What Makes Yellow Bourbon Coffee From Brazil Distinctive?

Brazil produces about 30 percent of the world's coffee, and its beans are known for low acidity, nutty and chocolatey notes, and a balanced, moderate body. Yellow Bourbon is one of the main varieties grown there, alongside Red Bourbon, Mundo Novo and Catuai. Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon shows these traits clearly in the cup.

Brazil's three specialty regions, South Minas, Cerrado and Mogiana, each have distinct terroir, and the country's original pulped natural method helps shape a clean, sweet flavor. Coffee first arrived from French Guiana in 1729. A three-stage pour-over works well for the medium roast of this Yellow Bourbon.

Brazil, as the world's largest coffee producer, is known for its low acidity, nutty and chocolatey flavors, and balanced, full-bodied taste. Starting from the historical origins and main producing regions of Brazilian coffee, this article introduces in detail the terroir characteristics of the three major specialty regions of South Minas, Cerrado, and Mogiana, and provides an in-depth analysis of how Brazil's original pulped natural method shapes its clean and sweet flavor. The article also specifically introduces the Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee beans from Front Street Coffee, covering their flavor description as well as complete pour-over parameters and three-stage pouring steps, providing coffee enthusiasts with a practical guide to tasting and brewing Brazilian coffee.

Coffee is to Brazil what tea is to us. Brazil is located in South America, and its annual coffee production accounts for about 30% of the world's total, firmly ranking first in the world. Brazilian coffee has a low-acidity, nutty flavor profile, is balanced, and has a moderate body. Just like the Brazilian Red Fruit coffee in Front Street Coffee's staple bean series, it carries rich notes of nuts, chocolate, and cream.

Historically, Brazil was long a colony of Portugal. To meet the demands of the Western European market, it maintained a single-crop coffee planting model, and coffee thus became the pillar industry of Brazil's economy. In the early years, the Brazilian government attached great importance to the coffee industry and strictly monitored coffee. This intervention was accompanied by price protection measures aimed at preventing overproduction of coffee. After the opening of the free market, Brazilian associations changed their policies toward coffee-producing regions, shifting to a principle of non-intervention and allowing producers to deal directly with exporters.

Brazilian coffee was first introduced from French Guiana in 1729. The varieties grown in Brazil include both Arabica and Robusta, and they are widely favored for their excellent quality, rich aroma, and full body. At present, Brazil mainly cultivates Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Mundo Novo, and Catuai. Yellow Catuai originated from a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra and was first successfully bred by the Brazilian agricultural research institute. Like Red Catuai, Yellow Catuai has extremely strong disease resistance and is suitable for planting at high altitudes. Both have a delicate and clean acidity.

The other varieties are often mentioned in Front Street Coffee's other articles, but Mundo Novo may be less familiar to everyone. Mundo Novo is actually a natural hybrid of Bourbon and Typica. It was first discovered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1943 and was first planted in the city of Mundo Novo, which is now Urupês.

Brazilian coffee bean production is extremely considerable. The main growing regions include Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, Bahia, and Espirito Santo. These four places together account for 90% of Brazil's national output. Mogiana comes from Sao Paulo, while Cerrado and South Minas in Minas Gerais are located at high altitudes, so the coffee produced in these two areas is mostly specialty coffee. The coffee bean production in these regions directly determines Brazil's total coffee bean output. Next, Front Street Coffee will briefly introduce these three major coffee-producing regions.

The reason South Minas can become a specialty coffee-producing region is largely due to its terrain and climate conditions. The altitude in this area is above 1,100 meters, and the landscape is highly varied. There is a distinct dry and rainy season, a large temperature difference between day and night, and diverse microclimates, making it very suitable for growing Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon varieties.

Fazenda Divino is located in the South Minas region. This estate uses only organic matter to provide nutrients to the plants in order to maintain the vitality of the land itself. The coffee from Fazenda Divino is completely different from that of ordinary large Brazilian estates. From the harvesting of coffee cherries to processing, the entire process does not use machines to replace human labor and is completed entirely by hand.

What the Cerrado region is best known for is that it has a Cerrado savanna, where coffee trees are planted, and the coffee produced there is called Cerrado coffee. However, not all coffee produced from the Cerrado savanna can be labeled with the Cerrado name. According to Front Street Coffee's understanding, only coffee grown at altitudes between 1,100 and 1,300 meters qualifies for this designation. Front Street Coffee believes that the coffee from this producing region has a full body and no earthy or musty taste.

Brazil's century-old coffee estate, Fazenda Baependi, is located in the Cerrado producing region. It is a coffee-producing region in Brazil that has been granted origin status, similar in status to its famous wine-producing regions. Fazenda Baependi has excellent volcanic soil, a balanced dry and rainy season climate, and high-altitude terrain, with abundant rainfall and sunshine.

Mogiana is located relatively close to southern Minas. The coffee bean quality in this area is equally outstanding. Front Street Coffee believes that, in addition to terrain and climate, this may also be related to its business model. The area uses both traditional large-farm management methods and small-scale modern operating models. High-tech planting equipment gives the coffee beans in this region higher sweetness, presenting a clean sweetness similar to sucrose.

