How Does Yellow Bourbon Coffee Differ From Other Bourbons?

Bourbon descends from Typica and ranks among the key Arabica coffee varieties, with round beans and better leaf rust resistance than Typica. Most Bourbon fruit ripens dark red as Red Bourbon, but São Paulo state in Brazil produced Yellow Bourbon, which ripens orange-yellow, along with the rarer Pink Bourbon.

Yellow Bourbon, or Bourbon Amarello, is a yellow-skinned mutation unique to São Paulo. In the cup it shows elegant sweetness, aroma and acidity. The reference lot here is Brazil Queen Estate Fazenda Rainha from the Mogiana region, grown at 1,400 to 1,950 meters and made from Yellow Bourbon.

Bourbon is one of the important parent species of Arabica coffee, derived from Typica, with round beans, better resistance to leaf rust than Typica, and the ability to display rich, delicate flavors and soft acidity in high-altitude environments. The common Bourbon fruit we see ripens to a dark red, known as Red Bourbon, but São Paulo state in Brazil has also produced Yellow Bourbon, which ripens to an orange-yellow color, as well as the even rarer Pink Bourbon. What exactly are the differences among these three Bourbons? This article will sort through variety origins, genetic characteristics, flavor performance, and brewing methods, and introduce the growing region, processing method, and pour-over parameters of Front Street Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee beans, helping coffee enthusiasts understand the varietal logic behind the color differences.

Bourbon Variety

Bourbon is derived from the ancient variety Typica, with round beans, and was introduced to Brazil in 1927, after which it gradually spread to various countries in Central and South America. Although its yield is not considered high, compared with the weaker Typica, Bourbon has stronger resistance to leaf rust. Bourbon coffee grown at high altitudes has rich, delicate flavors, intense aroma, and soft acidity. The Bourbon fruit we usually see turns from green to slightly yellow, orange-yellow, red, and finally to fully ripe dark red, which is what is called Red Bourbon. But did you know that Brazil also has another Bourbon variety whose ripe fruit is orange-yellow—Yellow Bourbon—a Bourbon mutation unique to São Paulo state in Brazil.

Yellow Bourbon (Bourbon Amarello), also written in English as Yellow Bourbon, is a yellow-skinned Bourbon mutation unique to São Paulo state in Brazil. Generally, coffee fruit turns red when ripe, but Yellow Bourbon does not turn red after ripening; instead, it is orange-yellow, hence the name. The flavor characteristics of Front Street Coffee's Brazil Yellow Bourbon coffee are very elegant in cupping, with sweetness, aroma, and acidity all relatively prominent. The Front Street Coffee Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans selected by Front Street are made from the rare Yellow Bourbon.

FrontStreet Coffee: Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans

Region: Mogiana Region

Estate: Queen Estate Fazenda Rainha

Altitude: 1400–1950m

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing Method: Natural Process

Flavor: Nuts, Chocolate, Cream, Peanut, Sugarcane

Through reviewing materials, Front Street has learned that the Arabica coffee varieties of the world are composed of Typica and Bourbon, as well as their derived descendants. Among them, Bourbon is mainly popular in Central and South American countries and is one of Brazil's main varieties. The name Bourbon comes from Bourbon Island, namely Réunion Island off the east coast of Africa. In the seventeenth century, as a French territory, it was named Bourbon Island and was not renamed until the end of the eighteenth century. In the eighteenth century, the French introduced round coffee beans from Yemen to Bourbon Island, where they began to take root and grow. It was not until 1860 that Brazil brought round Bourbon back to the country for cultivation, and it subsequently spread to various countries in Central and South America, becoming the oldest parent species of coffee in Latin America.

