The once-extinct pointed bourbon is more expensive than the top blue mountain coffee?

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In the 18th century, on the island of Reunion (Bourbon), there was a variety of coffee beans called "bourbon pointed" because of their narrow shape and pointed ends. Although the yield was extremely rare, its charming aroma and elegant sweetness made it quickly spread among French princes and aristocrats. Louis XV is also said to be one of the enthusiasts captured by it, and the literary giant Balzac never leaves his coffee when writing.

However, with the change of time, climate change and the harm of diseases and pests, the bourbon pointed body, which has not produced much, has no official record of being produced on the island of Reunion since 1942. Extinct for more than half a century, Bourbon pointed body has become a legendary product spread in the coffee industry, and was once regarded as an extinct legendary product by coffee fans. Until 1999, the Japanese UCC team set foot on this land.

Pointed bourbon is a natural low-caffeinated variety, which is academically called "Coffea Laurina", but it is commonly known as "Bourbon Pointu". It is mainly because the shape of the pointed bourbon is longer and narrower and its ends are slightly pointed, so it gets its name.

Unlike other artificially treated decaf coffee, pointed bourbon is due to genetic degradation, resulting in lower caffeine content and better flavor than ordinary bourbon coffee trees, but extremely low yield. this also makes pointed bourbon more rare and expensive.

The pointed body bourbon was once extinct.

To mention the story of the extinction of pointed bourbon, we have to start from 1715 when the French transplanted the round mocha of Yemen to the island of Bourbon on the Indian Ocean on the east coast of Africa (later called Reunion). The soil, water and climate are different from those of Yemen, so a variety of bourbon is generated, the caffeine content becomes lower, and you can get a good night's sleep if you drink too much. Therefore, it is loved by French King Louis XV and famous French writers and scholars.

However, due to some natural disasters and diseases, the yield of the pointed bourbon of the variety became extremely low, and all the islanders who originally grew coffee turned to crops such as sugar cane. Gradually, the pointed bourbon became the legendary coffee bean at that time. The coffee industry also recognized the sharp bourbon as an "extinct coffee bean."

Sharp body bourbon-reappear in the world

Decades after he disappeared from the pointed bourbon, Yoshihiro Kawashima, a coffee expert at UCC Coffee in Japan, repeatedly heard coffee farmers in El Salvador mention that "decaf trees may still live on the French bourbon island," giving him the idea of looking for the pointed bourbon.

So in 1999, he had the opportunity to visit Africa and stop by the island of Bourbon to look for the legendary decaf tree. However, things did not go as smoothly as expected. None of the young people on the island had heard of coffee crops in Bourbon, so they had to leave their contact address to local farmers and officials before leaving.

Finally, two years later, in 2001, Kawashima received a call from farmers on Bourbon Island, saying that more than 30 unknown coffee trees had been found in the wild. Later, after being supervised by experts, it was confirmed that it was the Bourbon pointed coffee tree at that time, so a natural low-caffeine coffee tree restoration program was launched in cooperation between French scientists and Japan's Shangdao Coffee. Finally, in 2006, there were a small number of bourbon pointed coffee beans, which were sold in 2007, but only for the Japanese market. The price is as high as NT $20.8 per gram, which is four times more expensive than the top Blue Mountain.

The excellent flavor of pointed bourbon

What is the flavor of such a high-priced pointed bourbon? According to Coffee Studies, people who drink coffee think that it is different from the general coffee flavor, there is no bitter taste, with a strong citrus aroma and elegant acidity, and even some litchi fragrance.