Brief introduction of Reunion Island: what does bourbon coffee mean? which producing area of bourbon coffee is better?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange More coffee bean information Please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style)

Due to the low yield and susceptibility to disease of the tipica species introduced to Brazil in 1727, the bourbon species was introduced to Brazil around 1860 via Campinas in the south and rapidly spread north to other parts of South and Central America. In Latin America today, Bourbon is still cultivated in El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, etc., although most of the Bourbon species have been largely replaced by varieties (especially Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo).

In Africa, French missionaries known as Spiritans (from the congregation of the Holy Spirit) played an important role in the spread of bourbon. The first church was founded in Reunion in 1841 and a branch in Zanzibar in 1859; from Zanzibar, branches were founded in Bagamoyo (Tanzania coast, then Tanganyika) and St Augustine (Kikuyu, Kenya) in 1862 and a branch in Bura(Taita Hills,Kenya) in 1893. The establishment of each chapter is accompanied by the planting of coffee seeds brought from Reunion.

Bura's seedlings were taken to another French church in Santa Cruz (near Nairobi) in 1899, introduced to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 1900, and distributed to local residents willing to grow coffee. The Kent species was introduced in 1920. So far, coffee in Tanzania has been dominated by bourbon and Kent.

[Reunion's Pointe Bourbon-King's Coffee]

These ordinary words fall into the eyes of coffee players, will make their blood boil, why?

More than a decade ago, two legendary coffee varieties shook up the coffee world: Geisha and Bourbon Pointu.

But before talking about the short story of sharp bourbon, I want to share one or two things about coffee with you first, and the concept of paving a red carpet avenue in advance for the sensation caused by sharp bourbon.

In the early days coffee was an Arab monopoly, and in order to preserve its exclusivity the Arabs would not allow germinating seeds to leave their native lands, but in the seventeenth century the seeds were smuggled out of Ethiopia and Yemen, where they blossomed in the New World and produced countless descendants, the stolen seeds being bourbon and tibeka varieties.

Our main character, Bourbon, is a natural mutation of Bourbon coffee on Bourbon Island (present-day Reunion Island), named for its narrow bean shape and pointed ends, while the original Bourbon has a shorter bean body and a slightly oval outline. But the biggest difference between the two is not just in appearance, but in flavor and caffeine content. To put it succinctly, sharp bourbon is "naturally very low in caffeine, rare in yield, delicate and charming in aroma, one of the oldest trees in the world."

Bourbon was loved by many celebrities as early as the 18th century, such as French King Lu 15, French writer Balzac, etc. However, the variety Bourbon was rejected by farmers due to its weak constitution and low flowering and fruiting rate, and gradually decreased and almost extinct. It was not until 1999 - 2007 that it was successfully restored under the efforts of France and Japan, becoming the most expensive coffee today.💰💰💰

Because it is not easy to grow, it is very precious. In 2007, the asking price of 100 grams of coffee beans reached 7350 yen, or NT $24.7 per gram (five times more expensive than Blue Mountain coffee).