What are the flavor characteristics of Colombia's Pink Bourbon? Could Pink Bourbon actually not be Bourbon?

Bourbon: The Noble Variety

"Bourbon," like Typica, belongs to the elder generation of the Arabica family. Many "new generation" varieties are mutations of Bourbon, such as SL28, Caturra, and others. Besides these newly discovered varieties, Bourbon also comes in various colorful versions, such as: Yellow Bourbon, Orange Bourbon. To distinguish the original Bourbon from them, people specifically used Bourbon's original red color to give it the alias "Red Bourbon."

Pink Bourbon: The Eye-Catching Variety

In recent Colombian coffee competitions, there has always been an eye-catching Bourbon variety that ranks among the top. What sets it apart from other varieties is that its name alone can attract the attention of many coffee enthusiasts. And this is our protagonist today—"Pink Bourbon," which translates to "Pink Bourbon"!

What is Pink Bourbon?

Pink Bourbon, as the name suggests, is a Bourbon with a pink appearance. Of course, it's not the coffee beans themselves that are pink, but the coffee cherries that encase the beans! The coffee cherries of Pink Bourbon have an elegant and soft pink color, and this unique color is very difficult to maintain.

The original Pink Bourbon was a hybrid creation from cross-breeding Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The reason its appearance is difficult to maintain is that pink color comes from a recessive gene. Once it encounters dominant genes like red or yellow, it gets masked and doesn't show up. Therefore, if farmers want to harvest pink coffee cherries through cultivation, they must plant it separately from other varieties to reduce the risk of being overridden by other colors.

Origins and Development

Currently, Pink Bourbon is mainly cultivated in Central and South American countries, with Colombia being the most extensive grower. According to research by FrontStreet Coffee, in Han Huaizong's book "The Fourth Wave: Specialty Coffee Studies," it is written that the cultivation of Pink Bourbon in Colombia can be traced back to the 1950s-1980s! During that era, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (abbreviated as FNC) established an experimental farm called "Cenicafe" in San Adolfo, Huila! This farm planted hundreds of different varieties from around the world! And continuously created new varieties through cross-breeding, which was the experimental purpose of this farm.

By the 1980s, Colombian coffee was being ravaged by leaf rust disease, and the losses suffered by various estates were immeasurable. Thus, the owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda purchased a batch of coffee varieties with leaf rust resistance from the experimental farm for trial planting, and this batch was Pink Bourbon. However, initially, this batch of Pink Bourbon didn't attract much attention. It was mixed with other disease-resistant varieties like Caturra and Castillo. It wasn't until 2002, when Rodrigo, the owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda who had a deep interest in unique varieties, learned "cupping" skills in a local coffee training course, that he began to cup each unique variety in the estate one by one. As a result, through cupping, he discovered that Pink Bourbon had a distinctive flavor similar to Geisha: citrus notes, elegant floral aromas. Thus, he began to study this unique variety.

Rise to Fame

By 2014, he separated Pink Bourbon for individual cultivation and distributed these unique rare seeds to other estates for joint cultivation. It was this selfless act that allowed Pink Bourbon to achieve fame and success. From 2019 to 2023, Pink Bourbon achieved excellent results in various competition rankings. More recently, last year (2023), at the WBC World Barista Championship, Mr. Boram UM used Pink Bourbon to win the championship!

The Genetic Mystery

Although named Bourbon, it's not necessarily Bourbon. Surprising, isn't it!! Although Pink Bourbon is named Bourbon, it's not necessarily all Bourbon! The Pink Bourbon we initially knew was indeed a hybrid creation from Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, which is correct. However, in recent years, genetic testing has revealed that most of the Pink Bourbon entries in competitions are not purely Bourbon varieties!

Just among the 19 Pink Bourbon testing data listed in the book "Specialty Coffee Studies," 7 of them didn't carry any Bourbon chromosomes! Instead, more genes of Typica, Geisha, and Ethiopian local varieties were detected. The remaining few were either Bourbon or hybrids of Bourbon with other varieties. Additionally, the top leaves of Bourbon plants are mostly green, while the top leaves of Pink Bourbon plants have a light brown color. This detail indirectly confirms the possibility that Pink Bourbon is not purely Bourbon. If that's the case, should those Pink Bourbon varieties with mainly Typica and Geisha genes be renamed? Those with high Typica content could be properly named "Pink Typica," and those with high Geisha content could be properly named "Pink Geisha"~

Whether they can be renamed is unknown, but FrontStreet Coffee thinks that if a "pink series" Geisha appeared, its price would probably double! Then, although today we can discover through genetic testing that some Pink Bourbons are not Bourbon, we still cannot uncover the true origins of these Pink Bourbons. As mentioned in the book, perhaps only the experimental farm responsible for this project back then knows the truth about Pink Bourbon!

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