Typica Special Feature: Flavor Differences Between Yunnan Typica Coffee Beans and Catimor

Arabica

In the third wave of coffee, everyone is pursuing specialty coffee, and the three most important elements of specialty coffee are coffee variety, growing altitude, and processing method. Among these, variety is a vast subject. Today, the specialty coffee that people can access all comes from Arabica beans. On FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, except for commercial blends that may contain Robusta beans, all others belong to the Arabica variety.

The earliest written records of coffee trees can be traced back to the 9th century AD. In the works of the famous Persian philosopher, physician, and physicist Razi (Muhammad b. Zakariya), "The Comprehensive Book of Medicine," it was written that the juice "bunchum" brewed from "bunn" had the effects of refreshing the mind, awakening the brain, and treating headaches. "Bunn" refers to coffee cherries. From this, we can conclude that Arabica was introduced to the Arabian Peninsula region around the 9th to 10th century AD.

In the 17th century AD, in "Species Plantarum" by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, it was given the scientific name Coffea Arabica L., meaning: Coffee genus, Arabian species, Linnaeus naming. At that time, Linnaeus mistakenly believed that the Middle East was the origin of coffee; it wasn't until modern times in 2002 that Arabica was properly recognized. A research project found that the coffee genetic diversity in Yemen and other regions was far lower than in Ethiopia, which means that the homeland of Arabica should be Ethiopia.

Typica

Although the homeland of Typica is Ethiopia, and it was introduced to the Arabian Peninsula in the 9th century, it wasn't until 1913 that it was given the scientific name Coffea arabica L. var. typica Cramer, meaning: Coffee genus, Arabian species, Linnaeus naming, variety, Typica, Cramer naming. The namer intended to express it as the typical variety of Arabica, hence giving it the name "Typica" to indicate "typical."

As mentioned earlier, Typica was introduced to the Arabian Peninsula in the 9th century. After several centuries of taking root, around the 16th century, a coffee-drinking trend emerged in the ports of Mocha and Aden in Yemen. People would crush dried coffee cherry pulp and brew it with water, and later they would roast coffee beans with spices and cherry pulp, then grind and brew them. Around 1600, a devout Muslim from India went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Because he fell in love with coffee, he stole 7 seeds and returned to India, successfully planting them on the Chandragiri hills.

Around the 17th century, to prevent coffee seeds from being planted elsewhere, Yemen exported all roasted coffee beans. The Dutch sensed a business opportunity; in 1616, the Dutch illegally obtained coffee seedlings from Yemen and brought them back to a large greenhouse in Amsterdam for careful cultivation. This Typica coffee tree was also known as the "European mother tree." In 1699, the Dutch transplanted Indian Typica to Java for successful trial cultivation, and in 1706, they brought Java's Typica back to the Netherlands for cultivation.

In the 1710s, the Mayor of Amsterdam gifted a Typica seedling to the French king. After cultivation, the French transplanted it to South America. In the 1720s, French naval officer Gabriel de Clieu stole Typica seedlings from the Royal Botanical Garden and transplanted them to the French colony of Martinique. The "European mother tree" bore abundant fruit, and its seedlings and seeds were distributed to several Central American countries. In 1825, Hawaii introduced improved Typica from Guatemala and planted it in the Kona region, which is now the famous Kona coffee.

It wasn't until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that a French missionary brought Typica to Yunnan. In 2013, when Catimor was still popular for cultivation in Yunnan, FrontStreet Coffee chose to breed the Typica variety. Typica's terminal young leaves are bronze-brown, the tree is tall, the leaves are narrow, and the beans are pointed and long. Typica's flavor is rich and diverse, presenting various fruit acidity and delicate texture. It is recognized as a high-quality variety. The renowned FrontStreet Coffee Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and FrontStreet Coffee Hawaiian Kona coffee both belong to the Typica variety.

Catimor

In the late 19th century, leaf rust swept through most of the world's Typica. In 1959, Catimor, a hybrid variety developed by the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC from a cross between Timor and Caturra, was widely promoted due to its strong disease resistance and high productivity. China's Yunnan production area initially cultivated the elegant but fragile Typica. However, when international brands like Nestlé and Starbucks entered the Chinese coffee market and sought coffee raw materials, coffee farmers, for higher economic benefits and under the promotion of Catimor varieties by international brands like Nestlé, cut down the excellent Typica varieties and switched to planting Catimor, which has high yield and strong disease resistance.

