What's the Difference Between Bourbon Coffee Beans and Arabica Coffee Beans? An Introduction to the Original Arabica Coffee Varieties

What's the difference between Bourbon and Arabica coffee beans?

Coffee is primarily divided into three species: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Coffee beans worldwide mainly belong to the Arabica and Robusta varieties. Arabica is more sought after in the market than Robusta because it contains less chlorogenic acid and has more delicate flavors. Robusta coffee is more disease and pest-resistant, with yields far higher than Arabica varieties, but its drawback is a bitter taste lacking delicate flavors, making it generally suitable for commercial coffee that doesn't emphasize flavor complexity.

In the world of specialty coffee, varieties refer not just to Arabica, because Arabica and Robusta refer to the species level. More distinction is needed for varieties (variety) within the species, which is what we commonly refer to as varieties, such as Typica, Bourbon, Geisha, etc.

Although belonging to the Arabica species, different varieties result in different flavors, yields, etc. For example, Caturra has high yields, Geisha has delicate flavors... When discussing varieties, we must mention two of the earliest varieties: one is Typica, and the other is the Bourbon variety we're sharing today.

The Origin of Bourbon Variety

In the 18th century, the French introduced round coffee beans from Yemen to Réunion Island. At that time, Réunion Island was still known as Bourbon Island, which is how it got its name Bourbon. Subsequently, the Bourbon variety took root in Réunion Island and gradually adapted to the local growing environment. Although it was introduced very early, the Bourbon variety didn't spread until before the mid-19th century. In 1860, the Bourbon variety was introduced to Brazil and from there rapidly spread to various countries in Central and South America. These countries still grow and produce Bourbon variety coffee beans today.

The Color Variations of Bourbon

When discussing Bourbon variety, many have heard about the color variations of Bourbon, such as Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, and Pink Bourbon. Red Bourbon might be the most common type because generally, coffee cherries mature from green when unripe, gradually to light yellow, then to orange, presenting red when at optimal picking time, and finally to dark purple when overripe.

Trained harvesters know when to pick coffee cherries—by observing the color of the cherries to harvest the highest quality coffee of the day. Unripe coffee cherries mean the coffee beans haven't accumulated enough nutrients and naturally cannot develop delicate flavors, while overripe coffee cherries are also prone to produce over-fermented flavors. One of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffees comes from the Red Cherry Project. This project purchases coffee cherries harvested as fully red cherries at higher prices to increase farmers' income and coffee bean quality, achieving a win-win situation.

Getting back on track, Red Bourbon is named as such because its cherries present red. The same principle applies to Yellow Bourbon and Pink Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon is generally believed to be a hybrid of Red Bourbon and other varieties. Yellow Bourbon cherries present yellow when mature, initially discovered in Brazil, which remains the main producing country for Yellow Bourbon. Besides having yellow cherries, Yellow Bourbon also has relatively low yields and is not resistant to wind and rain, so it hasn't been widely cultivated.

Pink Bourbon is even rarer. Pink Bourbon is a hybrid of both Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The reason for its rarity is that the pink appearance of the cherries is determined by recessive genes, which are very easily disturbed, making it difficult to maintain the pink cherry appearance.

How Does Bourbon Coffee Taste?

To find the taste of Bourbon coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes we should start with Brazil. Although Bourbon spread to many coffee-producing countries in Central and South America, Bourbon's disadvantages destined it to be replaced. Bourbon and Typica, the two oldest Arabica varieties, have very low disease and pest resistance, and their yields are not high. Their only merit might be their excellent cup quality, so many Central and South American countries prefer to grow natural mutations of Bourbon—Caturra, as well as other more disease-resistant and higher-yielding varieties.

Brazil Yellow Bourbon coffee comes from Queen Estate Farm in the Mogiana region, processed using natural method. We can taste distinct nutty notes, cream, etc. Besides the Yellow Bourbon from Queen Estate, FrontStreet Coffee also has a Red Bourbon coffee bean from the South Minas region, processed using semi-natural method. This coffee tastes of nuts and chocolate notes, with a caramel aftertaste. Comparing these two Brazilian Bourbon coffees, it's not difficult to find that the base note of Bourbon variety is mainly nuts, while the obvious sweetness is also very pleasant.

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-Over Reference for Queen Estate Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee hopes to highlight the classic regional flavor of Queen Estate, which is the rich chocolate aroma, so Frontsteet uses medium-dark roast. Through cupping, Frontsteet found that this Queen Estate has very obvious sweetness, so in brewing, we use three-stage water pouring to present more layers of the coffee.

Dripper: Medium-dark roasted coffee beans mainly present a rich and rounded mouthfeel. Targeting this characteristic, Frontsteet will choose the KONO dripper with slower flow rate for extraction. The upper part of KONO is a smooth curved surface, with one-third length diversion ribs at the bottom. This allows the filter paper to fit more closely with the dripper, restricting upward airflow, forcing hot water to flow downward, creating a siphon-like extraction effect, allowing the aromatic substances in the coffee grounds to be released more fully.

Grind Size: Considering the deeper roast level, coffee beans become more porous in texture, easily absorbing more water after grinding, and releasing more soluble substances, which can easily bring out unpleasant woody and other bitter tastes. FrontStreet Coffee's barista will adjust the grind to be coarser, making the coffee particles larger to reduce over-extraction. Here we use medium grind (70-75% pass rate through Chinese standard #20 sieve).

Water Temperature: When brewing light-medium roasted coffee beans, Frontsteet uses higher water temperatures to release aromatic substances from high-density coffee beans. However, medium-dark roasted Brazilian coffee has undergone longer caramelization reactions. If high-temperature hot water is used, the coffee easily presents concentrated and burnt bitterness. Appropriately lowering the water temperature can help reduce certain bitterness. Frontsteet uses water temperature of 87-88°C.

Coffee grounds will absorb about twice their weight in water. Frontsteet generally uses 15g of coffee grounds, extracting at a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, finally extracting close to 200ml of coffee liquid, which is 1-2 servings.

Dripper: KONO dripper
Water Temperature: 87-88°C
Coffee Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium grind (70% pass rate through Chinese standard #20 sieve)

Use twice the weight of the coffee grounds in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome for a 30s bloom, then use a small water stream to pour from inside to outside in circles until reaching 125g for the first segment. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, then continue with the same fine stream to pour the third segment to 225g. Remove the dripper after all the coffee liquid has filtered through, with a time of about 2 minutes.

The pour-over Brazil Queen Estate coffee smells of lemon, nuts, and peanuts. The entry is very rich and fragrant with nut, dark chocolate, and caramel flavors, with obvious sweetness and a mouthfeel as smooth as cream, overall quite rounded.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473