Brazil Yellow Bourbon Single Origin Coffee Beans: Price, Estate, Region, Flavor Description, Processing Method, Variety, and Taste Profile

FrontStreet Coffee: Brazil Yellow Bourbon Single Origin Coffee Beans - Price, Origin, Flavor Description, Processing Method, Variety, and Taste Introduction

Brazil lies in the Latin American region of the Western Hemisphere, in eastern South America on the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean. On land it borders every country on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile. The vast majority of its territory sits between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, giving it the most extensive tropical range of any country in the world. One-third of its territory has a tropical rainforest climate, while two-thirds have a tropical savanna climate. These superior tropical conditions are exceptionally well suited to the growth and production of tropical cash crops such as coffee.

Coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae family and is a heat-loving plant with approximately 40 species. Along with cocoa and tea, it is known as one of the "world's three major beverages."

Brazil has made full use of its tropical geography and has emphasized coffee production and sales, keeping its coffee production, export volume and per capita consumption at the top of the world for many years. The country has earned the name "Coffee Kingdom." Coffee's homeland, however, is not Brazil but the Kaffa province of Ethiopia in Africa.

Coffee reached Brazil after the 18th century. In 1727 it was introduced to Brazil's Port of Belém from Guiana, where it took root and flourished, mainly in the southeastern coastal regions of São Paulo, Paraná, Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais. From the late 18th century to the 1920s came the golden age of Brazilian coffee production, when Brazil's coffee output at one point accounted for 75% of world production. For a considerable period, coffee exports made up two-thirds of Brazil's total export income, which made Brazil the undisputed "Coffee Kingdom." The economic crisis that erupted in 1929 sharply reduced world coffee consumption and dealt a heavy blow to Brazil's coffee economy.

On some estates in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil, ancient Bourbon coffee is still cultivated. Estates such as Capin Branco and Vista Allegre also sell old-variety Bourbon coffee on the market. Although they come from the same region, these coffees each have their own character: Capin Branco has a smoother taste than Vista Allegre, while Vista Allegre is strong and dark. Both are lower in acidity. Like all Brazilian coffees, however, they are best enjoyed fresh. Coffee may be diverse, but Brazilian coffee suits popular tastes.

For example, coffee produced in the northern coastal regions has a typical iodine flavor that reminds people of the ocean after drinking, and this coffee is exported to North America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Another interesting and noteworthy coffee is washed Bahia coffee. This coffee is not easy to find, because after the United States, Brazil is the world's largest coffee consumer, and many fine coffees can only be found in its domestic market. These coffee growers have organized themselves into the Specialty Coffee Association of Brazil.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The Yellow Bourbon in this article is one of Brazil's rarer varieties, and FrontStreet Coffee's Queen's Estate is the clearest place to taste it. The estate sits in Mogiana, close to South Minas, where the fertile red volcanic soil lets coffee cherries absorb plenty of nutrients and develop a full aroma. Some farms there hold to traditional methods while others have adopted modern, standardized management, and the quality of the local coffee has improved markedly as a result. The variety is the rare Yellow Bourbon, a natural mutation of Red Bourbon with cleaner fruit character, and whether you brew it as a pour-over, in a moka pot or on a home espresso machine, it shows a sugarcane sweetness that other origins do not have, along with fruit and chocolate notes.

If you would rather start with the classic Brazilian profile, FrontStreet's Cerrado is a textbook Brazilian single origin. Cerrado is a well-known local region prized for high-quality beans, and this lot is the common South American Red Bourbon variety. Roasted to a medium level, it delivers the rich aromas of cream peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut, with a round mouthfeel, no acidity and a slight bitter note, and it works in a pour-over as well as in a moka pot, an espresso SOE, a siphon or a French press. Brazilian coffee also anchors FrontStreet's espresso blends, from the rich-crema Classic Blend to the nut-forward Specialty Blend, the balanced Black Cocoa Blend and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend built for cafes, where Brazilian beans supply chocolate and cream aromas plus a soft balance of acidity, sweetness and bitterness that keeps extraction stable.