Yunnan Coffee Bean Brands Recommendations and Introduction - Rankings of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Origins and Variety Characteristics

Today, the coffee culture among young people in China is becoming increasingly vibrant, and our choices in coffee shops are growing. In the wave of specialty coffee, Yunnan coffee has risen to prominence, with major chain brands launching Yunnan coffee products, demonstrating the rapid development trend of Yunnan coffee.

Why are most small-bean varieties in Yunnan Catimor?

In 1904, a French missionary brought coffee seeds to the valleys of Binchuan County, Yunnan, planting the first batch of Arabica variety coffee trees, marking the beginning of Yunnan coffee cultivation. What Yunnan coffee farmers call "small-bean coffee" refers to the Arabica variety, in contrast to the Robusta variety planted in Hainan.

In the mid-1950s, to provide coffee beans for the Soviet Union, cultivation scale was further expanded. According to research, the widely distributed variety at that time was the ancient Typica. In the following decades, several cities in Yunnan began to expand cultivation areas, but large-scale leaf rust outbreaks occurred, causing widespread death of coffee trees, so many farmers began to switch to other crops.

Starting from the 1990s, global coffee consumption surged, and overseas coffee giant Nestlé began to explore new coffee-producing regions, setting its sights on Pu'er, Yunnan, located in the coffee belt. Nestlé established a branch in China, supporting Yunnan's coffee industry development in multiple ways. Not only did they introduce high-yield, disease-resistant varieties like Catimor, but they also promised to purchase Yunnan coffee beans as raw materials at the then-current US futures prices. These measures further expanded Yunnan's coffee cultivation area and increased the enthusiasm of coffee farmers. At the same time, it established Catimor's position in replacing the ancient Typica variety, becoming the main variety of Yunnan coffee.

What variety does Catimor belong to?

Although Catimor is classified as Arabica, genetically speaking, Catimor is a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta, carrying 25% Robusta genes.

Catimor inherits Robusta characteristics, with strong disease resistance and high yield. After roasting, the coffee beans carry rich oils and also have the "devil's flavor" of Robusta beans. In cupping, the flavor performance often falls short of pure Arabica varieties at the same altitude, such as Caturra and Bourbon. For Yunnan to improve overall coffee quality, variety replacement is needed. In recent years, many new varieties have gradually appeared in Yunnan, such as Geisha. However, FrontStreet Coffee wants to remind everyone that variety replacement cannot be achieved in one step. A new coffee variety needs 3-4 years to flower and bear fruit, 4-5 years to reach mass production, and requires 2-3 generations to adapt to the new environment, taking approximately 15-20 years.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that to understand Yunnan coffee, one should first recognize the flavor characteristics of the producing regions. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's featured Yunnan coffee is selected from the Catimor variety in the Baoshan region, processed using the washed method and offered in 100-gram small packages, allowing everyone to taste the "flavor of Yunnan." FrontStreet Coffee believes that Catimor coffee grown in Yunnan has a balanced flavor profile with nuts, brown sugar, and plum-like notes.

So, besides Catimor, are other varieties being cultivated in Yunnan now? Of course, FrontStreet Coffee selected and cultivated coffee trees in Lincang, Yunnan in 2013, all of which are the ancient Typica variety. After 5-6 years of cultivation, FrontStreet Coffee finally harvested the first batch in 2020, produced using natural processing methods, and named it "FrontStreet Coffee 2013."

What are the most common post-processing methods for Yunnan coffee?

From fruit on a tree to delicious coffee in our cups, it needs to go through multiple steps including harvesting, post-processing, grading classification, purchasing, roasting, and brewing. Besides variety, the post-processing method greatly influences the flavor direction of coffee.

Currently, there are novel flavor-enhancing processing methods on the market that cover up the inherent defects of Yunnan beans and add large amounts of aroma to increase prices. FrontStreet Coffee feels this neither authentically preserves the flavor of Yunnan coffee nor misleads consumers. Some friends, after tasting Yunnan coffee beans processed with special methods, find the aroma particularly prominent and think this is the mainstream processing method for Yunnan coffee. In reality, most Yunnan coffee farmers face harsh conditions and do not have expensive processing equipment, so the vast majority of Yunnan coffee beans can only use natural processing methods, namely washed and natural.

The washed method involves using machines to remove the peel and pulp from harvested coffee cherries, placing the peeled coffee beans in fermentation tanks for fermentation, using fermentation to break down the mucilage layer, repeatedly washing the fermented coffee beans with clean water to remove the decomposed mucilage, and finally drying the coffee beans for 1-2 weeks. Washed Yunnan coffee not only reduces the defect rate but also produces more stable quality coffee with higher cleanliness, allowing one to better experience the most original flavor of Yunnan coffee in the cup. This is also why FrontStreet Coffee prioritized washed processing batches when launching the "Yunnan flagship representative" daily brew beans.

How does Yunnan coffee taste?

When FrontStreet Coffee discusses the flavor characteristics of Yunnan coffee, some describe it as chocolate, some say it's like sweet potatoes, and others think it resembles Sanhua plums. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan small-bean coffee has a balanced flavor profile, meaning it has acidity, sweetness, and bitterness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan coffee is all medium-roasted, highlighting the roasted aroma of chocolate and nuts while preserving some acidity. FrontStreet Coffee tastes herbal, nutty, caramel, chocolate, brown sugar aromas, melon and fruit sweetness, and plum acidity in cupping washed Yunnan small-bean daily brew coffee, with a balanced mouthfeel.

Many customers who purchase Yunnan coffee beans ask FrontStreet Coffee: What brewing method should be used? What are the recommended brewing parameters? If you want to experience the flavor spectrum of Yunnan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that pour-over black coffee is the best way to taste it.

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60
Dose: 15g
Water temperature: 90 degrees Celsius
Grind size: 75% pass-through rate on #20 sieve
Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15

Grind size and water temperature:

Because Yunnan coffee's flavor attributes are balanced, excessively high water temperatures and too-fine grind sizes can easily lead to over-extraction, releasing too many bitter, large molecular flavor compounds, while too-low water temperatures and too-coarse grind sizes can lead to under-extraction, making the coffee easily tasteless. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee chooses medium water temperature and grind size, extracting with 90-degree Celsius hot water, with coffee grind fineness at 70% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve, 10.5 on the store's EK43s setting.

Three-stage pouring:

Use twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and blooming for 30 seconds. Then, using a small water stream, pour in circles from inside to outside until reaching 125g, then pause. Wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the height of the dripper, then continue with the same fine stream to pour the third stage to 225g. Remove the dripper once all the coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes total.

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 (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: 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