Is Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Disgusting? Have You Tried Authentic Yunnan Small Bean Coffee?

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

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

The Evolution of Yunnan Coffee

Historically, Yunnan coffee has not had a particularly good reputation. This was partly because more scientific cultivation methods were not being used at the time, and partly because Yunnan-grown coffee was primarily supplied to Nestlé for instant coffee production, so the coffee bean processing was not particularly refined.

However, times have changed. Today, with the support of local governments, there has been much more research into Yunnan coffee cultivation. Driven by specialty coffee culture, Yunnan coffee has received increased attention from cultivation to processing, which has led to significant improvements in Yunnan coffee in recent years. Through collective efforts and support, Yunnan coffee now has its own unique regional flavor characteristics: plums, nuts, caramel, and tea-like notes.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Selection

In FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean series, the representative bean from the Yunnan region is a washed processed Catimor coffee bean from the Baoshan producing area in Yunnan. The Baoshan region was chosen because its altitude and mild climate are suitable for growing specialty coffee beans. Typically, 1200 meters is the watershed between commercial and specialty coffee beans, and generally, the higher the cultivation altitude, the better the coffee's flavor.

The coffee bean selected by FrontStreet Coffee is grown in areas above 1200m in Baoshan. The washed processing method, involving 18-36 hours of water pool fermentation after depulping, enhances the bright acidity of this coffee bean and makes the overall coffee cleaner, allowing for a more intuitive appreciation of the coffee bean's quality and Yunnan region's flavor characteristics.

When FrontStreet Coffee received these Yunnan Catimor small bean green coffee beans, they noted that the beans were overall uniform and displayed a greenish color. They had a faint grassy aroma and plum-like acidic fragrance.

Roasting Approach

Since this coffee variety is an Arabica variety with a small amount of Robusta genetics, the variety's inherent greenness is slightly more pronounced than other Arabica varieties. To minimize this green flavor while showcasing Yunnan coffee region's unique characteristics, FrontStreet Coffee roasts the beans to medium, presenting a cinnamon stick color.

Yangjia 800N roaster (300g batch size): Charge temperature 190°C, heat 120, damper at 3; Return point at 1'40", when temperature reaches 145°C, open damper to 4, heat unchanged; When temperature reaches 166°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. When temperature reaches 188°C, reduce heat to 60°C, damper at 5;

At 8'37", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'00", first crack begins, damper unchanged, develop for 3 minutes after first crack, discharge at 198°C.

Agtron bean color value 63.1 (above image), Agtron ground color value 70.4 (below image), Roast Delta 7.3 value.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Small Bean Brewing Suggestions:

Dripper: Hario V60

Dose: 15g

Water Temperature: 90°C

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

Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:15

Three-stage pouring: Use twice the amount of coffee in water to moisten the coffee bed, forming a dome and blooming for 30s. Then use a small water stream to pour in circles from inside to outside until reaching 125g for the first stage. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine water stream to inject the third stage to 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, total time approximately 2 minutes.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473