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

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Yunnan Coffee Planting History

As China's largest coffee-producing region today, Yunnan has attracted major coffee companies like Starbucks and Nestlé, who have recognized its immense potential.

History can be traced back to 1892, over 100 years ago, when French missionary Father Tian Deneng planted the first coffee tree in Zhukula Village, Binchuan County, Dali City—this is generally regarded as the earliest record of coffee introduction to Yunnan. In the 100 years that followed, coffee trees did not grow extensively in this area until multinational companies entered Yunnan in the late 1980s, when this foreign product was replanted and utilized for export worldwide.

After 1930, the famous overseas Chinese leader Mr. Liang Jinshan brought coffee to Pu Piao and Luoming for cultivation, which continued until after the founding 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 like Lujiang, with nearly 60 years of large-scale cultivation history to date.

By the end of 1997, the province's coffee planting area had reached 7,800 hectares. Currently, the province's planting area accounts for 70% of the national area, and production accounts for 83% of the national total. Whether in terms of planting area or coffee bean production, 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 beginning of exchange between the southwestern border and the outside world, 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 coffee plants still survive, with ancient coffee groves telling tales of 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. Due to the huge demand for supply to the Soviet Union, Yunnan's coffee cultivation experienced rapid development.

Fourth Phase: In 1988, Nestlé established a joint venture in China and began supporting local coffee industry development in Yunnan through initiating coffee cultivation projects, leading to another rise of Yunnan coffee. Starting in 1992, Nestlé established a Coffee Agriculture Department specifically to guide and research the improvement and cultivation of Yunnan coffee, purchasing coffee at prices based on the US spot market. To date, not only Nestlé, Maxwell House, Kraft, Starbucks, and other coffee giants are engaged in coffee business in Yunnan, but local coffee enterprises have also gradually developed and grown.

Yunnan Coffee Grading System

Although coffee has been cultivated in Yunnan for many years, overall it is still not mature enough. Its grading system is also 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 10-20, where the numbers represent 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 ≈ 2.54 cm)

2) Common Domestic Coffee Grading Standards:

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

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

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

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

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

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

International Standards for Small-Bean Coffee Defect Inspection:

Grading is based on the amount of defects, often identified by how many defects are contained in a certain amount of coffee beans. According to the identification method for impurities and defective beans in coffee beans stipulated by the International Organization for Standardization, 300-gram coffee bean samples are randomly selected to calculate impurities and defective beans for grading.

(Source: http://www.yunnancoffee.org/ProductShow.asp?id=84)

Yunnan Coffee Growing Regions

The western and southern parts of Yunnan Province are located between 15°N 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 unique natural conditions create the special characteristics of Yunnan small-bean coffee—rich but not bitter, aromatic but not strong, with a slight fruitiness.

Coffee cultivation in Yunnan is mainly distributed in Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong. These areas have natural resources of low latitude, high altitude, and large day-night temperature differences, making Yunnan a golden cultivation area for producing high-quality Arabica (small-bean) coffee.

Pu'er

Although Pu'er City is world-famous for tea, its coffee cultivation 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 cultivation base in Yunnan. Its climate, geography, and soil conditions are uniquely advantageous for coffee cultivation.

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 cultivation area reaches 767,000 mu, making it the mainland's largest cultivation area, highest production, and best-quality coffee main production area and coffee 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 also exported to more than 30 countries and regions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, creating a new "black gold" market.

Lincang

Lincang City is located 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-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 cultivated here is famous at home and abroad for being rich but not bitter, aromatic but not strong, with small and uniform grains, mellow and rich flavor, and a fruity taste.

Yunnan Coffee Processing Methods

In Yunnan, the main processing method is the washed method.

The harvested berries are processed through a depulping machine to separate most of the pulp from the coffee beans, then the parchment beans are guided to a clean water tank and soaked in water for fermentation to completely remove the remaining pulp layer. Through washed processing, unripe beans and defective beans are selected out due to buoyancy, and the fermentation process is better controlled, so the flavor does not have the miscellaneous taste of sun-dried beans, but instead presents obvious fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and cleaner cup characteristics.

Yunnan Varieties

Varieties

Typica and Bourbon, these two classic high-quality coffee varieties, are the main cultivated varieties in Yunnan. In 1991, the Catimor series varieties were introduced from Kenya (with stronger virus resistance and higher yield), belonging to the Arabica species (also known as small-bean species) variants. Due to the similar morphology and habits of these two varieties, 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. Coffee has the phenomenon of multiple flowering and concentrated flowering periods. Small-bean coffee in Yunnan flowers from February to July, with peak flowering from March to May. Coffee flowering is greatly influenced by climate, especially rainfall and temperature. Coffee flowers have a short lifespan of only 2-3 days. Small-bean coffee generally begins to open from 3-5 AM and blooms from 5-7 AM.

Coffee fruit development takes a relatively long time. Small-bean coffee fruit maturity requires 8-10 months, generally maturing from October to December of the same year. Rainfall has a greater impact on fruit development, and climate conditions directly affect fruit development.

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

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

The more common Yunnan beans seen on the market are of the Catimor variety. Catimor has 1/4 Robusta genes, higher fruit yield, and is easy to cultivate. The cupping of this year's 2018 Catimor AA has barley tea, licorice, chocolate, and caramel flavors, with a low and thick texture [coffee], which is different from our [Yunnan Flower and Fruit Mountain Typica] variety. The latter has caramel and brown sugar flavors with floral aroma [coffee], each with its own merits. Only the coffee that suits you is the right choice [pleasant]

FrontStreet Coffee has also come to Yunnan and started our own coffee cultivation. The coffee seedlings cultivated in the seedbed last year have now grown to 50 centimeters, and can be transplanted to suitable mountains this year to continue developing. In the near future, 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, these two classic high-quality coffee varieties, are the main cultivated varieties in Yunnan coffee. In 1991, the Catimor series varieties were introduced from Kenya (with stronger virus resistance and higher yield), belonging to the Arabica species (also known as small-bean species) variants. Due to the similar morphology and habits of Typica and Bourbon, they are often mixed in cultivation.

Below, let's look at the highlights from this Yunnan trip:

Our own coffee, this is Typica, planted in 2017

Strongly growing coffee seedlings, ready for transplantation

Workers load coffee seedlings onto trucks to transport them to the mountains for transplantation

Related recommendations: How to brew Yunnan small-bean coffee beans, Yunnan small-bean coffee brand recommendations

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473