Yunnan Catimor Coffee Bean Flavor Profile Description Characteristics and Origin Ranking of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Varieties

When it comes to Yunnan coffee, there are typically two reactions: one is a frown expressing dislike, while the other is full of curiosity and eager to try. Among topics related to Yunnan coffee, the term "small bean" appears most frequently. So what exactly is small bean coffee? And what variety does it belong to?

Today, Most Yunnan Small Beans are Catimor

Coffee is an agricultural crop. From a biological perspective, there is no classification called "small bean coffee." The so-called "small bean" refers to Arabica varieties with smaller mature fruits, contrasting with the medium-bean Robusta coffee beans from Hainan.

Currently, over 90% of Yunnan's coffee cultivation is the Catimor variety. Historically, Yunnan planted two ancient Arabica varieties: Typica and Bourbon, which local farmers called "old varieties." Later, due to weaker disease resistance and low yields that made profitability impossible, growers gradually replaced them with higher-yielding Catimor. Therefore, what we now call "small bean coffee" refers to Yunnan Catimor coffee beans.

Is Catimor Arabica or Robusta?

Catimor CIFC7963 is a hybrid variety developed by the Portuguese Coffee Rust Research Center (CIFC) to combat coffee leaf rust. This variety is characterized by compact tree form, dwarf growth, multiple branches, and short fruit nodes. It grows vigorously with extremely strong vitality, with its most notable features being amazing rust resistance and high yield capacity. Catimor fruits are small and belong to the Arabica species classification, but genetically, it's a hybrid of 75% Arabica and 25% Robusta.

Robusta's caffeine content ranges from 2.7% to 4%, twice that of Arabica. Caffeine acts as a natural pesticide for plants, protecting them from most insect pests, making it easier to cultivate and cheaper. Additionally, with higher amino acid and chlorogenic acid content, it delivers a mellow, deeper bitterness, and improper processing can result in astringency and more pungent moldy flavors. Therefore, it's often used as raw material for instant coffee.

In contrast, the "picky" Arabica species has weaker plant disease resistance and relatively low single-plant yields. High-altitude environments create significant day-night temperature differences, slowing the maturation period of coffee cherries, allowing them to absorb more nutrients and develop richer aromas. Various coffee regions' microclimates provide diverse growing conditions for Arabica, creating unique flavor profiles.

Catimor inherits characteristics from both Robusta and Arabica, thus possessing strong disease resistance and high yield characteristics. When the coffee beans are tasted after roasting, they simultaneously exhibit fruity acidity and sweetness. However, the Robusta lineage also brings flavor defects, with nutty and brown sugar as dominant notes, lacking rich, elevated high-end flavors such as citrus, floral notes, and tropical fruits. Additionally, previous raw bean processing methods were relatively crude, so Yunnan coffee was often described as having a "devil's aftertaste," making it difficult to compete against pure Arabica varieties like Caturra in competitions. Furthermore, Catimor's rust resistance gradually diminishes after 20-30 years. If Yunnan's coffee industry wants to improve overall quality and maintain long-term development, it must gradually switch varieties. In recent years, many popular varieties have appeared on the market, such as Typica, Bourbon, Geisha...

What Are the Basic Flavor Profiles of Yunnan Catimor?

FrontStreet Coffee believes that as a product grown in our own country, coffee professionals should understand the "Yunnan flavor." Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has included Yunnan Catimor coffee in its daily bean series, using washed processing.

Some merchants use novel flavor-enhancing processing methods to cover up the inherent flaws of Yunnan beans and add large amounts of aroma to increase prices. FrontStreet Coffee feels this approach neither authentically preserves the flavor of Yunnan coffee nor misleads consumers. After tasting Yunnan coffee beans processed with special methods, some people find the aroma particularly prominent and mistakenly believe this is the mainstream processing method for Yunnan coffee. In reality, most Yunnan coffee farmers face harsh conditions and do not possess expensive processing equipment. Therefore, the vast majority of Yunnan coffee beans can only use natural processing methods, namely washed and natural processing.

The washed process steps: Remove the skin and pulp of harvested coffee fruits using a machine, place the peeled coffee beans in fermentation tanks for fermentation, use fermentation to decompose the mucilage layer, wash the fermented beans repeatedly with clean water to remove the decomposed mucilage, and finally dry the coffee beans in the sun for 1-2 weeks. Washed Yunnan coffee not only reduces the defect rate but also produces more stable quality and higher flavor clarity.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the coffee flavor produced by Yunnan's terroir belongs to a neutral, balanced profile, meaning it has acidity, sweetness, and bitterness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan coffee uses medium roast to highlight the roasted aroma of chocolate and nuts while preserving some acidity. In cupping, FrontStreet Coffee tastes Yunnan small bean daily coffee showing nuts, herbal notes, brown sugar aroma, melon-like sweetness, and plum acidity, with a balanced mouthfeel.

Brewing Suggestions for Yunnan Small Bean

FrontStreet Coffee uses corresponding parameters when brewing different coffee beans. For darker roasted beans like Mandheling and Brazilian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses water temperature of 87-88°C and medium-coarse grind. For lighter roasted beans like Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Panamanian Geisha coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses high temperatures of 91-93°C and medium-fine grind to stimulate the aroma of high-altitude hard beans. Returning to today's Yunnan small bean coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium water temperature and grind to highlight the neutral balance of Yunnan coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-over Parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60
Dose: 15g
Water Temperature: 90°C
Grind Size: 75% pass-through through #20 sieve
Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:15
Three-stage pouring: Use twice the amount of water as coffee to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome for 30s bloom, then use small water flow to pour from inside to outside until 125g, wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper level, continue with the same fine water flow to inject the third stage to 225g, until all coffee liquid filters through, remove the dripper, total time about 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Small Bean Daily Coffee Flavor:

It smells of rich nutty aroma, with herbal notes, chocolate, and caramel on the palate, and the aftertaste carries a light fruity acidity. The overall mouthfeel is balanced with good clarity.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

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Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473