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I took part in a coffee cup test at the beginning of this month, and the object was the sharp bourbon from the island of Reunion.

"the pinnacle of the island of Reunion", an ordinary phrase, may not be attractive to ordinary people, but in the eyes of any coffee player, his heart beats faster and his blood boils. Why?

It is said that more than a decade ago, two legendary coffee varieties appeared and caused a sensation in the coffee world. These two varieties, one is a geisha, the other is sharp bourbon. With regard to geisha coffee, I briefly mentioned its detailed story in the essay "introduction to two Top Manors," and I'll talk about it later. Taking advantage of the impression left by the cup test, this article wants to share the legend of sharp bourbon with readers. However, before we talk about sharp bourbon, we need to figure out something about the variety of coffee, otherwise readers may find it hard to believe the sensation caused by sharp bourbon.

The coffee we usually drink, whether it comes from the Arabica (Coffea arabica), the Coffea canephora (commonly known as the Robasta), or the rarer Liberian species (Coffea liberica), is a botanical species within the genus Humulaceae. There are many varieties in the genus Coffee, of which more than 100 have been recorded (Note 3), but so far, only two of them, Arabica and Robasta, are noteworthy. This is because about 3% of the world's coffee comes from Arabica and 1 from Robasta, accounting for about 98% of the total, and nearly 2% of the remaining coffee is Liberian coffee.

People who pursue high-quality coffee will probably focus on Arabica and Robasta, for a simple reason: Arabica coffee is not guaranteed to have a good flavor, but high-quality coffee, including all fine coffee, is all in the category of Arabica, and Robasta can only be listed at the commercial bean level.

When it comes to Arabica, it is actually like a big family, and there are many different members in the family, among which the members who have the greatest influence on the coffee world are Bourbon and Typica. The reason is that coffee was once an exclusive Arab commodity, and in order to maintain its monopoly, Arabs would never allow germinating seeds to leave their place of origin (Note 4); but in the 17th century, seeds were eventually smuggled to the New World (Note 5), where they spread their branches and leaves and produced countless offspring, namely, bourbon and Tibica. In the process of reproduction, many new varieties are produced due to various factors, such as natural mutation (natural mutation), intraspecific mating, artificial breeding and so on, such as Kaddura, Catuai, Pacas, Maragogype, Pacamara, SL28, SL34 and other long lists. It can be said that the vast majority of Arabica coffee we drink today are descendants of stolen bourbon and Tibica.

Bourbon is so named because it was first widely cultivated in the New World, then known as Bourbon, which is today's Reunion, while the legendary protagonist, sharp bourbon, is a natural mutation of bourbon coffee on the island (7).

Bourbon Pointu has two other names, Laurina and Leroy, but neither is as loud as the first name. The reason why it is called sharp bourbon is that the bean shape is long and narrow and both ends are pointed, while the native species bourbon (some call it round bourbon) has a shorter bean body and a slightly oval outline. If you look at (figure 1) and (figure 2), you should be able to tell the difference in appearance between the sharp bourbon and the original bourbon. However, the biggest difference between the two is not the shape, but the flavor and caffeine content. If you use the simple word to describe the sharp bourbon, it is "good flavor, low caffeine content."

Figure 1. Sharp wave side

two。 Native species bourbon (circular bourbon)

With regard to the flavor of sharp bourbon, I will finally talk about the caffeine content of sharp bourbon. According to statistics, the caffeine content of ordinary coffee beans, Arabica is 0.9murmur1.2%, Robasta is 1.6 Murray 2.4%, and sharp bourbon is only 0.6%, which is much lower than ordinary Arabica coffee and much lower than Robasta. Although it does not meet the American standard of decaffeinated coffee (Decaffeinated coffee), it is already a boon for many people who can't stand too much caffeine but love it.

Because of its good flavor and low caffeine content (which does not affect sleep), sharp bourbon has been popular as early as the 18th century, with many celebrities, such as French King Louise 15, and the novelist Balzac is a "fan". During the two hundred years of the 19th century, the sharp bourbon was widely planted on the island of bourbon, and its annual production reached a peak of 4,000 metric tons in 1800, but then a series of disasters such as hurricanes, fire ants and leaf rust followed, so that the planting decreased. Finally, in 1942, the last batch of sharp bourbon was shipped back to France, leaving only a pitiful 200 kilograms, and since then, sharp bourbon disappeared without a trace. Even the official documents are no longer mentioned. After the 1950s, coffee was no longer grown on the island of Reunion, and agriculture on the island turned completely to other crops such as sugar cane. Coffee was no longer associated with the island of Reunion, while sharp bourbon was recognized by the coffee industry as "extinct."

The reappearance of sharp bourbon is the legend to be talked about in this article, which can be attributed to a Japanese coffee expert, Yoshihiro Kawashima (Jose Yoshiaki Kawashima).

Mr. Kawashima was born in 1956. Because his father runs a coffee roasting business, it can be said that he grew up in a coffee environment. In 1975, after graduating from high school, he was sent by his father to El Salvador, where he had business contacts, to study in the economics department of the university, but Kawashima was actually interested in coffee rather than economics, so he spent a lot of time studying coffee. He even gave up his studies in economics in order to go to the "National Coffee Institute" to study coffee. His father, who learned of this, stopped financial support from Kawashima in a rage. But Kawashima did not change his mind, traded his work as a translator for living expenses, worked part-time and continued to study coffee until 1981, when civil war broke out in El Salvador when he was 25 years old.

During his stay in El Salvador, Kawashima heard from an expert at the National Coffee Institute that the sharp bourbon was famous. Although the experts thought that the sharp bourbon was extinct, he cherished the dream that "maybe we can still find it."

