Vietnamese Dalat Bourbon Arabica

These Bourbon subspecies Arabica beans are rare and expensive in Vietnam, because most of the Annam Highlands (Central Plateau) is at too low an altitude for Arabica to prosper. In Dalat, in Son La and other micro-regions, the altitude and climate are ideal, and most of Vietnam's prized Specialty Grade Arabica comes from these regions. Our producers are family farms who practice Safe & Sustainable Agriculture and never use inorganic materials on their groves. 

Bourbon is possible the world's most misunderstood bean variety (after Robusta). There are two main splits in Arabica gene heritage, Typica and Bourbon. Much of the information published about these subspecies is erroneous and copied and pasted from one coffee or blog site to another. It is said that Typica is chocolatey and we have never found this to be true. In reality, the reason Jesuit missionaries brought the Bourbon subspecies to Vietnam circa 1875 is that they were proliferating chocolatey coffees to provide cash crops for struggling farmers, because at the time, chocolatey coffee profiles commanded super-high prices among the elite coffee drinkers of Europe. The other word for Bourbon throughout Southeast Asia is Moka, from which we get our current-day word Mocha.

We have always preferred Bourbon to Typica. We prefer the taste profile and the delightful long "resting" period in which this bio-active variety continues to morph its flavor profile over days, even weeks, approaching that of Kopi Luwak, in our opinion. This characteristic is unique to the Bourbon variety.

Medium roast. Notes of Dark Chocolate, stone fruit and a caramel finish.

1 lb (16 ounce) bag roasted coffee. Please select ground or whole bean.