The famous Queen Estate of Brazil is located in this producing region. Queen Estate is at a relatively high altitude, and its environmental protection is quite good. It mainly uses manual harvesting of coffee cherries and grows low-yield, high-quality Bourbon varieties. As a representative estate among the finest Brazilian coffees, the quality of Queen Estate coffee beans has won widespread praise.

Front Street Coffee also learned that Brazilians drink coffee in a very unique way. They use a very small coffee cup to hold very hot coffee and like to add a large amount of sugar to the coffee to enhance sweetness and flavor. Brazilians are also enthusiastic about combining coffee with alcohol. For example, Pus Coffee is one of the cocktails more popular among Brazilians. Its taste carries tropical fruit flavors while also blending the unique aroma of Brazilian coffee, making for a very perfect mouthfeel.

The taste of Brazilian coffee has relatively low acidity, as well as the coffee's own bittersweet flavor. It is extremely smooth on the palate, accompanied by a faint grassy aroma. Front Street Coffee believes that this Brazilian coffee flavor only has the flavors that ordinary coffee should have and is not particularly outstanding. However, mass-market coffee also has a broad market, because Brazilian coffee can satisfy the coffee needs of most consumers, and this is precisely why Brazil's coffee production is so large.

Another special feature of Brazilian coffee is that it created the pulped natural method. After reviewing materials, Front Street Coffee found that the planting terrain for Brazilian coffee trees is mainly divided into two types: one is the Brazilian plateau above 200 meters in altitude, and the other is the Brazilian plain below 200 meters. In addition, because of the lower altitude and abundant sunshine, the planted coffee trees are usually directly exposed to the air and sun. Front Street Coffee believes that this sun-exposure method played a major role in forming Brazil's unique flavor.

Brazil has not always used the pulped natural method. At first, because Brazil had many coffee varieties, it classified them according to the state name of origin and shipping port. However, because the production areas were relatively scattered and quality varied greatly, Brazil's grading system became more complex than that of other countries. Initially, Brazil basically used natural processing. As is well known, Brazil's climate is relatively dry, so using the natural method was reasonable, but natural processing is relatively rough and easily causes Brazilian beans to pick up a dead-wood taste. On rainy days, it also faces the risk of coffee beans becoming moldy, making it fairly passive. Therefore, Brazil created a processing method called pulped natural. This method greatly shortens the sun-drying time. Now, let everyone follow Front Street Coffee to get a general understanding of the basic process of the pulped natural method.

First, the skin and pulp of the coffee cherries are removed. Fully ripe pulp is easy to remove, while the skin of unripe green cherries is not easy to handle, so a second screening is carried out to standardize the ripeness of the coffee fruit. Pulped natural processing can control the degree of fermentation of the mucilage after depulping. The traditional method cannot observe the degree of mucilage fermentation. The pulped natural method does not have the "fermentation in tank, rinsing with clean water" steps of washed processing. After omitting the fermentation step, the flavor of the coffee beans is completely different. Compared with natural processing, Front Street Coffee more approves of this processing method. Coffee beans selected and processed in this way can greatly improve cleanliness and ripeness. For example, the Queen Estate of Brazil that Front Street Coffee obtained uses this pulped natural processing method. Front Street Coffee has also cupped Brazilian coffee beans from different producing regions and consistently found that Brazilian coffee beans have lower acidity, a relatively strong nutty flavor, and a full body.

Here we will briefly learn about several Brazilian beans from Front Street Coffee.

1. FrontStreet Coffee Brazilian Red Fruit Coffee Beans

Origin: Cerrado

Variety: Red Bourbon

Altitude: 700-1200 meters

Processing method: Pulped natural

Flavor: High sweetness, clean, smooth, low acidity, with tropical fruit aroma.

2. FrontStreet Coffee Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans

Producing region: Mogiana, Sao Paulo State

Altitude: 1400-1950 meters

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing method: After manual harvesting, pulped natural processing is carried out.

Flavor description: The taste has obvious sweetness, accompanied by a faint lemon aroma, and contains a rich nutty flavor. The finish shows obvious dark chocolate notes, and the overall impression is relatively rounded.

How should Brazilian coffee beans be brewed to taste good? Front Street Coffee will use this Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee bean as a demonstration. It is one of the more popular coffee beans on Front Street Coffee's bean list. Front Street Coffee uses a medium roast for this coffee bean to highlight the coffee's sucrose sweetness. If you want to taste better coffee flavor, Front Street Coffee suggests using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing. Generally, the flavor is best around the 7th day after fresh roasting. Friends who often buy Front Street Coffee beans know that the coffee beans Front Street Coffee sends out are roasted within 5 days, and together with logistics time, this basically ensures that the coffee remains in its best condition when it reaches the customer.

For pour-over parameters, Front Street Coffee recommends using 15g of coffee grounds, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, a medium-coarse grind with a 75% pass rate on a No. 20 sieve, and a water temperature of 88 degrees.

The brewing method uses three-stage pouring. In the first stage, pour 30ml and bloom for 80 seconds. In the second stage, pour 100ml in a small circular motion. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, pour 95ml in the third stage. The extraction time is 2 minutes.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee. WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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