Introduction to Yunnan Baoshan Catimor Coffee Varieties: Brewing Flavor Description of Yunnan Red Cherry Natural Process Catimor

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Friends who have read articles published by FrontStreet Coffee all know that FrontStreet Coffee has been dedicated to Yunnan coffee cultivation in recent years, leading the cultivation of Typica variety coffee beans. The goal is to optimize the flavor of Yunnan coffee from its source, hoping that in the future, the flavor of Yunnan coffee people drink will be the natural charm emitted by Yunnan coffee beans themselves, rather than covering up undesirable flavors of Yunnan coffee beans through some special processing methods. Yunnan small-bean coffee is currently dominated by the Catimor variety, and Yunnan's rainy climate leads to predominantly washed processing of coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee recently acquired sun-dried Yunnan small-bean coffee beans. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will conduct cupping, roasting, and brewing to see how the flavor of this bean performs.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Sun-Dried Catimor Coffee Beans

Origin: Baoshan, Yunnan, China

Altitude: 1450-1550m

Processing: Red Cherry Sun-Dried

Variety: Catimor

Baoshan Coffee Growing Region

As one of the three major coffee growing regions in Yunnan for small-bean coffee, Baoshan is a pioneer in the cultivation and processing of small-bean coffee in China. With a long history of small-bean coffee cultivation and rich cultivation experience dating back to the mid-1950s, research shows that the oldest coffee trees are already over 60 years old. Since 1952, Baoshan City in Yunnan has been engaged in large-scale coffee cultivation for nearly 60 years. Due to the unique natural conditions in the Nujiang River and Kuhe River basins within its territory and accumulated cultivation techniques over many years, under the careful cultivation of numerous farming households and technical personnel, Baoshan coffee enjoys a high reputation in the international market for its unique excellent quality.

The Development History of Baoshan Coffee Industry

First Phase: In the 1950s, Baoshan small-bean coffee was successfully promoted and cultivated on a large scale in Lujiangba, with the city's coffee cultivation area reaching nearly 10,000 mu by 1960.

Second Phase: In the early to mid-1960s, due to market and disease impacts, cultivation began to shrink, and by the late 1970s, the city's coffee cultivation area was reduced to only 0.3 mu.

Third Phase: In the late 1980s, with the United Nations Development Programme's assistance projects in Yunnan and the participation of international professional coffee production groups, coffee prices rose, reaching up to 30 yuan/kg. Baoshan coffee started again, and by 1997, the city's coffee cultivation area reached nearly 30,000 mu.

Fourth Phase: Since the implementation of the Yunnan Provincial Biological Resources Development Project, the Baoshan coffee industry has achieved rapid development.

Catimor Coffee Variety

In 1959, the Portuguese moved the Bourbon mutant variety Caturra from Brazil to East Timor and crossed it with Timor Hybrid, which has Robusta lineage, successfully cultivating Catimor, which has excellent disease resistance and productivity. As leaf rust disease affected coffee-producing countries worldwide, with the assistance of international organizations, various producing countries vigorously promoted Catimor to resist leaf rust and increase productivity.

Catimor is a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta. Robusta has good leaf rust resistance, rich oils, high yield, and is easy to cultivate. After crossing with Arabica Typica, Catimor acquired 25% Robusta genes, which improved its leaf rust resistance while retaining rich oils and also incorporating some of the rich flavor of the original Typica variety. Therefore, most Yunnan estates began large-scale cultivation of Catimor, while the cultivation range of Typica began to shrink.

Red Cherry Sun-Dried Processing

Red cherries refer to fully mature coffee fruits. During the coffee harvest period, coffee farmers only pick ripe red fruits, placing them one by one in baskets. The harvested coffee fruits are uniform in size, similar in maturity, and free from other impurities. During processing, defective coffee beans and immature or overripe coffee fruits are first manually selected. Then the red coffee fruits are spread evenly on raised wooden frames or entire trellises for sun-drying, which avoids the risk of beans absorbing foreign odors from the ground.

During the sun-drying process, the fruits are constantly turned to ensure even drying and uniform water loss; every three to five days, coffee farmers manually remove defective and moldy beans. After the fruit skin dries and becomes hard, a hulling machine is used to remove the dry, hard fruit skin. After obtaining the raw coffee beans, to pursue perfect flavor, coffee farmers will conduct one final screening. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the sun-dried processing method can naturally enhance the sweetness of coffee beans. By harvesting and selecting fully mature coffee fruits, the sugar content in the fruit pulp will be higher, so red cherry sun-dried coffee will have higher sweetness than coffee processed by general sun-dried methods, and the taste will also be fuller and more substantial.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

Roasting Machine: Yangjia 800N (300g batch size)

Preheat the roaster to 165°C, set heat to 130, and air damper to 3; return temperature at 1'32", when the roaster temperature reaches 128°C, open the air damper to 4, keeping heat unchanged; when the roaster temperature reaches 153°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. When the roaster temperature reaches 157°C, adjust heat to 100, keeping air damper unchanged; at 9'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack, which begins at 10'06". Open the air damper fully, develop for 3 minutes after first crack, and discharge at 198.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use 200ml ceramic cups for cupping. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. The grind size is controlled to pass through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm) at a rate of 70%-75%. Ratio: 11g of coffee grounds to 200ml of hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, so the extracted concentration falls within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with an immersion time of 4 minutes. Entry reveals red berry fruit acidity, nutty, herbal plant aroma, smooth entry, mid-palate nuts and chocolate, finish with caramel sweetness, medium body and full mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Experience

Dripper: V60

Dose: 15g

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: 80% pass through #20 standard sieve

Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:15

Frontsteet Brewing Method: 30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s, first pour to 125g then stop, vertical water flow, small flow with slow circular motion; second pour to 225g, water flow and circular speed slightly faster to reduce fine particles blocking the filter, causing over-extraction. (Timing starts from bloom) Extraction time is 2 minutes.

Brewing Flavor: Entry reveals red berry juice sensation, nuts, cocoa, licorice aroma, with caramel-like sweetness in the aftertaste, full-bodied, substantial, and smooth texture.

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