Bourbon Coffee Bean Varieties: Origin Countries, Spread History, and Flavor Profile

Bourbon is an ancient and excellent variety, ranked alongside Typica. It is renowned for being cultivated at high altitudes and possessing exceptional quality.

Spread History

FrontStreet Coffee has reviewed historical materials and learned that in the world of coffee, Typica and Bourbon, along with their descendants, form the two major varieties that constitute the world's Arabica system. Among these, Bourbon is primarily popular in Central and South American countries and is also one of the main varieties in Brazil, a major coffee-producing nation.

The name Bourbon originates from Bourbon Island, which is Réunion Island located on the east coast of Africa. In the seventeenth century, as a French territory, it was named Bourbon Island and was not renamed until the late eighteenth century. According to historical research, the French made three attempts in 1708, 1715, and 1718 before successfully introducing round coffee beans from Yemen to Bourbon Island, where they began to take root and grow. It wasn't until 1860 that Brazil brought round Bourbon back to its own country for cultivation, after which it spread to various countries in Africa and Central and South America, becoming the most ancient Latin American coffee parent variety.

Bourbon was introduced to the vicinity of Campinas in southern Brazil around 1860 and quickly spread northward to South and Central American countries. By the late 19th century, French missionaries brought Bourbon seeds from Bourbon Island to established mission stations in East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and other regions. Although Bourbon is susceptible to coffee diseases and may be replaced by some derivative varieties (such as Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo) or disease-resistant varieties, it is still widely cultivated in countries like Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia due to its exceptional quality.

Variety Characteristics

Bourbon has distinct characteristics on the coffee tree. The leaf nodes of Bourbon are relatively close together, and the coffee cherries are rounder and shorter compared to Typica. The color of mature cherries varies by variety, appearing yellow or orange (pink). Bourbon is almost exclusively round beans. Compared to Typica, Bourbon beans are slightly smaller and mature later, but Bourbon has higher yields than Typica. Bourbon beans grown at high altitudes have higher density, better sweetness, and bright acidity. Although both are ancient excellent varieties like Typica, Bourbon's resistance to leaf rust is superior to Typica's.

Common Bourbon varieties gradually change color from green to light yellow, then red, and finally to deep red when fully mature from flowering to fruit ripening. These changing coffee cherries are what we commonly call Red Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon is a unique Bourbon variety found exclusively in São Paulo state, Brazil. Its main characteristic is that the fruit does not turn red when mature but instead presents an orange-yellow color, hence the name "Yellow Bourbon." However, its yield is extremely low and it is not resistant to wind and rain, so it has not been widely cultivated.

FrontStreet Coffee has learned that Yellow Bourbon was discovered in 1930. Later research by the Campinas Agronomic Institute (IAC) revealed that plants with the dominant XcXc gene pair produce red berries, while plants with the recessive xcxc gene pair produce yellow berries. In rare cases, plants with one dominant gene and another recessive Xcxc plant produce orange berries. Therefore, the "yellow" color of Yellow Bourbon is mainly due to genetic color selection. Yellow Bourbon grown at high altitudes contains high amounts of fructose, thus presenting a sweet and juicy coffee flavor. This variety also swept the Brazil Cup of Excellence competition for two consecutive years, almost sweeping the top three awards and creating a sensation in the specialty coffee industry!

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee has also acquired Bourbon variety coffee beans, with the most representative being the Yellow Bourbon coffee beans from Brazil's Fazenda Rainha. FrontStreet Coffee's Yellow Bourbon coffee beans from Brazil's Fazenda Rainha come from the Mogiana region. This Yellow Bourbon coffee bean from FrontStreet Coffee uses natural processing. In terms of flavor profile, this coffee from Brazil's Fazenda Rainha has sugarcane juice, black tea, and fruit-like sweetness, with distinct nutty and chocolate flavors, balanced acidity, and a bright, smooth, and delicate mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans

Region: Mogiana Region

Estate: Fazenda Rainha

Altitude: 1400-1950m

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing: Natural Processing

Flavor: Nuts, Chocolate, Cream, Peanuts, Sugarcane

Additionally, there is another extremely rare new variety—Pink Bourbon. Pink Bourbon is a hybrid of Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. It is because after hybridization, the recessive genes in the pollen grains cause the coffee cherries to呈现 pink color when mature. This is extremely rare because in the pollen grains during hybridization, recessive genes may tend toward yellow or red, easily interfering with each other, making Pink Bourbon difficult to produce.

There is also another special Bourbon variety—Laurina. The beans have mutated to become pointed beans, hence it is called "Pointed Bourbon." This variety was first discovered on Réunion Island (Bourbon Island) in the Indian Ocean. Because of its ideal flavor profile and particularly low caffeine content, it is quite popular among coffee professionals. Unfortunately, caffeine is a natural insect repellent, and this variety itself has low caffeine content and grows much slower than other Arabica varieties. Cultivation requires a lot of time and effort, making it difficult to achieve large-scale cultivation.

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