How to Hand Brew Yunnan Coffee Beans? Are Yunnan Small Beans Better Tasting Than Hainan Coffee?

There are many parameters that affect pour-over coffee, including but not limited to coffee dose, ratio, grind size, water temperature, pouring technique, and time. To brew delicious coffee, you need to understand and coordinate the adjustments of various parameters. Before developing a brewing recipe for a coffee, FrontStreet Coffee always first understands the bean's characteristics. Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses their self-produced Yunnan Natural Typica "FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Coffee Beans" as an example to introduce how to master various parameters to make our coffee taste better.

What's the Difference Between Natural and Washed Yunnan Coffee?

Natural and washed processes are the most common processing methods we encounter daily. FrontStreet Coffee's bean list offers both washed and natural options for Yunnan coffee beans. This FrontStreet Coffee 2013 coffee bean is produced using full red cherry natural processing. In the early years, while exploring coffee knowledge, FrontStreet Coffee developed the idea of growing their own coffee. In 2013, they went to Lincang, Yunnan to begin the chapter of planting coffee trees. From site selection, variety selection, seedling cultivation, planting, harvesting, processing, to roasting - all were handled by FrontStreet Coffee's colleagues, accumulating considerable experience and knowledge regarding varieties, altitude, and processing methods.

Lincang, Yunnan is influenced by the Indian Ocean warm-humid air current and southwest monsoon. The four seasons are not distinctly defined, but there's a clear division between dry and rainy seasons. With abundant rainfall, long sunshine hours, short frost periods, and some areas being frost-free year-round, the three-dimensional climate is particularly suitable for Arabica coffee cultivation. The "Yunnan small bean" we often hear about distinguishes it from the Robusta coffee grown in China's Hainan region. Robusta typically presents strong, bitter flavors and is therefore less popular than Arabica. Currently, the widely planted Arabica in Yunnan is the Catimor variety.

FrontStreet Coffee specifically chose the original Typica variety. Typica is known for its elegant and pure flavors, but also notorious for low yield and poor disease resistance. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee put considerable effort into cultivation and management. After 5-6 years of cultivation, FrontStreet Coffee finally harvested the first batch in 2020, processed using natural methods, and named it "FrontStreet Coffee 2013."

Natural processing is the oldest method for processing green coffee beans. Simply put, it involves direct drying, followed by hulling to obtain the coffee beans. Natural processing typically depends on weather conditions, with a general drying period of up to four weeks. The completion indicator is when the coffee cherries turn dark purple and reach about 11% moisture content. Finally, machines remove the dried coffee pulp, skin, and mucilage. FrontStreet Coffee hand-picks each red coffee cherry and spreads the fresh cherries evenly under the sun for natural drying, turning them periodically for even dehydration. If weather conditions are poor, equipment is used for drying.

FrontStreet Coffee's another Yunnan daily coffee is washed Catimor from the Baoshan region. FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed Yunnan coffee not only reduces defect rates but also produces more stable quality coffee, making Yunnan beans cleaner.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan coffee's flavor profile belongs to a neutral, balanced character - meaning it has acidity, sweetness, and bitterness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's self-roasted Yunnan coffees all use medium roasting. Through cupping, the washed Yunnan Baoshan small bean daily coffee shows notes of nuts, herbs, sweet potato, melon, brown sugar, cream, plum, and caramel, with a relatively smooth mouthfeel. The natural Typica presents fuller fermented flavors with medium-high body, clean mouthfeel, black tea finish, and rich, layered complexity.

Pour-Over Preparation

Before brewing, we first need to prepare the following equipment: pour-over kettle, filter holder, serving pot, grinder, filter paper, electronic scale, and thermometer.

The filter holder and filter paper are responsible for filtering coffee grounds while absorbing oils from the coffee, making the flavor cleaner. FrontStreet Coffee's daily brewing at their cafes uses two filter holders: Hario V60 and KONO. The V60 filter holder is mainly responsible for brewing lighter roasted coffee beans, while the KONO filter holder handles darker roasted coffee beans.

The electronic scale is used to weigh coffee beans and water amounts. Every parameter must be quantified to ensure replication and maintain consistency in the final product. The same applies to the thermometer - before each pour, ensure the water temperature is within the appropriate range. When using the V60 filter holder to brew lighter roasted coffee beans, choose water temperatures between 90-92°C, while darker roasted coffee beans use 88-89°C water temperature.

