Differences Between Typica and Catimor Coffee Bean Varieties: Flavor and Taste Characteristics of Yunnan Coffee Beans

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

Are Typica and Catimor Both Yunnan Small-Bean Coffees? What Are the Differences Between These Two Beans?

Today, let's get to know them~

Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee

Yunnan small-bean coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae family, Coffea genus. The planting areas are mainly distributed in prefectures such as Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna, and Dehong. Small-bean coffee originates from Ethiopia or the Arabian Peninsula.

Main Growing Regions

Small-bean coffee is suitable for growing on mountainous terrain at elevations of 800-1800 meters. If the altitude is too high, the taste becomes sour; if too low, it becomes bitter. Most small-bean coffee is planted in dry, hot valley areas around 1100 meters altitude, resulting in moderate acidity, rich fragrance, and mellow smoothness. Many areas in Yunnan have unique environments suitable for growing small-bean coffee, producing excellent quality small-bean coffee.

The planting areas are mainly distributed in prefectures such as Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna, and Dehong. Baoshan has an average temperature of 21.5°C, reaching up to 40.4°C, with basically no frost throughout the year, making it recognized as the best small-bean coffee growing region. The small-bean coffee cultivated here is renowned both domestically and internationally for being rich but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, with small, uniform beans, rich mellow aroma, and fruity notes. International Coffee Organization tasting experts have rated Yunnan coffee as comparable to Colombian wet-processed small-bean coffee, ranking it among the world's highest quality coffees.

Varieties

Typica

The oldest native variety from Ethiopia, originating from Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. All Arabica varieties are derived from Typica. It has elegant flavor but weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield. Excellent estate beans such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica variety. Typica's top leaves are copper-colored, called red-topped coffee, and Typica belongs to the Arabica species.

Catimor

In 1959, the Portuguese hybridized Brazilian Caturra with Timor to cultivate the disease-resistant Catimor, which is currently an important commercial variety.

Growth Period

Yunnan small-bean coffee trees bear fruit at 3-4 years of age.

Coffee is a short-day plant. Coffee has the characteristics 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, lasting only 2-3 days. Small-bean coffee generally begins to open around 3-5 AM and blooms fully from 5-7 AM.

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

The new leaves at the tips of the branches in the image above are copper-colored - this is the Typica coffee tree. Typica is an old variety within the Arabica lineage. As we all know, Hawaii Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain are actually Typica varieties. Among a vast expanse of Catimor, it's actually quite easy to recognize. After careful observation, you'll find that each variety has its own appearance - Catimor's leaves all droop downward, and the tree shape appears to be wearing a cloak. Meanwhile, Typica has branches reaching upward, with copper-topped new leaves at the tree tips.

Looking along the way, most of what's currently planted in Yunnan is Catimor. This variety is a hybrid between the Caturra branch of the Arabica Bourbon lineage and the Robusta lineage. The reason for planting this variety is that Catimor possesses Robusta genes, so it has better disease resistance compared to single old varieties, and its yield is also good. Compared to the delicate old varieties with poor disease resistance and low yields, farmers naturally prefer to plant Catimor, so a Catimor trend has now swept across Yunnan.

Catimor beans are round and thick, while Typica beans are thin and long. Catimor's center line is messy. Under the same conditions, Typica quality is superior to Catimor, and the price is also higher.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Yunnan washed Typica Huaguoshan coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value - a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 69 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 5 yuan. Compared to the tens of yuan per cup sold in coffee shops, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

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