Is Arabica Coffee High in Caffeine Compared With Laurina?

Coffea arabica normally holds about 1.2 to 1.5 percent caffeine, so it does contain a stimulant, just less than robusta. Laurina, also called Bourbon Pointu, is a natural mutation of the Bourbon family with only around 0.5 percent caffeine, produced by genetic degeneration rather than industrial decaffeination. It delivers a full flavor despite that low caffeine level.

Laurina's low yield explains its scarcity. It is highly vulnerable to leaf rust and black spot disease, so most plants are kept in laboratories. Bourbon Island once grew it widely, reaching a peak of 4,000 metric tons in 1800, and fans included King Louis XV of France and the novelist Balzac. Hurricanes, fire ants, and disease nearly erased it before UCC Japan revived it.

In the world of coffee, decaffeination often implies artificial processing, but nature has given us an exception—Laurina, academically known as Coffea Laurina. This variety, due to genetic degeneration, naturally contains only 0.5% caffeine and boasts outstanding flavor, yet it is rare and expensive due to extremely low yield. It once swept Europe in the 18th century, counting even King Louis XV of France and the literary giant Balzac among its fans, but disasters such as hurricanes and pests once drove it to extinction. It was only after Yoshida Kawashima of UCC Japan spent years searching that this legendary variety was revived. This article will guide you through the origin, extinction, and revival story of Laurina, as well as the brewing parameters and flavor performance tested by FrontStreet Coffee.

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When it comes to decaf coffee, most people first think of products that have had caffeine removed through special processes. However, there exists in nature a coffee variety with inherently low caffeine content—Laurina, whose caffeine content is only 0.5%. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will talk with you about this unique variety.

Academically named "Coffea Laurina," also known as Laurina coffee, its common name "Bourbon Pointu" derives from its narrow, elongated bean shape with sharp ends.

Why is Laurina's caffeine content so low?

Unlike artificial decaffeination, Laurina's low-caffeine trait stems from genetic degeneration, which makes its caffeine content far lower than ordinary Bourbon coffee trees while delivering even better flavor. However, this variety has extremely low yield, which is the fundamental reason why Laurina is rare and expensive. Laurina is particularly susceptible to leaf rust and black spot disease, the main factors causing its low yield. Because of this, Laurina is especially precious and is mostly cultivated in laboratories.

As early as the 18th century, Laurina had already won people's favor, with King Louis XV of France and the famous novelist Balzac being loyal fans. During the two centuries from the 18th to the 19th century, Laurina was extensively cultivated on Bourbon Island, with annual production even reaching a peak of 4,000 metric tons in 1800.

However, good times did not last. A series of disasters—hurricanes, fire ants, leaf rust—struck one after another, and the cultivation scale gradually shrank. Eventually, in 1942, the last batch shipped back to France amounted to merely two hundred kilograms of Laurina. After that, Laurina vanished without a trace, no longer recorded even in official documents. This variety was once considered extinct.

Decades after Laurina disappeared, Yoshida Kawashima, a coffee expert at UCC Japan, repeatedly heard coffee farmers in El Salvador mention that "low-caffeine coffee trees might still survive on Bourbon Island," which planted the idea of searching for Laurina.

In 1999, while on an inspection trip to Africa, he took the opportunity to visit Bourbon Island in search of the legendary low-caffeine coffee trees. However, things did not go smoothly. Young people on the island had never heard that coffee was once grown on Bourbon Island, so he had no choice but to leave his contact information with local farmers and officials before departing.

Two years later, in 2001, Kawashima finally received a call from a Bourbon Island farmer, who said that over thirty unidentified coffee trees had been found in the wild.

Later, expert identification confirmed that these were indeed the original Bourbon Pointu coffee trees. Subsequently, French scientists and UCC Japan jointly launched a revival plan for the natural low-caffeine coffee trees, and in 2006 they finally harvested the first small batch of Bourbon Pointu coffee beans. After screening, they were launched on the market in 2007, but mainly supplied to the Japanese market at a high price, reportedly four times more expensive than top Blue Mountain coffee.

At the 2018 World Coffee Brewers Cup, Emi Fukahori from Switzerland, with a semi-carbonic maceration Bourbon Pointu from Brazil, defeated many Panama Geishas and stood out, becoming another memorable chapter in the history of coffee competitions.

The beans she used came from a Laurina Bourbon Pointu (i.e., Bourbon Pointu) from the Cerrado Region of Daterra Estate in Brazil. In her commentary, she mentioned that this variety has 50% less caffeine than other Arabica varieties and 20% less chlorogenic acid, so the bitterness is much reduced. The flavors Emi Fukahori described at the time included: red grape, orange blossom, pineapple, rum, green apple. Being able to overpower a host of Geishas and ultimately win the WBrC crown shows that the strength of this Laurina variety cannot be underestimated.

The Laurina coffee tree resembles a small Christmas tree, with shorter branches and narrow leaves. Its caffeine content is only 0.5%. It is particularly susceptible to leaf rust and black spot disease, which are the main causes of its low yield, and its red cherries ripen earlier than other varieties.

Although the price of Laurina is no longer as exaggerated as it once was, it remains a very precious bean. So, what exactly does such an expensive Laurina taste like?

Observing the roasted beans, one can see that FrontStreet Laurina Bourbon Pointu coffee beans are overall small and uniform in size, with slender shapes and pointed ends, resembling wheat.

FrontStreet Coffee brewed a pot of naturally processed FrontStreet Laurina Bourbon Pointu coffee. The parameters and flavor description are as follows:

Parameters: 15 grams of coffee, Hario V60 dripper, water temperature 90°C, medium-fine grind, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15.

Brewing method: staged extraction. First, use 30 grams of water for blooming; once the surface of the coffee bed changes from wet to dry, the blooming is complete, taking 30 seconds. Then, pour water in a small stream at the center up to 125 grams for the first stage; when the liquid level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring water up to 225 grams and stop. When the liquid level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of blooming.) Total extraction time is 2 minutes.

[FrontStreet Coffee Laurina Bourbon Pointu] Flavor: The dry aroma carries fermented notes, spices, nuts, and tropical fruit; the wet aroma has obvious floral notes. The mouthfeel is smooth, presenting flavors of red fruit, plum, and pine nut, with a lasting sugarcane sweetness in the aftertaste.

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