Bourbon
A long-established arabica variety, historically grown on Bourbon Island (Réunion) after introduction from Yemen. Several other varieties, including Caturra, Pacas and Villa Sarchi, are natural mutations of Bourbon.
In short
Bourbon is one of the two historic lineages from which most of the world's cultivated arabica descends, the other being Typica. It is a tall plant with a medium yield and a reputation for very good quality when grown high, and it is susceptible to all the major coffee diseases.
Its importance today is as much genealogical as agricultural. Caturra, Catuai, Mundo Novo and SL28 all trace back to it, so understanding Bourbon explains a good part of the arabica family tree.
From Yemen to an island, then the world
Sourced
Yemen
Arabica was cultivated in Yemen for centuries after leaving Ethiopia, and the plants taken from there founded both historic lineages.
Bourbon Island, early 1700s
French missionaries introduced coffee from Yemen to the island then called Bourbon, now La Réunion, in the Indian Ocean.
Isolation
The variety stayed on the island until the mid nineteenth century, long enough to become distinct from the Typica plants spreading elsewhere.
Africa and the Americas
It left the island with missionaries establishing themselves in Africa and the Americas, and reached Brazil around 1860.
Replaced by its own descendants
It spread through South and Central America, where more productive varieties derived from it have largely taken its place.
The route as given in the World Coffee Research variety catalogue. Dates are approximate where the catalogue gives them approximately.
The plant, as catalogued
Sourced
| Variable | Typical range | What moving it does |
|---|---|---|
| Stature | Tall | |
| Yield potential | Medium | |
| Quality potential at high altitude | Very good | |
| Bean size | Average | |
| Fruit ripening | Early | |
| Coffee leaf rust | Susceptible | |
| Coffee berry disease | Susceptible | |
| Nematodes | Susceptible | |
| First production | Year 4 |
Attributes as listed in the World Coffee Research catalogue. They describe the variety's potential under good management, not the result on any particular farm.
Why farmers moved on from it
CoffeeHQ explanation
Bourbon asks a lot for what it gives. A tall plant has to be spaced widely, so fewer trees fit on a hectare; it takes four years to bear; and it has no resistance to leaf rust, berry disease or nematodes. When compact mutations and crosses appeared that could be planted more densely and bore sooner, the economics were hard to argue with.
It persists where quality commands a price that offsets the lower yield. The catalogue names El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru as places it is still grown.
Varieties that descend from Bourbon
Sourced
- Caturra — A natural dwarf mutation of Bourbon found in Brazil, compact enough to plant at nearly twice the density.
- Mundo Novo — A natural cross between Bourbon and Typica, vigorous and productive, grown mainly in South America.
- Catuai — A deliberate cross of Mundo Novo and Caturra, combining compact stature with high yield.
- SL28 — A Kenyan selection with a Bourbon-like genetic background, known for drought tolerance and cup quality.
What 'Bourbon' on a bag tells you
Tendency, not a guarantee
The name describes the plant, not the flavour. Bourbon is commonly associated with sweetness and a rounded, balanced cup, but altitude, processing and roasting shape what you taste far more than the variety does, and the same variety from two farms can be very different coffees.
You will also see colour names, such as red, yellow or pink Bourbon, which refer to the colour of the ripe fruit. And the name is applied loosely in some markets, so it is a reasonable clue to lineage and a weak guide to taste. It has nothing to do with the whiskey.
What to do next
- Typica — The other founding lineage, and how the two differ.
- Arabica — The species both lineages belong to, and why its genetic base is so narrow.
- How to choose coffee — Where variety sits among the things a label can tell you.
- Become a coffee expert — A structured programme from the plant and its processing to roasting, water and tasting.
What the catalogue records as coming from Typica and from Bourbon
The two traditional lines, the mutations and selections the catalogue records under each, and the crosses that joined them again.
Diagram: descent as the catalogue records it
Typica
A traditional variety. The catalogue rates it tall, low for yield and susceptible to leaf rust.
Natural mutation. Parentage recorded: A natural mutation of Typica
Pache
Natural mutation. Parentage recorded: A natural mutation of Typica.
Caripe
Selection. Parentage recorded: A selection of the Typica variety.
Bourbon
A traditional variety. The catalogue rates it tall, medium for yield and susceptible to leaf rust.
Natural mutation. Parentage recorded: Natural mutation of the Bourbon variety
Natural mutation. Parentage recorded: A natural mutation of Bourbon.
