Coffee of China: Yunnan Coffee Cultivation History and Coffee Bean Quality

Yunnan Coffee Planting History

As China's largest coffee-producing region today, Yunnan has drawn the attention of major coffee companies such as Starbucks and Nestle, both of which recognized its enormous potential.

The story goes back to 1892, more than a century ago, when the French missionary Father Tian Deneng planted the first coffee tree in Zhukula Village, Binchuan County, Dali City. This is generally considered the earliest record of coffee being introduced to Yunnan. Over the following hundred years, coffee trees did not spread widely until multinational companies entered the province in the late 1980s, when this foreign crop was replanted and grown for export around the world.

After 1930, the well-known overseas Chinese leader Mr. Liang Jinshan brought coffee to Pu Piao and Luoming for cultivation, and planting continued into the early years of New China. After 1952, under the guidance of expert Ma Guojin from the Baoshan Tropical Research Institute, large-scale coffee planting began in areas such as Lujiang, giving the region nearly 60 years of large-scale cultivation history to this day.

By the end of 1997, the province's coffee planting area had reached 7,800 hectares. Today, Yunnan accounts for 70% of the national planting area and 83% of national production. In both acreage and bean output, Yunnan coffee has established its dominant position within China.

Appendix: Major Events in Yunnan Coffee History

First Phase: In the 1880s, the Qing government was forced to sign treaties with France ending the Sino-French War and opened Mengzi (Mengzi County, Honghe Prefecture) as a treaty port. In 1889, the Mengzi Customs opened, marking the start of exchange between the southwestern border and the outside world and immediately attracting foreign merchants and trading houses.

Second Phase: In 1902, a French missionary with the Chinese name Tian Deneng brought coffee from Vietnam to Zhukula, a mountain village in Binchuan County, Dali, Yunnan Province, for cultivation. To this day, descendants of those plants still survive, and the ancient coffee groves tell a century of history in the morning dew and evening glow.

Third Phase: In 1952, experts from the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences distributed 80kg of coffee seeds to farmers in the Lujiangba area of Baoshan, and several years later provided large-scale guidance for cultivation, leading to the swaying coffee trees along the Yunnan-Myanmar Road. Driven by huge demand for supply to the Soviet Union, Yunnan's coffee cultivation developed rapidly.

Fourth Phase: In 1988, Nestle established a joint venture in China and began supporting the local coffee industry in Yunnan by launching coffee cultivation projects, which triggered another rise. Starting in 1992, Nestle set up a Coffee Agriculture Department specifically to guide and research the improvement and cultivation of Yunnan coffee, buying coffee at prices based on the US spot market. Today, not only Nestle, Maxwell House, Kraft, and Starbucks are engaged in coffee in Yunnan, but local coffee enterprises have also gradually grown.

Yunnan Coffee Grading System

Although coffee has been cultivated in Yunnan for many years, the industry overall is still not mature enough, and its grading system remains rather disorganized.

1) Common International Grading Standards:

Coffee beans are graded by size using round-hole grading screens. The common international grading for small-bean coffee ranges from grade 10 to grade 20, where the number represents the screen mesh diameter as a fraction with that number as the numerator and 64 as the denominator, in inches. For example, grade 14 refers to green coffee beans that can pass through a screen with 14/64 inch diameter or larger, while grade 19 refers to green coffee beans that can pass through a screen with 19/64 inch diameter or larger. (1 inch is approximately 2.54 cm.)

2) Common Domestic Coffee Grading Standards:

Divided into five grades according to screen holes of 6.5, 6.0, 5.5, and 5.0 millimeters.

Grade 1: 6.5 mm and above, plump and complete grains.

Grade 2: 6.0-6.4 mm, plump and relatively uniform.

Grade 3: 5.3-5.9 mm, relatively plump and slightly less uniform.

Grade 4: 5.0-5.4 mm, with incomplete grains, where complete grains account for more than 75%.

Grade 5: Below 5.0 mm, with incomplete grains, where complete grains account for more than 30%.

International Standards for Small-Bean Coffee Defect Inspection:

Grading is based on the amount of defects, often determined by how many defects appear in a given quantity of beans. Under the method for identifying impurities and defective beans stipulated by the International Organization for Standardization, a 300-gram sample of coffee beans is randomly selected and the impurities and defective beans are counted for grading.

Yunnan Coffee Growing Regions

The western and southern parts of Yunnan lie between 15 degrees north latitude and the Tropic of Cancer, with most areas at elevations of 1000-2000 meters. The terrain is dominated by mountains and slopes with large variations, fertile soil, abundant sunlight, plentiful rainfall, and significant day-night temperature differences. These natural conditions create the special character of Yunnan small-bean coffee: rich but not bitter, aromatic but not strong, with a slight fruitiness.

Coffee cultivation in Yunnan is mainly distributed across Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong. These areas enjoy low latitude, high altitude, and wide day-night temperature swings, making Yunnan a golden belt for producing high-quality Arabica (small-bean) coffee.

Pu'er

Although Pu'er City is world-famous for tea, its coffee planting area has reached 789,000 mu, with bean production of 58,600 tons and a total output value of 2.469 billion yuan, making it the largest coffee base in Yunnan. Its climate, geography, and soil are uniquely advantageous for coffee.

Pu'er coffee has a century-old history, with cultivation beginning in the late 19th century and industrialized development starting in 1988. Today the city's coffee planting area reaches 767,000 mu, making it the mainland's largest cultivation area, highest production, and best-quality coffee main production area and trade distribution center.

