Brazil Bourbon Santos Coffee

Bourbon Santos is a medium to high quality, wet processed (washed) coffee from Brazil; usually shipped through the port of Santos. Santos is a market name.

Buy Brazil Santos Coffee

Bourbon Santos Coffee Farming

Most Bourbon Santos is grown at elevations from 2,000 to 4,000 feet in northern Minas Gerais or in the State of Sao Paulo, in Brazil, and is distinguished by its smooth and mild flavors, often sweet and nutty.

Also see: The Top Ten Coffees in the World.]

Bourbon Santos Coffee Characteristics

A good Brazilian Bourbon Santos has a light to medium body, yields a low acidity, and has a very pleasant aroma. The Bourbon coffee plant varietal (Coffea arabica var. bourbon) tends to produce coffees that are fruiter and brighter (more acidic) than other Brazil coffees.

The low acidity of Brazilian Bourbon Santos derives from the region’s lower growing elevations compared to areas such as Central America where higher elevation plantations (e.g., 5,000 feet above sea level) produce premium gourmet coffees that are brighter (higher acidity).

The Bourbon Coffee Plant Varietal

The Bourbon coffee varietal is a gourmet Arabica coffee plant, and Brazil’s Bourbon coffee plants are descendants of those brought to the island of Reunion (formerly Bourbon), which is located in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

The Bourbon varietal originated after the French first planted the parent stock in 1708 in Bourbon, and the plants underwent a slight mutation creating the Bourbon varietal.

Bourbon coffee plants were subsequently planted throughout Brazil in the late 1800s, and then eventually planted throughout Latin America. Also see Brazil Cerrado Coffee; Brazil Coffee.