Do Pink Bourbon Coffee Seeds Varieties Really Carry Bourbon Genes?

Pink Bourbon is a Bourbon variety whose fruit skin turns soft pink, named for the cherry rather than the bean. It began as a cross of Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, and because pink is recessive, it must be planted apart from other varieties to keep the color. Colombia holds the largest planted area, with cultivation history traced to the 1950s through 1980s.

Genetic testing has complicated the story: many competition Pink Bourbons show no Bourbon chromosomes, instead carrying Typica, Geisha or Ethiopian landrace genes. That leaves two readings, a naming mix-up or a gap in how varieties are understood. The uncertainty matters for coffee seeds varieties work, since breeders rely on accurate lineage when selecting plants and planning new crosses in Central and South America.

In major coffee competitions across Colombia, a variety called "Pink Bourbon" has been making frequent appearances. It gets its name from its delicately pink fruit, and was originally developed by crossing Red Bourbon with Yellow Bourbon—yet pink is a recessive trait, so it must be planted in isolation from other varieties to maintain its color. In recent years, however, genetic testing has revealed that many competition Pink Bourbons do not carry Bourbon chromosomes at all, instead showing genes from Typica, Geisha, or Ethiopian landraces. Is this a naming mix-up, or a limitation in how we understand varieties? This article will walk you through the cultivation history of Pink Bourbon in Colombia, its flavor characteristics, and the scientific controversy surrounding its mysterious origins.

In Colombian coffee competitions in recent years, one name has stood out in particular. What makes it rise above the crowd of varieties is largely the话题 potential packed into its very name—yes, we're talking about "Pink Bourbon," known in Chinese as "粉红波旁."

What Is Pink Bourbon?

Pink Bourbon refers to a Bourbon variety whose fruit skin is pink. Note that we're not talking about the color of the coffee beans, but the skin of the coffee fruit that encases the beans. The fruit of Pink Bourbon displays a soft, delicate pink, and this unique hue is extremely difficult to inherit stably.

The original Pink Bourbon was a hybrid offspring bred from crossing Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The reason its pink color is hard to maintain is that pink is a recessive trait—once it encounters dominant traits like red or yellow, it gets masked and cannot express itself. So if farmers want to obtain pink fruit through planting, they must grow it separately from other varieties to reduce the risk of it being overtaken by other colors.

Currently, Pink Bourbon is mainly distributed in Central and South American countries, with Colombia having the most extensive cultivation area. According to Front Street Coffee's research, Mr. Han Huaizong mentions in "The Fourth Wave: Specialty Coffee Studies" that Colombia's history of cultivating Pink Bourbon can be traced back to the 1950s to 1980s. At that time, Cenicafe—a research institution under the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC)—established an experimental farm in San Andrés, Huila. This farm collected hundreds of varieties from around the world and continuously crossbred them to develop new varieties, which was precisely its purpose.

In the 1980s, leaf rust spread rampant through Colombian coffee regions, causing heavy losses for estates. So the owner of Hacienda El Paraíso (White Mountain Estate) purchased a batch of leaf-rust-resistant varieties from the experimental farm for trial planting, including Pink Bourbon. At first, however, this batch of Pink Bourbon didn't receive much attention and was mixed-planted with disease-resistant varieties like Caturra and Castillo. It wasn't until 2002 that Rodrigo, the owner of Hacienda El Paraíso, developed a strong interest in unique varieties. After acquiring cupping skills through local coffee training courses, he began cupping each variety on the estate one by one. He discovered that Pink Bourbon exhibited a distinctive flavor profile similar to Geisha: citrus notes and delicate floral aromas. From then on, he began studying this special variety.

In 2014, Rodrigo planted Pink Bourbon in isolation and distributed this rare batch of seeds to other estates for joint cultivation. It was this selfless act that set Pink Bourbon on the path to fame. Between 2019 and 2023, Pink Bourbon repeatedly achieved outstanding results on competition lists. More recently, at last year's (2023) WBC World Barista Championship, Mr. Boram UM won the title using Pink Bourbon.

Named Bourbon, But Not Necessarily Bourbon.

Surprisingly, although Pink Bourbon bears the name "Bourbon," it isn't necessarily Bourbon. In early understanding, Pink Bourbon was a hybrid offspring of Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon—that part is correct. But in recent years, genetic testing has shown that most competition Pink Bourbons are not pure Bourbon.

Of the 19 Pink Bourbon test data listed in "Specialty Coffee Studies" alone, 7 carry no Bourbon chromosomes at all, instead showing more genes from Typica, Geisha, and Ethiopian landraces. The remaining few are Bourbon, or hybrids of Bourbon with other varieties. Additionally, Bourbon plants typically have green terminal leaves, while Pink Bourbon's terminal leaves are light brown—a detail that indirectly supports the possibility that it is not solely Bourbon.

By this reasoning, shouldn't those Pink Bourbons whose genes are mainly Typica and Geisha get a name change? The ones high in Typica could be called "Pink Typica," and those high in Geisha "Pink Geisha"~

Whether a name change will happen is still unknown, but Front Street thinks that if a "pink-series" Geisha ever appears, its price would probably double.

Although we can now use genetic testing to discover that some Pink Bourbons are not Bourbon, we still cannot fully uncover the true origins of these Pink Bourbons. As the book says, perhaps only the experimental farm that managed the project back then truly knows the truth about Pink Bourbon.

- END - Front Street Coffee

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