The grinder is also crucial. The coarseness of coffee grounds directly affects the taste of pour-over coffee. If the grounds are too coarse, extraction is likely insufficient, resulting in weak flavor. If too fine, it's easy to over-extract, making the taste bitter. FrontStreet Coffee uses a tool to adjust grind size - China No. 20 0.85mm standard sieve. For light to medium roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee consistently uses a 75-80% sieve pass rate, while for medium to dark roasted coffee beans, they use 70-75%.

Brewing Parameter Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's flavor descriptions for every coffee bean are based on freshly roasted beans. If coffee beans are stored for more than two months, aroma may have partially dissipated, making it difficult to restore the original flavor during brewing. FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands the importance of freshness, therefore ensuring only coffee beans roasted within 5 days are shipped, allowing everyone to enjoy the complete flavor period upon receipt.

Considering this natural Typica uses medium roasting and balances acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, but overall leans toward nutty, chocolatey rich and full-bodied flavors. The deeper roasting makes the coffee beans more porous, with coffee grounds having stronger water absorption, therefore medium grind size is chosen. To avoid extracting excessive undesirable flavors, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium 90°C water temperature paired with a KONO filter holder for extraction. Unlike the V60 filter holder, the KONO filter holder's only exhaust area is in the quarter-section ribs. When water level rises above the rib area, water volume in the filter holder continuously increases, creating pressure through water weight. Due to the relatively smaller outlet, it extends the contact time between coffee particles and water, effectively extracting soluble substances as water flows through, thereby enhancing the coffee's rich, full-bodied taste.

Compared to light roasted coffee, medium roasted natural Typica beans have more porous internal structure, therefore better water absorption and easily release bitter large-molecule substances. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee chooses a No. 20 standard sieve 75% pass rate for grind coarseness. The cafe uses an EK43s grinder setting of 10.5.

Water temperature and grind size play similar roles. Higher water temperature leads to higher coffee extraction efficiency, easily releasing various substance components and higher concentration. If using near-boiling hot water for brewing, it's easy to extract unpleasant bitter substances. Therefore, when brewing medium to dark roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses different brewing parameters than for light roasted coffee beans. The caramelization reaction is greater than in light roasted beans, making it easier to release bitter large-molecule substances. To avoid extracting excessive undesirable flavors, FrontStreet Coffee reduces water temperature slightly. Light roasted coffee's brewing water temperature is 91-93°C, while FrontStreet Coffee recommends 87-90°C for medium to dark roasted coffee beans.

Filter holder: KONO filter holder
Water temperature: 90°C
Grind size: No. 20 standard sieve 75% pass rate, EK43s setting 10.5
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Coffee dose: 15 grams

Based on past brewing experience, FrontStreet Coffee recommends beginners use a three-stage pouring method. Three-stage extraction helps fully dissolve flavor substances during extraction, increases mouthfeel complexity, while avoiding over-extraction from overly long soaking times. For 15 grams of coffee grounds with 1:15 ratio and 225ml total water, the three-stage water amounts are divided into: 30ml, 95ml, 100ml, with the scale showing: 30g, 125g, 225g.

First, place the folded filter paper in the filter holder to fit perfectly, and wet it with water to better conform to the holder. Prepare hot water and measuring thermometer, meanwhile pour 15 grams of ground coffee into the filter holder, and zero the electronic scale.

For the first stage, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Start timing while pouring, using a small water stream from the center point spiraling outward, ensuring the entire coffee bed is wetted.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring the second stage of 95g water with a slightly larger, steady stream, aiming to raise the entire coffee bed. The water stream needs to be vertical and even. At this point, the scale shows 125g, with pouring completed around 55 seconds.

When the water level drops to about halfway, start pouring the third stage of 100g using a small stream in small circles. Try to control the water stream to not be too large, as this can scatter the coffee bed and cause insufficient extraction. The final total pour amount is 225g, with drip completion around 2 minutes. After removing the filter holder, shake the coffee liquid in the serving pot evenly before tasting.

The water amount for each stage is not fixed - we can adjust according to our accumulated pour-over experience and understanding of the coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee understands coffee brewing as a scientifically-based experiment. To master pour-over coffee, we need to deeply understand the true meaning of each brewing parameter. This way, we can easily find experimental methods and establish a brewing framework suitable for ourselves.

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

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

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473