Characteristics of Bourbon Coffee Beans with Delicate Fruit and Caramel Flavors

FrontStreet Coffee - Bourbon Coffee Variety Introduction

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) comes from coffee trees of the Bourbon variety of Arabica. The variety was first cultivated on Réunion, which before 1789 was known as Bourbon Island (Île Bourbon). Later occupied by France, the island became a link between Africa and Latin America, and the coffee went on to make its name across the world's two great Arabica-producing regions. Bourbon is typically grown at altitudes of 3,500 to 6,500 feet (1,062–1,972 meters).

When Réunion was a French colony, its name was Bourbon Island — and yes, that is exactly where the coffee variety got its name. Bourbon is an inherent (heirloom) variety of Arabica coffee.

In 1715, roughly forty coffee trees were shipped from the port of Mocha in Yemen to Réunion. Only two survived. Thanks to the island's favorable climate, those trees thrived, and around 1719 the island's first coffee plantation was established. To develop the industry, the island government decreed that every resident, regardless of race, must plant 100 coffee trees each year.

In 1723 the decree was strengthened: the annual quota rose to 200 trees, and anyone caught damaging a coffee tree could be sentenced to death. Under such strict rules, the industry flourished. Coffee grown on the island and shipped abroad came to be known as Bourbon coffee, prized for its delicate fruit aromatics and caramel fragrance.

As an inherent Arabica variety, Bourbon offers better cup quality than many subspecies and mutations, but its great weakness is low yield. In an era of fast-paced living and massive demand, quantity often matters more than quality in coffee production — and although specialty coffee has gained growing attention in recent years, it has yet to be widely popularized. Inherent varieties like Bourbon and Typica are trending toward disappearance. Even so, Réunion's place in coffee history as the namesake and an early export point for Bourbon coffee can never be forgotten.

Réunion today produces virtually no coffee. We can only revisit the taste of Réunion coffee through Bourbon and its descendants — and they remain specialty coffees of excellent, unforgettable flavor.

Conclusion

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Bourbon is an old variety in the same family as Typica, and one of its best-known expressions today is Yellow Bourbon. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate (Rainha) coffee is an early-discovered Yellow Bourbon lot: the trees are broad-leaved and densely grown, yield about 30% more than Typica, and produce short, round beans. While conventional Bourbon cherries ripen red, mutation varieties such as this one ripen to an orange-yellow hue — hence the name Yellow Bourbon.

In the cup, Queen Estate offers aromas of cream, peanut, toasted bread, and sugarcane — rich, smooth, and gently sweet. It is also a versatile bean: equally at home in pour-over, a moka pot, or an espresso machine, making it an easy way to taste the classic Bourbon character described above.