"Well I'm a bourbon man myself,," says I.


But how about El Salvador Pacas? Sweet Maria's/ shrub sold me their AA and I find the sweetness caramel cocoa mild nut character delicious and it roasts good light to full city. Here's some world coffee research verbiage " Pacas is a natural mutation of Bourbon, similar to Caturra in Brazil and Villa Sarchi in Costa Rica. Similar to other widely cultivated Bourbon mutants, Pacas has a single-gene mutation that causes the plant to grow smaller (dwarfism). This is it's chief virtue: the plant's small size leads to higher potential yields and the possibility of placing plants closer together to increase total fruit production on a farm.

The variety was discovered in 1949 on a farm owned by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador. In 1960, the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research (ISIC) began a program of pedigree selection (selection of individual plants through successive generations) for Pacas. It is still widely grown in the country; it accounts for about 25% of the country's coffee production. Seed stock is available from Procafe. It is also grown in Honduras, where it was introduced by IHCAFE in 1974."

I would consider pacas still a bourbon as I would consider caturra or villa sarchi bourbon too and should have similar cup profiles (prior to this thread I would also consider pink bourbon a bourbon too... now I'm not so sure)

kylekoi55 wrote:Cafe Imports actually funded the genetic test themselves, seems they haven't updated their info to reflect the results. HIghest % genetic similarity is with some Ethiopian varieties rather than anything Bourbon-Typica related.

"2) The samples Columbia PBS and PBT were closely related and
they proved to be similar to wild plants coming from Ethiopia"

https://images.cafeimports.com/Colombia-DNA-20Apr18.pdf

The original article is mostly about the Colombia F6 variety and only mentions Pink Bourbon in passing
https://www.cafeimports.com/north-ameri ... unknown-3/

it seems Cafe imports traced both the genetic story and the local story, both perhaps can be true at the same time but just two different perspectives. They may seem to conflict but we know the pink bourbons exhibit recessive traits that perhaps are more than just their colour and go back to Ethiopian origins. The old cafe imports coffee family tree diagram puts pink bourbon in the bourbon branch, but it doesn't seem to be listed in their new version, perhaps because they don't know where to put it.

The pink ripe cherry color is a recessive trait. The genetic work shows that it clusters most closely with several Ethiopian varieties. A recessive Bourbon mutation that causes pink coloration is not going to suddenly cause the mutated offspring to cluster with Ethiopian varieties. Again, the genetic study shows that Pink Bourbon is not derived from Bourbon.

This is the story from Finca Monteblanco, the first or one of the first growers of separated Pink Bourbon lots which you can find parroted on the sites of several coffee roasters:

"In addition to the varieties most common in Colombia, Rodrigo found there were trees he had not noticed before, trees with different characteristics, including broad leaves that looked like Gesha. In the cup, the coffee he harvested also tasted like those of Gesha. This was the beginning of Pink Bourbon lot separation. Rodrigo learned that his grandfather had bought those seedlings in San Adolfo during the early 80's during a leaf rust attack of la roya when he had to replace a portion of the farm's trees.

In San Adolfo and Palestina, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation ran an experimental farm in the 50's and 60's planted with 500 varieties, so Rodrigo and his grandfather think the trees probably originated from that farm. In 2014, Rodrigo planted three hectares of Monteblanco with Pink Bourbon and was delighted with its adaptability, productivity, and resistance to leaf rust. The cherries ripen to a rosy pink/orange color, giving name to this unique coffee variety."

Some more thoughts from Rodrigo Sanchez of Finca Monteblanco:

"We were able to trace the variety back to the 70's and 80's, but nobody knows where it came from. Around here they say that Cenicafe - the Federation - had a research farm with varietals from Ethiopia, Kenya. It could be that [the Pink Bourbon] is an escaped seed from one of those varietals.
It could be a mutation or a cross. It is very resistant to leaf rust. That's one reason I think it's not a Bourbon. Bourbon is very susceptible to leaf rust. And, in the cup, it is very similar to a Geisha. I actually like Pink Bourbon more than Geisha because the body is fuller and there is a more balanced acidity. It has flavors of tropical fruit, maracuya, lemon, tea, jasmine, red fruits, juicy, creamy."

https://www.allycoffee.com/coffees/mont ... %20variety.

Common names can often be very inaccurate vs actual genetics. What is being called "Typica Mejorada" in Ecuador is not a Typica at all but a Bourbon x Ethiopian variety. Similarly, "Caturra Chiroso" in Antioquia, Colombia is not a Caturra/Bourbon but another (escapee?) Ethiopian variety that ended up in Colombia like Pink Bourbon.

there are some conflicting accounts as cafe imports identifies Rodrigo who then directed them to where he got the pink bourbon from so it didn't start with him. in your source Rodrigo references old plants that he didn't know where they came from but with the cafe imports source, he knows exactly where they came from which seems to be Gabriel Castano. Perhaps Rodrigo's use of "we" is more of a community "we" than his own farm. regardless the DNA indicates it's more closely related wild Ethiopian and if it were not for it being called bourbon it would probably not even be a part of the conversation.

Sudan rume & typica

The genetics don't lie and the genotyping of the Pink Bourbon seems to be without dispute.

The mutation that caused the color variation has nothing to do with the unique flavors and cup characteristics of this varietal. Instead, it must be that genes associated with compounds causing this unique cupping experience are tightly linked on each chromosome with the recessive color mutation. If you select for the color by having each mutant pink gene containing chromosome, the flavors come along with it by being linked very closely.

There's no evidence that a Pink Bourbon crossed with something else to get a red fruited plant couldn't have incredible cup quality either. The pink color however is a rather convenient indicator of genetic purity along with leaf morphology, growth habit, etc.

I assume the farmers go to lengths to preserve the pink pigmented skins because the resulting crop of pink cherries has characteristics they want in the coffee bean. I therefore assume that chemical end products of pathways associated with those characteristics are tightly linked to the pigment genes. Chance would dictate recombination and separation of the desired characteristics if a red or yellow chromosome was introduced. It's testable but would take time. It is, however, possible and perhaps more probable that the pink recessive marker is a way to mark complete carryover of the genome from both parents.