After returning to China, he joined the UCC Coffee Company, worked in the agricultural research department, and served as the supervisor of UCC's overseas planting sites, including Jamaica, Hawaii, Sumatra, etc. In 1999, when I went on a business trip to East Africa, I visited the neighboring island of Reunion and asked local people to accompany me in the search for a possible remnant of the sharp bourbon. He found that many of the young people on the island did not even know that Reunion used to be an important coffee producing area in history, and that this is where the famous "bourbon" variety originated. According to Kawashima's recollection, a young man once took him to the supermarket and thought he was looking for coffee beans on the shelf.

A short day of search, but did not get any results, Kawashima returned to Japan disappointed, thinking that his dream was finally dashed. But two years later, a local veterinarian who had accompanied him in his search for sharp bourbon found 30 coffee trees in the field and immediately informed Kawashima. Kawashima rushed to Reunion immediately and confirmed that the 30 coffee trees were correct. Finally, in cooperation with UCC and French officials, after five years of restoration, a preliminary result was achieved in 2007: 700kg of raw coffee beans. UCC selected 240kg of which was shipped back to Japan, roasted ripe beans, in 100g units, a total of 2000 units, each unit 7360 yen (more than two thousand Taiwan dollars! The "sky-high price" was sold out as soon as it went public. In the second year, it rose to 8750 yuan per unit, and coffee shops sold coffee gluttons at a high price of 5250 yen per cup of coffee. Mr. Kawashima, who started the legend and brought sharp bourbon back to the world, left UCC in 2007, the same year when it was listed, to set up his own company and set up Japan's Sustainable Coffee Association (Sustainable Coffee Association).

This is the end of the legend of sharp bourbon. Finally, let's talk about its flavor and how our club chased this bean.

Our May 4th Coffee Club is a small non-profit group, whose members are mostly retired staff. The education sector boasts:

"get the talents from all over the world and educate them"

Our club has a similar purpose, not so noble, but full of joy and hope:

"get the best coffee and taste it."

At the beginning of this month, I took part in the sharp bourbon cup test, which is the embodiment of this purpose, but the cause of the cup test goes back to 2007. It was in that year that I learned of the listing of Chiang Bourbon in Japan and tried to find out if any relatives and friends who had traveled between Japan and Taiwan could bring back some beans, but not only did not get 2007 of them, but they failed for several years until last year.

Here's the thing: a few years ago, Mr. Liu, who was very attentive in coffee management, was asked to try to catch up with this famous bourbon. After all, there are far more channels for coffee workers to chase coffee than private clubs to chase coffee. Last summer, coincidentally, Mr. Liu traded his famous geisha coffee for beans in exchange for a small batch of sharp bourbon, and finally let the May 4th Club taste the old wish of sharp bourbon. Unfortunately, the sharp bourbon did not come from the island of Reunion, but from Columbia (I wonder how the seeds crossed the ocean to get to Columbia? The flavor is really good, but it doesn't seem to fit the description of "bright sour, blueberry, vanilla, velvety smooth" in the file. Agricultural products are closely related to the natural conditions of the producing area, such as soil, sunshine, Rain Water, air temperature, etc., any change is enough to change the feeling in the last mouth. So last year I once again mentioned to Mr. Liu whether I could catch up with some authentic Reunion sharp bourbon. Huang Tian did not fail to bear the pains. Mr. Liu finally achieved this difficult task this year: after the cup test is over, wait a month or two. This "sharp bourbon of Reunion Island" will come to the May 4th Coffee Club. The cup test felt that the slightly less perfect sour, fragrant and smooth, whether it can be beautifully presented in a more careful baking process, can not be verified until the beans arrive. When UCC sold the beans, he used a moving advertisement:

Yearly delicacy and luxury

Attract customers who pursue sharp bourbon, and our May 4th Coffee Club can finally wait until this belated luxury this year.

(note 1) Geisha coffee has nothing to do with Japanese geisha. It's just that the original English name, Gesha, is pronounced exactly the same as Geisha, which means geisha, so at present, the coffee industry mostly uses Geisha to replace Gesha, and "geisha coffee" was born. Readers who are interested may wish to refer to my explanation in the last paragraph of "introduction to two Top Manors".

(note 2) Robusta is the most representative species within the Congolese species, and it is a common practice in today's industry to use the term "Robasta" instead of "Congolese".

(note 3) refer to Wintgens (Ed.) Instructions in the book Coffee: Growing, Processing, Sustainable Production, p. 25.

Arabica coffee originated in Isopia, but this fact was not known to outsiders in the 16th and 7th centuries, when the world thought that the origin of Arabica coffee was Yemen, only about 40 miles from Isopia. Historically, Yemen (formerly known as Arabia) was indeed the first country to grow coffee trees as a crop, so the "place of origin" refers to Yemen rather than Ethiopia.

(note 5) the so-called "new world" here refers to any country or region that grows Arabica coffee outside Ethiopia and Yemen, such as India, Sumatra, Java, Brazil, Columbia, Jamaica, etc. (and many more).

Located in the Indian Ocean in southeastern Africa, the island was occupied by France in 1649 and was named Bourbon Island because France was a Bourbon dynasty at that time. After the French Revolution, the island was renamed Reunion, but after some changes, it was officially named Reunion in 1848, after the complete fall of the Bourbon dynasty.

(7) the coffee industry is actually a bit controversial about this argument, but there is no doubt that sharp bourbon first appeared on the island of Bourbon.

(note 8) this is based on the information in Wintgens (Ed.) "Coffee: Growing, Processing, Sustainable Production", p. 791; there are also other materials that say that Arabica is 1.2 muster 1.6% (average 1.5%), and Robasta is 1.7 Musashi 4.0% (average 2.5%). In terms of professional level, the former should be more credible.

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