Introduction to the characteristics of fine and rare coffee variety pointed bourbon coffee natural low-caffeine coffee beans

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Bourbon Coffee-pointed Bourbon

Pointed Bourbon (Bourbon Pointu): found in Bourbon Island in 1810, beans changed from round to pointed, with only half the caffeine content, but in small amounts, weak and extremely precious (mostly cultivated in the laboratory).

Bourbon Pointu has two other names, Laurina and Leroy, but neither is as loud as the first name. The reason why it is called pointed bourbon is that the bean shape is long and narrow and both ends are pointed, while the native species bourbon (some people call it round bourbon) has a shorter bean body and a slightly oval outline.

Because of its good flavor and low caffeine content, pointed bourbon was loved as early as the 18th century, with many celebrities, such as King Luther 15 of France, and the novelist Balzac being its "fans". During the two hundred years of the 18th and 19th century, the pointed 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 shipped back to France was only 200 kilograms, and since then, the pointed bourbon disappeared without a trace. Even the official documents are no longer mentioned. After the 1950s, coffee was no longer grown on Reunion, and agriculture on the island turned completely to other crops such as sugar cane. Coffee was no longer associated with Reunion, while pointed bourbon was recognized by the coffee industry as "extinct."

In view of this bean, it disappeared for half a century and did not reappear until eight years ago, resulting in the Bourbon pointed body of the country of origin La Reunion Island in the international market. After the price reached more than 500yuan per 100g, Colombia also began to grow this bean, and only Camilo Merizalde, which is the source of many WBC champion beans, dared to take over the transplant of this bean, so this coffee bean, which produces only a few tons of coffee every year, is expensive.

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 named because the bean shape of the pointed bourbon is longer and narrower and slightly pointed at both ends.

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.

Decades after the sharp bourbon disappeared, 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 find 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, experts identified it as the Bourbon pointed coffee tree at that time, so French scientists cooperated with Japan's Shangdao Coffee to launch a natural low-caffeine coffee tree restoration program. Finally, in 2006, there were a small number of bourbon pointed coffee beans. After screening, they 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.

Flavor description in the file: bright sour taste, blueberry, vanilla smell, velvety smoothness