The fruit of the Bourbon variety is short and round, and the coffee beans are high in density. Bourbon grown at high altitudes has high sweetness and bright acidity. Like Typica, it is also an ancient and excellent variety. Bourbon has better resistance to leaf rust than Typica, and its flavor is no inferior to Typica. Common Bourbon changes color from flowering to fruit ripening, gradually turning from green to slightly yellow, red, and finally fully mature deep red, so it is called Red Bourbon. There are also Bourbon varieties that do not turn red after ripening, instead becoming the rarer yellow or pink, namely Yellow Bourbon and Pink Bourbon.

There is another explanation regarding the genetics of Pink Bourbon. Some studies have found that Pink Bourbon is produced by natural hybridization between Colombia and Caturra. Caturra is a mutation of Bourbon, while the Colombia variety, as a coffee tree variety heavily promoted for cultivation in Colombia, has obvious advantages because it carries some Robusta genes: high yield and resistance to leaf rust. Its drawback is mediocre flavor performance and a lack of delicate sweetness and acidity.

The reason Pink Bourbon is said to be a rare variety is mainly that it is very, very difficult to maintain this beautiful pink color. Sometimes some orange Bourbon is harvested, because the final color of the coffee fruit is determined by recessive genes in the pollen grains. Among the pollen grains selected by coffee farmers for hybridization, there are both yellow genes tending toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes tending toward Red Bourbon, and these are all recessive genes, making them very prone to interfering with one another.

The "yellow" of Yellow Bourbon is determined by genetic selection for color. Yellow Bourbon grown at high altitudes contains a large amount of fructose and can present a sweet, juicy, delicate flavor, which is why it once consecutively won top honors in Brazil's Cup of Excellence (COE) competition for multiple years.

After picking ripe Yellow Bourbon coffee cherries, Queen Estate uses natural processing, allowing the coffee fruit to absorb more sweetness from the pulp during drying. Brazil is located near the equator, and because the harvest season happens to fall in the dry season, coffee fruit is very suitable for direct dehydration and drying through sun exposure. However, the traditional "sun-drying method" process is very rough: after picking, the fruit is spread directly on the ground to dry, and the resulting coffee is likely to be mixed with an earthy taste, while uneven heating can produce negative notes of over-fermentation. Queen Estate first pours the coffee cherries into a water tank and uses flotation to remove underripe fruit, then dries the coffee in small batches on African raised beds with better breathability, turning it at irregular intervals, thereby avoiding earthy and over-fermented flavors, and its sweetness is also a step above the traditional natural method.

Because Yellow Bourbon coffee beans grown at high altitude have greater density and high glucose content, Front Street's roasting approach is to highlight the classic rich aroma of Front Street's Brazilian coffee while also showcasing Bourbon's own sweetness. After many experiments and cupping comparisons, Front Street Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans are roasted at a medium-dark level. After medium roasting, the internal structure of the beans is changed to a greater extent, becoming loose, and when ground into coffee powder it absorbs water more strongly. If the brewing parameters are not adjusted well, the coffee will easily become over-extracted and bitter. If you want the coffee to have enough aroma without over-extraction, you need to lower the extraction rate. Front Street uses a lower water temperature and a coarser grind to reduce the release of bitter large molecules in the coffee. Combined with using a KONO dripper for extraction, this gives the coffee better body and roundness.

Pour-over parameters: 87–88°C water temperature, KONO dripper, medium grind (70% passing rate on China standard No. 20 sieve), coffee powder: 15g, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, three-stage pouring

Use twice the amount of water relative to the coffee powder to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome, and let it bloom for 30s. Then pour in a small stream in a circular motion from the inside out until 125g, pausing between stages. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, then continue pouring the third stage with the same thin stream until 225g, until all the coffee liquid has filtered through. Remove the dripper; the time is about 2 minutes. Finally, swirl the coffee liquid in the server to even it out and it is ready to enjoy~

The pour-over Front Street Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee presents aromas of dark chocolate, cream, peanut, and nuts. On the palate it is as refreshingly sweet as sugarcane, with a balanced mouthfeel, bright flavor, and a long-lasting finish in the mouth.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.