Costa Rica Yellow Bourbon Natural – Finca Las Mercedes

Yellow Bourbon Natural, also called Bourbon Amarillo, is one of the rarest lots in Mela's Garden at Finca Las Mercedes in Tarrazú. Yellow Bourbon is a natural mutation of Bourbon, one of coffee's oldest varietals, and its cherries ripen gold instead of red. It's notoriously low-yielding, so Mela grows it as a specialty microlot for one reason: the cup. Grown at 1,800 meters and naturally processed on sun-drenched raised beds, it pours juicy and sweet with notes of grape, mandarin, and fresh fruit juice.

• Certifications: Direct-Trade Partnership
• Flavor Notes: Grape, Mandarin, and Fruit Juice
• Varietal: Yellow Bourbon (Bourbon Amarillo)
• Processing: Natural Process
• Roast: Light Roast
• Drying: Sun-Dried on African Raised Beds
• Farm: Finca Las Mercedes (Mela Gamboa), San Marcos, Tarrazú
• Altitude: 5,900 Feet (1,800 m)

Yellow Bourbon: Nature Choosing Gold

Before hybrids, labs and breeding programs, there was Bourbon: the shared ancestor behind half the coffees in this collection. Yellow Bourbon is a spontaneous mutation of it that ripens to a golden yellow, with no engineering involved. Family line: Typica → Bourbon → natural yellow mutation → Bourbon Amarillo.

The Hardest Coffee in the Garden

Mela planted Yellow Bourbon about eight years ago as part of the varietal garden, and the original plants still produce today. She calls it one of the most challenging varieties on the farm because it yields far less than her other coffees. She keeps growing it anyway: "What we sacrifice in yield can be rewarded in the cup." Its quality potential and distinctive profile earn it a permanent place at Finca Las Mercedes.

Shade-Grown, Sun-Dried

The coffee grows at 1,800 meters in a regenerative system, shaded by avocado, citrus, guava, plantain and banana trees. Lots this small get individual attention. Each one is processed natural, dried slowly and completely under the sun on African raised beds, so Yellow Bourbon's natural sweetness and juicy fruit come through clearly.