety derived from premium Arabica on Réunion Island. Normal Bourbon varieties have short, round beans, but in 1810 coffee farmers on Bourbon Island found trees with smaller leaves that resembled laurel, and beans that were more pointed and slender than usual; the yield was lower than regular Bourbon. Botanists of the day confirmed it as a new variety and named it for its discoverer, "Leroy." Because of the pointed ends of the beans, it became commonly known as Laurina.

Beyond its unusual appearance, Laurina has characteristics that make it truly distinctive. It is naturally semi-decaffeinated, with a caffeine content only half that of regular Arabica - common Arabica varieties run about 1.2%-1.6%, while Laurina comes in at just 0.6%. Yet its richness and aroma are not diminished, and it is rich in fruit notes. This is why the great French writer Honoré de Balzac called it "delicious coffee that allows good sleep even after a thousand cups."

It also carries the nickname "President's Coffee," because the Élysée Palace, the French presidential residence, regularly buys it for former French President Jacques Chirac to enjoy. Unfortunately, its yield is so low that even the president receives only limited supplies.

Flavor Profile

Elegant sweetness and acidity, a full-bodied texture, and rich fruity aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Laurina is a Bourbon mutation, which makes it a good reminder of how much variety hides inside the Arabica species. Coffee splits broadly into three original species - Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica - and wherever in the world it grows, it falls into one of those three. Arabica is by far the most diverse and has the most complex, clean flavors, which is why it dominates; Robusta is intense and high in oils and is used mostly in espresso blends and instant coffee; and Liberica, of little commercial value, survives mainly in research collections. Nearly all specialty coffee today is Arabica, and since each origin develops its own character, single-origin Arabica lots come in endless forms.

If rare, characterful Arabica is your interest, FrontStreet's range is a good tour of it. FrontStreet's Huakui is a natural-processed Ethiopian heirloom - the heirloom landraces are the country's most common, mixing many unidentified varieties, so the beans vary in size. Natural processing draws out cream strawberry, mango, jackfruit, citrus, and blueberry, carrying the ripe tropical-fruit character of FrontStreet's natural Sidamo lots; the same rich berry fragrance won first place in the TOH green-bean competition that year, all at a fair price. And FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gudingding is its washed counterpart: graded Ethiopia's top G1, washed, and showing elegant white floral, citrus, orange, and green tea.

Among varieties, Gesha is the showpiece. FrontStreet's Panama Red Label Gesha comes from Hacienda La Esmeralda, the country's most celebrated estate, in Boquete, Chiriquí province. Fertile volcanic soil, old-growth forest, year-round mist, and abundant rain give it superb growing conditions, letting this lot unfold an astonishing range of layers - heady floral, citrus, peach, and compound fruit, a creamy texture, and an oolong-tea sweetness in the finish. Compared with other Arabica, Gesha is low-yielding, fragile, and demanding about its environment, which only adds to its allure. FrontStreet also offers the Colombian Sidra (Sydra), a variety that began in Ecuador's Pichincha province and, by genetic comparison, is closely related to Ethiopian landraces - scholars suspect it was bred from an Ethiopian experimental variety crossed with local Ecuadorian Bourbon. After Anthony Douglas won the 2022 World Barista Championship using Sidra from Finca La Divisa, the variety took off. FrontStreet's Sidra is roasted medium-light and delivers floral, tropical fruit, grape, dried fruit, and passion fruit with a juicy body.

For the classic end of the spectrum, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is the Typica variety - one of Arabica's archetypes and among the earliest to spread from Yemen to India, Indonesia, and the Americas. Typica is beautifully balanced, mild, and gentle, its acidity soft and its aroma full and clean, though it is disease-prone and low-yielding. Blue Mountain Typica was transplanted from Martinique to Jamaica's Blue Mountains in the 1720s, and over more than 200 years it developed better disease resistance, especially against coffee berry disease. Yet step outside Jamaica and its sweet, delicate fragrance cannot be reproduced. In FrontStreet's cupping, no other region's coffee comes close to matching the balance of its Jamaica Blue Mountain Typica. And FrontStreet's Brazil Queen's Estate is the classic Yellow Bourbon: Bourbon, like Typica, is an old Arabica variety named for Bourbon Island, where it was first planted. Bourbon trees have broad leaves and dense growth and yield about 30% more than Typica, with short, round beans. Ordinary Bourbon cherries ripen red, but as cultivation spread, mutations appeared - including one whose cherries ripen orange-yellow, the Yellow Bourbon. FrontStreet's Queen's Estate is the earliest-discovered Yellow Bourbon, with aromas of cream, peanut, toasted bread, and sugarcane - rich and sweet - and it works as pour-over, in a moka pot, or on an espresso machine.