How Does Bourbon Coffee Fit Into the Arabica Family?
Bourbon is one of the two core branches of Arabica, alongside Typica, and it shows up often in Latin American growing regions such as Brazil. Its plants are compact and productive but prone to leaf rust, and the green beans tend to run smaller, rounder and shorter. In the cup, expect pronounced sweetness with nutty and creamy notes.
Bourbon takes its name from the island where it first took root: in 1715 the French carried round-bodied Mocha beans from Yemen to Bourbon Island, renamed Réunion after the French Revolution. It was formally recorded in 1947, and Burundi, Rwanda and South America are now the main growing regions, with lower caffeine than typica coffee.
Bourbon is one of the two core branches of Arabica and is especially common in Latin American producing regions. Starting from botanical classification, this article sorts out the relationship between Bourbon and Typica, reviews its spread from Yemen via Réunion to the rest of the world, and explains its plant, bean shape, and flavor characteristics. Combining Front Street Coffee’s roasting and cupping experience, the article also summarizes how Front Street Bourbon green beans tend to be smaller, rounder, and shorter, with prominent sweetness and nutty, creamy notes, and offers drinking suggestions for pour-over or espresso blending, helping enthusiasts fully understand this classic variety.
Among the many varieties of coffee beans, Bourbon is one that appears quite often, especially in Latin American producing regions, with Brazil being a typical example.
If classified biologically, the Coffea genus can be divided into three major categories: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. The main types consumed daily are Arabica and Robusta, among which Arabica is mostly used for single-origin or specialty coffee. Whether from the perspective of coffee culture or genetics, Bourbon and Typica are the two most important branches within Arabica.
Bourbon can be traced back to Ethiopia and is a natural mutation type of Bourbon, first appearing on Réunion (Reunion Island) and only formally recorded in 1947. Burundi, Rwanda, and South America are currently the main Bourbon-growing regions. Although it is similar to Typica, it has stronger growth, higher yield, and relatively lower caffeine content. The plant is relatively short, but its disease resistance is very weak, making it susceptible to coffee leaf rust.
The commercial coffee first planted on a large scale in Central and South America was Typica, and when Typica was introduced to producing regions, another variety—Bourbon—was also transplanted from Yemen to Bourbon Island, then spread around the world, eventually forming the pattern of Bourbon and Typica coexisting for a century.
The origin of the name Bourbon coffee and its history of spread:
Bourbon coffee is named after the island where it first took root. In 1715, the French brought round-bodied Mocha beans from Yemen to Bourbon Island off the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion after the French Revolution), and the name Bourbon came from this. In 1717, the French brought another batch of round-bodied Bourbon seedlings from Yemen, and these seedlings became the predecessor of Bourbon coffee.
In 1732, the British East India Company obtained Bourbon coffee seedlings from Yemen and brought them to Saint Helena for planting. Between 1860 and 1870, Brazil, a producing region in Central and South America, was the first to introduce the Bourbon variety, gradually replacing Typica, after which Bourbon rapidly expanded northward to other parts of South America and Central America.
After 1900, French missionaries introduced Bourbon coffee from Bourbon Island to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and other places. Today, Bourbon coffee has become an important mainstay of high-quality coffee worldwide.
Botanical characteristics of Bourbon coffee:
Slightly different from the red-tipped Typica, Bourbon coffee is green-tipped, with broad leaves and wavy leaf edges, and its yield is about 30% higher than Typica coffee. The beans are rounder and shorter, with thick berry acidity and aroma, obvious creamy and aromatic notes, strong acidity and aroma, and prominent fruity acidity, but it also shares the shortcoming of poor disease resistance.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) roasted and tasted several Front Street Bourbon coffees and found that their green beans are generally on the smaller side and relatively round and short, with a sweeter flavor profile and nutty, creamy notes.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that Front Street Bourbon coffee is relatively balanced in character, so it can be used either for pour-over or for espresso blending!
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
