Red Bourbon.

From Yemen to Réunion, then through Brazil into the Americas.

Everyday beans

Bourbon travelled with French missionaries in the eighteenth century and entered the Americas through Brazil. Much of it was later replaced in Colombia by more productive trees.

Surviving old-farm lines are read for what remains in the ground, not simply for the name on the seed.

One tree

The French made three attempts to establish coffee on Réunion. The first, in 1708, failed. The second landed sixty trees from Yemen on 25 September 1715, of which twenty survived the voyage. By 1718 a single one of those original plants was still producing offspring, the only arabica on the island that year. Its descendants numbered around seven thousand trees by 1720.

Genomic work published in 2024 confirms what the record implies: the contemporary Bourbon group descends from that one surviving plant. It is the narrowest bottleneck in commercial coffee, and it is why Bourbon and Típica are so closely related that some marker sets cannot tell them apart.

Two roads out

Bourbon stayed on Réunion for about a hundred and forty years before reaching Brazil around 1860, near Campinas. That is the line meant when a Latin American ExporterThe company at origin that mills, grades and ships a lot. Its offer sheet is where a score usually starts, which is why a lot record reads Exporter's cupping until the house or a Q grader cups it.More → says Bourbon.

A second thread left the same island with Spiritan missionaries, reaching Zanzibar in 1859 and the East African mainland over the following decades. That is French Mission Bourbon, and it is a different journey from the same source. The two are regularly confused on paperwork, so the house keeps them apart.

Colombia's best green coffee beans, at auction · 2023

31 prize lots: NZ$44 to NZ$269 a kilo.

A dot for each lot of green coffee beans sold at Colombia's best-coffee auction in 2023, by its price in New Zealand dollars a kilo, beside the price of everyday Colombian green coffee beans imported into New Zealand that year.0$50$100$150$200$250$300Everyday green coffee beans, 2023: NZ$9.52 a kiloEveryday NZ$9.52Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, 87.78 points: NZ$44 a kiloBourbon, 87.89 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 87.22 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 88 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 87.28 points: NZ$48 a kiloColombia, Typica, 87.11 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 88 points: NZ$49 a kiloAjí, 87.61 points: NZ$51 a kiloBourbon, 87.44 points: NZ$51 a kiloGeisha, 87.56 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.06 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.5 points: NZ$55 a kiloChiroso, 89.39 points: NZ$62 a kiloCaturra, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloGeisha, 88.17 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra Chiroso, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra, 88.89 points: NZ$75 a kiloCaturra, Castillo, Colombia, 88.06 points: NZ$76 a kiloGeisha, 88.83 points: NZ$81 a kiloGeisha, 89.5 points: NZ$87 a kiloGeisha, 87.44 points: NZ$95 a kiloGeisha, 87.89 points: NZ$99 a kiloGeisha, 89.78 points: NZ$140 a kiloGeisha, 90.06 points: NZ$144 a kiloAjí, 89.56 points: NZ$151 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$253 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$269 a kiloA dot for each lot of green coffee beans sold at Colombia's best-coffee auction in 2023, by its price in New Zealand dollars a kilo, beside the price of everyday Colombian green coffee beans imported into New Zealand that year.0$100$200$300Everyday green coffee beans, 2023: NZ$9.52 a kiloEveryday NZ$9.52Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, 87.78 points: NZ$44 a kiloBourbon, 87.89 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 87.22 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 88 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 87.28 points: NZ$48 a kiloColombia, Typica, 87.11 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 88 points: NZ$49 a kiloAjí, 87.61 points: NZ$51 a kiloBourbon, 87.44 points: NZ$51 a kiloGeisha, 87.56 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.06 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.5 points: NZ$55 a kiloChiroso, 89.39 points: NZ$62 a kiloCaturra, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloGeisha, 88.17 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra Chiroso, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra, 88.89 points: NZ$75 a kiloCaturra, Castillo, Colombia, 88.06 points: NZ$76 a kiloGeisha, 88.83 points: NZ$81 a kiloGeisha, 89.5 points: NZ$87 a kiloGeisha, 87.44 points: NZ$95 a kiloGeisha, 87.89 points: NZ$99 a kiloGeisha, 89.78 points: NZ$140 a kiloGeisha, 90.06 points: NZ$144 a kiloAjí, 89.56 points: NZ$151 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$253 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$269 a kilo
Source: Cup of Excellence, Stats NZ · 2023

Prize lots: Cup of Excellence, Colombia's national competition, where the top-scoring green coffee beans are sold at an online auction. Winning bids in Colombia, before shipping, at each year's average exchange rate.

Everyday green coffee beans: the average value of green coffee beans imported into New Zealand from Colombia that year, with freight and insurance, before GST.