Catimor 7963 is a hybrid variety developed by the Portuguese Tropical Research Center (HCT) specifically for coffee rust resistance, with stable characteristics. This variety has characteristics such as compact tree shape, dwarfism, many branches, and short fruit nodes. It grows vigorously with extremely strong vitality, and its greatest features are amazing rust resistance and high productivity. Therefore, it is deeply loved by Yunnan coffee farmers, and currently over 90% of coffee trees in Yunnan are Catimor.

Although Catimor has achieved commercial value to some extent, cupping quality is often questioned, and when processed improperly, it can easily have defective flavors. With the emphasis on domestic specialty coffee, many coffee professionals and researchers have begun to invest in the cultivation aspects of Yunnan production areas, continuously improving coffee quality in terms of pest and disease control, shade trees, soil and water conservation, planting altitude, and cherry picking and processing methods. Today, Yunnan Catimor coffee produced using professional techniques can also exhibit good aroma and cleanliness.

Yunnan Production Region

Yunnan is the main production area for Chinese specialty coffee, with an average altitude of over 1000 meters, complex and varied terrain, fertile soil, sufficient sunlight, abundant rainfall, and large temperature differences between day and night. These are ideal growing conditions for Arabica, and these unique conditions contribute to the special taste of Yunnan coffee: rich but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, with a hint of fruit flavor.

Dehong: Known as the "Coffee Hometown of China," it has a typical South Asian tropical rainforest climate with no severe cold in winter, no extreme heat in summer, short frost periods, and small temperature differences. The average planting altitude is over 1000 meters, making it recognized by domestic experts as China's most suitable area for growing small-grain coffee. The coffee produced has unique flavor and excellent quality, enjoying high reputation in domestic and international markets.

Baoshan: The coffee cultivation history in Baoshan, Yunnan began in the mid-1950s, with the first coffee seedling introduced by the patriotic overseas Chinese Mr. Liang Jinshan from Southeast Asia. Baoshan small-grain coffee is renowned worldwide and is a national geographical indication product. European, American, and Arab countries, especially British, American, Egyptian, and Hong Kong-Macau merchants, regard it as premium coffee, with products in short supply.

Lincang: Lincang City is located in the southwestern part of Yunnan Province, with the Tropic of Cancer crossing its southern part. It borders Pu'er to the east, connects to Dali to the north, joins Baoshan to the west, and borders Myanmar to the southwest. It is named after being adjacent to the Lancang River. Its unique geographical location and climate conditions have made Lincang a focus of attention for many coffee companies. FrontStreet Coffee chose this production area to plant Typica coffee.

Pu'er: The tea town of Pu'er has a very long history of coffee cultivation, spanning 150 years. Although Pu'er City is world-famous for tea, its coffee planting area has reached 789,000 mu, with coffee bean production of 58,600 tons and a total output value of 2.469 billion yuan, making it the largest coffee planting base in Yunnan. Its climate, geography, and soil conditions are uniquely suited for coffee cultivation.

On FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, there are two coffee beans from Yunnan production areas: FrontStreet Coffee's own coffee estate's FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica and another FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Washed Small-grain Catimor daily bean. This allows everyone to taste the flavor from their own mainland country and also experience the flavor differences between these two varieties.

Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: Hario V60

Dose: 15g

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: 75% pass-through on #20 sieve

Water Ratio: 1:15

Three-Pour Method: Use twice the amount of coffee in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome for 30s blooming. Then use a small water stream to pour in circles from inside to outside until 125g, segmenting the pour. Wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine water stream for the third pour to 225g. Remove the dripper when all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes total.

FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Small-grain Daily Bean Coffee Flavor: Smells of strong nutty aroma, with herbal, chocolate, and caramel notes upon entry, with a hint of light fruit acidity in the aftertaste. Overall mouthfeel is balanced with good cleanliness.

FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica Coffee Flavor: Dry powder presents caramel, nut, and citrus aroma. At high temperature, it shows chocolate, fermented notes, and berry flavors. As temperature decreases, it reveals plum acidity, with a clean sweet aftertaste of black tea and sugarcane. Medium-high body, clear mouthfeel, rich and varied layers.

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

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

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