Pu'er City is honored as the Coffee Capital of China. Besides being China's main coffee-producing region, Pu'er coffee is exported to more than 30 countries and regions across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, creating a new black gold market.

Lincang

Lincang City sits in southwestern Yunnan Province, with the Tropic of Cancer crossing its southern part. It borders Pu'er to the east, connects to Dali to the north, adjoins Baoshan to the west, and borders Myanmar to the southwest. Named for its proximity to the Lancang River, it is a brilliant pearl on China's southwestern border. Lincang's average annual temperature ranges between 16.8°C and 17.2°C, with distinct wet and dry seasons and abundant sunlight.

Baoshan

The cultivation of Baoshan small-bean coffee in Yunnan has a long history. Baoshan small-bean coffee can be considered a national geographical indication product and is one of the better-quality coffees both nationally and globally.

The average temperature in Baoshan is 21.5°C, with a maximum of 40.4°C, and it is basically frost-free year-round, making it a recognized best small-bean coffee producing area. The small-bean coffee grown here is famous at home and abroad for being rich but not bitter and aromatic but not strong, with small and uniform grains, a mellow and rich flavor, and a fruity taste.

Yunnan Coffee Processing Methods

In Yunnan, the main processing method is washed.

Harvested berries pass through a depulping machine to separate most of the pulp from the beans, and the parchment beans are then guided into a clean water tank and soaked for fermentation to fully remove the remaining mucilage layer. Through washed processing, unripe and defective beans are separated out by buoyancy and the fermentation is better controlled, so the flavor avoids the miscellaneous notes of sun-dried beans and instead shows clear fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and a cleaner cup.

Yunnan Varieties

Varieties

Typica and Bourbon, two classic high-quality varieties, are the main cultivated varieties in Yunnan. In 1991, the Catimor series was introduced from Kenya (with stronger virus resistance and higher yield), belonging to the Arabica species (also known as the small-bean species). Because the two varieties have similar morphology and habits, they are often mixed in cultivation.

Growth Period

Yunnan small-bean coffee begins to bear fruit after 3-4 years of growth.

Coffee is a short-daylight plant, and it shows both multiple flowering and concentrated flowering periods. Small-bean coffee in Yunnan flowers from February to July, with peak flowering from March to May. Flowering is greatly influenced by climate, especially rainfall and temperature. Coffee flowers last only 2-3 days, generally opening from 3-5 AM and blooming from 5-7 AM.

Coffee fruit development takes a relatively long time. Small-bean coffee fruit needs 8-10 months to ripen, generally maturing from October to December of the same year. Rainfall has a large impact on fruit development, and climate directly affects it.

Small-bean coffee plants are botanically known as the Arabica species, a category with over 100 varieties.

Among them, Typica and Bourbon are recognized worldwide as the best varieties in the Arabica species. The "old varieties" that Baoshan people usually refer to are in fact Typica and Bourbon.

The more common Yunnan beans on the market are of the Catimor variety. Catimor carries 1/4 Robusta genes, yields more fruit, and is easy to cultivate. The cupping of this year's 2018 Catimor AA shows barley tea, licorice, chocolate, and caramel flavors with a low, thick texture, which differs from our Yunnan Flower and Fruit Mountain Typica, a variety with caramel and brown sugar flavors plus floral aroma. Each has its own merits, and only the coffee that suits you is the right choice.

FrontStreet Coffee has also come to Yunnan and started our own coffee cultivation. The seedlings raised in the seedbed last year have now grown to 50 centimeters and can be transplanted to suitable mountains this year to keep developing. Before long, we will have our own home-grown coffee to drink.

The 12,000 seedlings we cultivated this time are mainly Typica, Bourbon, and Yellow Bourbon. Typica and Bourbon, two classic high-quality varieties, are the main cultivated varieties in Yunnan coffee. In 1991, the Catimor series was introduced from Kenya (with stronger virus resistance and higher yield), belonging to the Arabica species (also known as the small-bean species). Because Typica and Bourbon have similar morphology and habits, they are often mixed in cultivation.

Below are a few highlights from this Yunnan trip. Our own coffee, this is Typica, planted in 2017. These are strongly growing seedlings ready for transplantation, and here workers load seedlings onto trucks to carry them up the mountains for replanting.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this history has made you curious about the taste of Yunnan, FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Small Bean is an easy starting point. Sourced from the Baoshan region, it is washed and medium roasted, so it keeps a little acidity while still showing caramel. In the cup you get soft nuts, sweet chocolate, and a light plum acidity, a very approachable first encounter with Yunnan coffee. For anyone who wants an even clearer expression of the region, FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Natural Typica comes from trees we planted ourselves in 2013. Only fully ripe red cherries are used, dried in the sun, then medium roasted for balance. It brings out dark berry tones with caramel sweetness, chocolate, and a hint of dried apricot, finishing with a black-tea aftertaste.

For espresso drinkers who want to taste Yunnan in a milk-based drink, FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend pairs Yunnan small bean with Brazil Cerrado. The Brazilian coffee supplies mixed-nut aroma and a balanced body, while the Yunnan small bean carries the chocolate and citrus notes. Pulled as an Americano it shows balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness with nutty, brown-sugar sweetness; with milk, the latte turns silky with almond and cream. It is a forgiving choice for beginners.