Natural mutation. Parentage recorded: A natural mutation of Bourbon
Venecia
Natural mutation. Parentage recorded: A natural mutation of Bourbon
Tekisic
Selection. Parentage recorded: A selection of the Bourbon variety
Crosses that joined the two lines
Typica crossed with Bourbon gave Mundo Novo
Cross. Recorded as: Typica x Bourbon
Mundo Novo crossed with Caturra gave Catuai
Cross. Recorded as: Mundo Novo x Caturra
Pacas crossed with Maragogipe gave Pacamara
Cross. Recorded as: Pacas x Maragogipe
What this diagram does not show
- Varieties the catalogue describes only as Typica-like or Bourbon-like in genetic background, such as SL28, SL34 and K7. That is a finding about ancestry, not a named parent, so no line is drawn.
- Gesha, Java and other selections from Ethiopian landraces, which belong to neither line.
- Any variety the catalogue has no entry for.
Drawn by CoffeeHQ from the lineage statements in the World Coffee Research variety catalogue, read on 8 October 2026. Each plant is placed only under a parent its own entry names, and the words beside it are the entry's. It is not a complete family tree.
Where Bourbon is documented in the atlas
Only countries CoffeeHQ has written an entry for, and only where a document it has read names Bourbon there. This is not a list of everywhere it is grown.
- Guatemala. Listed after Catimor and Caturra, on less than a tenth of farms. Source: Guatemala: Coffee Annual (GT2026-0003).
- Honduras. One of four arabica varieties the USDA attaché's 2025 report names as grown in the country's six main regions. Source: Honduras: Coffee Annual (HO2025-0002).
- Nicaragua. Listed among the other common varieties in the USDA attaché's 2026 report, which gives no share for it. Source: Nicaragua: Coffee Annual (NU2026-0003).
- Brazil. Introduced to Brazil around 1860, on the catalogue's account, and spread from there into the rest of South and Central America. It says Bourbon has since largely been replaced in Latin America by its descendants. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Peru. One of four countries where the catalogue says Bourbon itself, and not only its descendants, is still cultivated. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Kenya. Bourbon seed from Réunion was planted at a mission at Bura in 1893, and seedlings taken in 1899 to a mission near Nairobi were the source of seed distributed to settlers; coffee descended from it was called French Mission. It is a statement about where Kenya's coffee came from, not about what is planted now. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Uganda. KP423, a selection from the Bourbon-related Kent population released in Tanzania in the 1940s, made its way to Uganda, where the catalogue calls it important in the arabica-growing regions. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Tanzania. KP423 was selected at the Lyamungu research station from Kent, a Bourbon-related population brought from India in the 1920s, and released in Tanzania in the 1940s. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Rwanda. Two selections called Bourbon Mayaguez were brought to Rwanda in the early 1950s and are described by the catalogue as important there. Jackson, also related to the Bourbon group on genetic tests, is commonly found in the country. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- India. Kent, a Bourbon-related population selected in 1911 from one tree on an estate in Mysore, has been widely planted in India since the 1930s, on the catalogue's account. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- El Salvador. The Coffee Council's 2016 profile gives Bourbon 62 per cent, without saying whether that is a share of area or of crop. Tekisic, the national institute's own selection of Bourbon, was released in 1977 on the catalogue's account. Source: El Salvador: coffee profile (presentation 7.2, coffee year 2015/16).
- Papua New Guinea. Listed with Typica, Arusha and Mundo Novo as a tall variety in commercial use by the same 2017 report, which says all of them lack resistance to leaf rust. Source: Improving livelihoods of smallholder families through increased productivity of coffee-based farming systems in the highlands of PNG: final report (ASEM/2008/036, FR2017-08).
- China. Named with Typica by the 2018 paper as one of the two older cultivars beside Catimor in Pu'er and Xishuangbanna. None of the sources read gives it a share. Source: Using farmers' local knowledge of tree provision of ecosystem services to strengthen the emergence of coffee-agroforestry landscapes in southwest China.
- United States (Hawaii and Puerto Rico). Listed among the varieties also grown in Hawaii by a 2022 study citing the state agriculture department; a rust study in Puerto Rico sampled it there as well. Source: Coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) from the recent invasion into Hawaii shares a genotypic relationship with Latin American populations.
- Nepal. Named with Typica in the coffee board's general description of Nepal's coffee. A sample labelled Bourbon Vermello is among nine in the national research collection described in a 2023 paper. Source: नेपाली कफीको इतिहास (History of Nepali coffee) and नेपाली कफी वारे (About Nepali coffee).
Learn it as a course
The Coffee Expert lesson Species and varieties covers this ground in order, with exercises you can do at home.