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Réunion

The island that gave Bourbon its name, and the only source of Laurina — a variety with naturally half the caffeine.

Réunion, formerly Île Bourbon, is where French missionaries planted Yemeni coffee in the eighteenth century. The population that developed there became Bourbon, ancestral to a large share of the world’s coffee.

Laurina

The island’s other contribution is a natural Bourbon mutation called Laurina, or Bourbon Pointu for its pointed bean.

It contains roughly half the caffeine of normal arabica, entirely naturally.

Near extinction, twice

Réunion’s coffee industry collapsed as sugar took over, and Laurina came close to disappearing. A Japanese-funded recovery project in the 2000s located surviving trees and re-established cultivation.

The profile

Delicate and sweet: citrus, honey, a light body and a clean finish. Elegant, and easily lost to over-roasting.

Availability and price

Minuscule production at extremely high prices. Small plantings also exist in Brazil, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Brewing it

Filter, light roast, gentle extraction — and a genuine option for an evening cup.

What you need to make it

The equipment this actually requires — not a shopping list, the shortest route to doing it properly.

  • The reference pour-over Manual brewers

    Hario V60 02 Ceramic

    60° cone · spiral ribs · 1–4 cups

    The most transparent cup you can brew for twenty euros, and the least forgiving. 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.

    8.2/10

    ≈ $25 / £20 / 22 €

  • Best filter grinder Grinders

    Fellow Ode Brew Grinder Gen 2

    64 mm flat burr · filter only · single dose

    64 mm 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 the clearest grind you can buy at this price.

    Best for: V60, Chemex, AeroPress and batch brewing, where clarity is the whole point.

    8.7/10

    ≈ $345 / £275 / 300 €

  • Best pour control Kettles

    Fellow Stagg EKG Pro

    0.9 L · ±1 °C 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.

    8.6/10

    ≈ $195 / £165 / 180 €