Why is Yunnan the Coffee Capital of China? What is the Quality and Flavor of Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee?

As China's largest coffee-producing region, Yunnan is known as the "Coffee Home of China." The quality of Yunnan coffee continues to improve, with many coffee shops featuring 1-2 single-origin Yunnan coffees on their menus. FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu blackboard features three Yunnan single-origin coffees, including the Catimor and Typica varieties commonly found in Yunnan.

What are the coffee varieties in Yunnan?

To contrast with Hainan's medium-bean Robusta coffee beans, Yunnan's main coffee variety is Arabica, known as the small-bean coffee, which Yunnan farmers often call Yunnan small beans. Currently, the widely planted varieties in Yunnan include Catimor, with smaller proportions of Typica and Bourbon.

In 1952, to improve local agricultural development, experts from the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences introduced 80 kilograms of coffee seeds (Typica, Bourbon) distributed to farmers in Baoshan's Lujiangba area, providing guidance on scientific management, which began Yunnan's large-scale cultivation. Most of the Yunnan Typica we can taste today originated from plantings started during this period. Typica is a pure Arabica variety, with bronze-colored plant tops, also called red-top coffee. The coffee growing belt produces rich sweet and sour aromas, making it a recognized high-quality traditional variety. However, Typica has very weak disease resistance and is susceptible to disease, with low fruit yield per plant, thus requiring more labor-intensive care and management.

In the 1980s, major coffee-producing regions worldwide suffered from coffee leaf rust attacks, and coffee people everywhere began seeking solutions to this problem. In 1990, driven by the foreign multinational company Nestlé, Yunnan introduced the more disease-resistant and higher-yielding Catimor variety from Central and South America to replace the "unprofitable" Typica variety coffee trees. Catimor began large-scale cultivation in Yunnan, with continuously increasing yields, though its flavor was not considered outstanding. Additionally, the local green bean processing technology in Yunnan at that time was not sophisticated enough, often producing coffee batches that were exported at low prices to Europe as one of the ingredients for instant coffee.

With the millennium's pursuit of specialty coffee, improvements have been made in Yunnan coffee from seed selection, harvesting, to green bean processing to enhance the overall quality of Yunnan coffee. Many coffee professionals who can personally visit planting origins have invested in establishing estates in Yunnan's coffee-producing regions, introducing new coffee varieties from various places, such as the commonly heard Geisha variety, which has also joined the ranks of Yunnan coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's representative choice for Yunnan daily drinking beans is the most widely planted Catimor variety.

Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Origins

The cultivation of small bean coffee is mainly distributed across four origins in southwestern Yunnan: Pu'er, Baoshan, Dehong, and Lincang. These locations possess natural conditions of low latitude, high altitude, and significant day-night temperature differences.

As the famous origin of small bean coffee, Baoshan features a mountainous subtropical monsoon climate, situated at low latitude and high altitude with complex topography, creating a three-dimensional climate of "four seasons in one mountain, different weather within ten miles." The annual temperature range is small while the daily range is large, with an average annual temperature of 14-17°C. Precipitation is abundant with distinct wet and dry seasons that are unevenly distributed, with annual rainfall of 700-2100 millimeters. Combined with reasonable rainfall amounts, this provides excellent advantages for coffee cherry production, creating the unique sweet aftertaste of Baoshan small bean coffee. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee acquired Baoshan small bean coffee and listed it as one of its regional representative daily beans, allowing everyone to taste the flavor of washed Yunnan small bean coffee.

Additionally, FrontStreet Coffee's menu features a Yunnan natural-processed Typica coffee exclusively produced by FrontStreet Coffee. Why is it called exclusive? Because this coffee is produced from FrontStreet Coffee's own estate.

In 2013, FrontStreet Coffee established its own estate in Lincang. FrontStreet Coffee handles everything from site selection, variety selection, seedling cultivation, planting, harvesting, processing, to roasting, from which it has summarized considerable experience and knowledge. Lincang is influenced by the warm and humid air currents from the Indian Ocean and southwest monsoons, with unclear seasonal distinctions but distinct dry and rainy seasons, abundant rainfall, long sunshine hours, short frost periods, and some areas frost-free year-round. The three-dimensional climate is obvious, with average annual mountain temperatures of 13-15°C. FrontStreet Coffee specifically selected the most original Arabica variety—Typica. After 5-6 years of cultivation, FrontStreet Coffee finally harvested its first batch in 2020, processed using natural methods, and named it "FrontStreet Coffee 2013."

FrontStreet Coffee plants coffee in forests at 1300 meters altitude. The high altitude creates significant day-night temperature differences, allowing Typica coffee to absorb more nutrients, resulting in a later maturation period compared to lower-altitude coffee cherries. When winter arrives, FrontStreet Coffee also begins busy harvesting. First, FrontStreet Coffee ensures only fully ripe red cherries are harvested, regularly turning them to ensure even drying. The mesh of the drying beds helps with fruit ventilation, avoiding negative over-fermentation sensations. FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed Typica presents a heavier mouthfeel, with citrus and berry notes, a hint of fermented wine aroma, and caramel sweetness.

Flavor Characteristics of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's flavor descriptions for all coffees are interpreted based on freshly roasted coffee beans. If you choose beans stored for more than two months, the aroma may have already faded. Since coffee enters an optimal tasting period after 4-7 days of bean resting post-roasting, after this period, coffee aroma will accelerate its volatilization, and flavor and mouthfeel will be significantly diminished. Regarding this point, FrontStreet Coffee also ensures shipping only beans freshly roasted within 5 days, so everyone receives coffee beans at their optimal aroma tasting stage.

If you're brewing Yunnan coffee for the first time, you can refer to FrontStreet Coffee's consistent extraction parameters to brew a delicious cup of Yunnan coffee more quickly.

Considering that Yunnan coffee's flavor profile is balanced, FrontStreet Coffee uses brewing parameters different from light and dark roasts to present a more balanced mouthfeel. Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-fine grind size and medium water temperature for extraction. Compared to other conical drippers, the V60 dripper has a larger spout, with spiral ribs connecting the top and bottom that help release water vapor during extraction, thereby enhancing flavor layers.

Dripper: Hario V60
Dose: 15g
Water Temperature: 90°C
Grind Size: 75% pass-through through #20 sieve
Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:15
Three-Pour Method: Use twice the coffee weight in water to moisten the coffee bed, forming a dome and bloom for 30s. Then use a small water flow to pour in circles from inside to outside until 125g, then pause. Wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine water flow for the third pour to 225g. Remove the dripper when all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes.

The washed small bean Catimor coffee has nut and berry dry aromas. You can taste the sweetness of nuts, herbal notes, chocolate, and brown sugar, with plum's balanced acidity and a finish with light fruit acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed Typica presents dried fruit, chocolate, and roasted hazelnut aromas, with a black tea-like finish. Various flavors are appropriately blended, with very noticeable sweetness.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473