Nav: Home > Coffee >

Which Yunnan Coffee Beans Can Be Considered Specialty Coffee? A Brief History of Yunnan Coffee Bean Development

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange, more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Introduction: In 1892, when a French missionary successfully planted the first coffee tree in a place called Zhukula for his own coffee needs, he probably never imagined that a hundred years later, coffee would become one of the characteristic agricultural products of the Yunnan plateau.

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

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Yunnan Small Bean Coffee

In 1892, when a French missionary successfully planted the first coffee tree in a place called Zhukula for his own coffee needs, he probably never imagined that a hundred years later, coffee would become a highlight of Yunnan Plateau's specialty agriculture. In the 1950s, Yunnan Province began large-scale coffee cultivation.

Large areas of low latitude, high altitude, and significant temperature differences between day and night in the golden coffee growing regions of Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong make Yunnan an ideal region for producing high-quality Arabica (small bean) coffee.

After more than 60 years of development, Baoshan's small bean coffee industry has reached a considerable scale, becoming a specialty industry with an annual output value of nearly 500 million yuan. Baoshan's coffee industry has created numerous achievements: at the 1980 National Coffee Conference, Baoshan small bean coffee was hailed as "the crown of national coffee"; in 1992, at the first China Agricultural Expo, Baoshan small bean coffee was awarded the highest silver medal; in 1993, it won the Eureka Gold Award at the 42nd Brussels Eureka Expo in Belgium.

In the era of specialty coffee, we know that specialty coffee quality is much better than commercial beans. We most often hear that specialty beans represent "good," while commercial beans represent "high defects" and "lack of taste." So-called specialty coffee refers to coffee beans cultivated in unique microclimates and geographical conditions of producing regions, which possess regional flavor characteristics. There are two requirements for coffee to be called specialty:

1. Coffee beans scoring above 80 points according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America scoring system;

2. Coffee beans from producing regions where the variety (Arabica), altitude, and processing method can be clearly identified.

In recent years, Yunnan's coffee development has been very rapid, with coffee production accounting for 98.3% of the country's total. Many international brands purchase coffee beans from Yunnan. Currently, Yunnan is in the coffee bean purchasing season. The Nestlé Coffee Center estimates that it will purchase 13,000 tons of coffee raw materials this year. Eighty percent of this 13,000 tons of coffee will be exported to Europe and Oceania, while the remaining twenty percent will be used for local consumption in China.

Knowledge Extension: Most of Yunnan currently grows Catimor, a hybrid variety that is a cross between the Caturra branch of the Bourbon line within the Arabica species and the Robusta species.

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation, hoping to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month, we hold three low-discount coffee events because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible price. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years!