Coffee Varieties Complete Guide: Is Bourbon Coffee a Typica Variety?

Bourbon coffee is a natural mutation of the Typica coffee variety. Both are ancient varieties that originated from Arabica. Generally, Bourbon coffee fruits mature from green to bright red, which is what we commonly know as Red Bourbon. The fruits are relatively short and round, also called Round Bourbon. They have high density in both pulp and seeds, with high sweetness and bright acidity! However, besides Red Bourbon, there are actually Yellow Bourbon, as well as the rare Orange Bourbon and the precious Pink Bourbon.

Red Bourbon

Bourbon is just Bourbon, so why is it specifically named Red Bourbon?

In fact, the original Bourbon coffee tree, after flowering and fruiting, undergoes a color transformation from green to light yellow, gradually turning to a slight orange, and finally reaching mature red and then deep red when fully ripe. Therefore, to distinguish it from other Bourbon varieties (Pink Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, etc.), it's specifically called Red Bourbon. Bourbon is recommended to be grown at altitudes above 1,200 meters, where its flavor will significantly surpass Bourbon beans grown below 1,000 meters!

Both Bourbon and Typica are listed as ancient, excellent varieties, but Bourbon has more vigorous growth vitality and better resistance to leaf rust disease than Typica, yet its flavor is in no way inferior to Typica! The greatest commonality between Bourbon and Typica is that they both require shade trees to block sunlight to favor growth and flavor development. However, if the following conditions are met, they can be cultivated using full sun exposure:

1. Annual average temperature can be maintained between 18-24°C
2. Plantation faces northeast or east
3. Only six hours of daily sunlight exposure

Yellow Bourbon

Yellow Bourbon is a unique Bourbon variety native to São Paulo state, Brazil. It's mainly named because when ripe, the fruit doesn't turn red but instead presents an orange-yellow color. When Yellow Bourbon is grown in high-altitude areas, it exhibits excellent flavor characteristics. It once swept Brazil's "Cup of Excellence" competition for two consecutive years, with almost all top three awards being won by Yellow Bourbon, creating a sensation in the specialty coffee industry! The flavor of Yellow Bourbon typically features nuts and chocolate, with balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, creating an overall bright and refreshing profile!

Yellow Bourbon coffee cherries, during their ripening stage, don't present the cherry-red color but instead appear yellow, and were discovered in 1930. Later, research by the Campinas Agronomic Institute (IAC) found that plants with the dominant XcXc gene pair produce red berries; plants with the recessive xcxc gene pair produce yellow berries, and in rare cases, plants with one dominant gene and another recessive Xcxc plant produce orange berries. Therefore, the "yellow" color of Yellow Bourbon is due to genetic color selection. Yellow Bourbon grown in high-altitude areas contains high amounts of fructose, presenting sweet and juicy flavors. It once swept Brazil's "Cup of Excellence" competition for two consecutive years, almost sweeping all top three awards and creating a sensation in the specialty coffee industry!

In FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection, the Brazil Queen Coffee belongs to the Yellow Bourbon variety, featuring flavors of nuts and creamy peanuts, with balanced acidity and fermented fruit aromas.

Pink Bourbon

After reading about Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, one can deduce that Pink Bourbon gets its name from its pink-colored ripe fruit! Pink Bourbon is a hybrid variety cultivated from crossing Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, making it an extremely rare variety.

Why is it so rare?

The main reason is that both the yellow genes of Yellow Bourbon and the red genes of Red Bourbon are recessive genes, which easily interfere with each other, making Pink Bourbon difficult to produce. Additionally, Pink Bourbon is extremely similar to unripe Red Bourbon, making it hard to identify and often mixed together, resulting in scarce production. Pink Bourbon actually has very good disease resistance and a very special flavor profile, with lily flower aromas and distinct lychee sweetness, which is truly remarkable.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473