Variety · Réunion
Laurina, or Bourbon Pointu, is a Bourbon mutation from Réunion with about half the caffeine of arabica. Delicate and sweet, rare, and twice nearly extinct.
Laurina — also called Bourbon Pointu — is a natural mutation of Bourbon that arose on Réunion, and its defining feature is chemical rather than sensory.
Laurina contains roughly half the caffeine of normal arabica, entirely naturally — no decaffeination process involved.
That is unique among commercially grown arabica varieties and it is the reason the variety has been rescued from near-extinction twice.
Small, dense and distinctly pointed at one end, which is where Bourbon Pointu comes from. The plant is compact and conical.
Delicate and sweet with low acidity: citrus, honey, a light body and a clean finish. Elegant rather than powerful, and easy to over-roast into nothing.
Réunion’s coffee industry collapsed twice, and Laurina came close to disappearing with it. A Japanese-funded recovery project in the 2000s identified surviving trees and re-established cultivation.
Small plantings now exist in Réunion, Brazil, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Very low, which is why it never displaced ordinary Bourbon despite the interest.
Half the caffeine is still caffeine: a cup of Laurina carries far more than decaffeinated coffee, which by US convention has had about 97% removed. Lower caffeine also makes it less bitter, since caffeine contributes to bitterness, and more vulnerable to pests, since caffeine is the plant’s natural insecticide.
Bourbon Pointu, pointed Bourbon, is the French and Réunionnais name, used by the Japanese buyers who funded the revival. Laurina is the botanical one, from Coffea arabica var. laurina. Both appear on bags.
Filter, light roast, gentle extraction. Its delicacy does not survive an aggressive brew, and its low caffeine makes it a genuine option for an evening cup.
The equipment this actually requires — not a shopping list, the shortest route to doing it properly.
60° cone · spiral ribs · 1–4 cups
A transparent cup, and an unforgiving one to brew. Ceramic holds heat where plastic does not — and the open bottom means your pour, not the dripper, decides the coffee.
Best for: Someone who wants to taste what a single-origin coffee is actually doing.
64 mm (2.52 in) flat burr · filter only · single dose
64 mm (2.52 in) flat burrs, near-zero retention and a footprint the size of a mug, built for filter and honest about not doing espresso. For pour-over it is built for a clear, even grind.
Best for: V60, Chemex, AeroPress and batch brewing, where clarity is the whole point.
0.9 L · ±1 °C (±1.8 °F) hold · counterbalanced gooseneck
The best-pouring kettle sold, and the hold function matters more than the thermometer. Expensive for boiling water — but if you brew pour-over daily, it is the accessory that most improves the cup.
Best for: Daily pour-over, where flow rate is the variable you are trying to control.
