Recently, many customers who buy beans at offline stores on Front Street have very clear goals. They either want yellow bourbon or red bourbon by name, or they want both at the same time. The quantity is so large that it can be said that they are completely in conflict with the bourbon family.
And their purpose is also very simple, just to compare the differences between different colors of bourbon and what characteristics each has.However, because the varieties have different origins, processing, and baking, this comparison is not very intuitive. So today Front Street is going to share the origins and characteristics of these two popular varieties. Once you are familiar with them and taste them, you will definitely be able to capture more unexpected flavors.Bourbon is transliterated from "Bourbon". It is a variety resulting from the mutation of Typica and is the oldest existing coffee variety. Therefore, it is also a branch of Arabica.Not just the age, Bourbon, like Typica, is the “mother species” of many of today’s popular Arabica coffee species. Common varieties such as SL28 and Caturra are descendants or mutations of Bourbon.The birth of Bourbon can be traced back to the early 18th century. At that time, Europe already had a fanatical demand for coffee. However, because the coffee trade was monopolized by Yemen at that time, the price of coffee was very expensive, so the French came up with the idea of producing it themselves. To put it simply, I plan to grow my own!But as mentioned on the front street, coffee was completely monopolized by Yemen at the time, and the coffee beans exported were all cooked beans that had been boiled or roasted and could not be grown. If you want to get coffee that you can grow, there's only one way! What can be done?That's right! That's from Yemensteal"Borrow" some coffee and plant it. So starting in 1708, the French successfully stole coffee seedlings from Yemen three times! Except for the saplings stolen back in 1708 that were not successfully cultivated because they had no relevant experience, the saplings stolen back in 1715 and 1718 were successfully cultivated because they had relevant planting experience and technology.These saplings were planted on Bourbon Island, 680 kilometers east of Madagascar.(This is now Reunion Island), and then they mutated and grew into a smaller, rounder variety that was different from Typica. Therefore, these mutant varieties planted on Bourbon Island were named Bourbon.After the 19th century, bourbon coffee was brought to all parts of the world by French missionaries. From Africa to South America, bourbon coffee took root in the microclimates and soils of various countries and began to reproduce. Through mutations or hybridization, new varieties were produced. In this way, the bourbon coffee community gradually grew.The characteristic of bourbon is that it has excellent flavor and the yield is slightly higher than Typica. Because of this, although it has little resistance to leaf rust like Typica and has higher requirements for planting environment, it can replace Typica in many countries and become the main local planting variety.There is a red bourbon in the front street bean list. It comes from Rwanda, Africa. It is a washed medium-light roasted coffee bean. Because there will be no deep fermentation in the washing process, the beans show more of the variety and local flavor.Front Street Rwanda·Washed Red BourbonProduction area: Nanshike（Nyamasheke）Altitude: 1500~1700 metersTreatment method: washing method
Flavor: Berry, Apple, Green Tea, Apricot
Interestingly, at first, bourbon was only called bourbon. After the appearance of yellow bourbon, in order to distinguish it, bourbon was given the nickname red bourbon. The birthplace of yellow bourbon is today's bourbon coffee planting giant, and it is also the world's largest coffee producer-Brazil.The first bourbon took root in Brazil in 1860. In just ten years, red bourbon has become one of the main varieties planted in Brazil. It is precisely because of the popularity of bourbon coffee in Brazil that the emergence of yellow bourbon was born.In 1930, a coffee variety with yellow fruits appeared in a Bourbon plantation near Pedernelas in the northeastern state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since the location of the discovery is a Bourbon plantation, then add the yellow botucatu in Brazil where yellow coffee berries are grown.(yellow iron pickup), so the local people thought that this was a hybrid of Bourbon and Yellow Botukatu, and then simply named it - "Yellow Bourbon".For more detailed stories about Huang Bourbon, you can go to"Yellow Bourbon"I understand that this article is quite lengthy, so Front Street will not go into too much detail here.Although yellow bourbon is a bourbon variety unique to Brazil, it has not been as widely grown locally as red bourbon since its discovery. Why? Because it is not so easy to grow, and the yield is not that impressive.Yellow Bourbon perfectly inherits Typica's characteristics of being difficult to grow. It is intolerant to wind and rain, has weak resistance to leaf rust, and has a relatively low yield. As Front Street has always shared, for coffee farmers, the benefits brought by yield will be more objective, so yellow bourbon is not widely grown locally.Although it has low yield and is difficult to grow, when we plant it in high-altitude areas, yellow bourbon will have excellent sweetness and flavor. Because of this, some Brazilian estates that pursue flavor will plant yellow bourbon to produce high-quality coffee. For example, the Front Street Brazilian Queen Estate in the Front Street Bean List, this bean is the yellow bourbon variety.Front Street Brazil Queen Estate Yellow BourbonAltitude: 1400~1950 metersTreatment: Semi-sun drying
Flavor: chocolate, nuts, caramel, some berries, slightly fermented aroma
The Front Street Queen of Brazil Estate Yellow Bourbon in the Front Street Bean List is characterized by a very obvious aftertaste, because Front Street uses a medium-to-dark roasting to stimulate its nutty aroma and enhance the body, so the flavor is more dominated by medium-to-dark roasted aromas such as chocolate, nuts, caramel, etc. And because the roasting is not that deep, you can taste a little bit of berry in the finish, and maybe even a little fermented aroma. The level can be said to be rich!
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
