Don't Know Where Coffee is Grown in Yunnan? Are Yunnan Coffee Beans Delicious? Variety Determines Everything

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FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Coffee Region Introduction

The western and southern parts of Yunnan Province are located between 15° north latitude and the Tropic of Cancer. Most areas have an altitude of 1,000-2,000 meters, with mountainous and sloped terrain that features significant elevation changes. The region boasts fertile soil, abundant sunlight, plentiful rainfall, and substantial temperature differences between day and night. These unique natural conditions create the distinctive characteristics of Yunnan small-seed coffee—rich but not bitter, aromatic but not strong, with a slight fruity flavor. As early as the 1950s, Yunnan small-seed coffee gained great popularity in the international coffee market and was classified as a premium coffee variety.

The history of coffee cultivation in Yunnan can be traced back to 1892. A French missionary brought coffee seeds from abroad into Yunnan and successfully planted them in a valley in Binchuan County, Yunnan Province. To this day, more than thirty coffee plants propagated from these original coffee seeds are still flowering and fruiting in Binchuan County.

Large-scale coffee cultivation in Yunnan began in the mid-1950s, with the planting area once reaching 4,000 hectares. By the end of 1997, the total coffee planting area in the province had reached 7,800 hectares. Currently, the province's planting area accounts for 70% of the country's total area, and its output accounts for 83% of the nation's total. From the perspective of both planting area and coffee bean production, Yunnan coffee has established its dominant position in China.

The provinces in China most suitable for coffee cultivation mainly include Yunnan, Hainan, Guangdong, and Guangxi. Among these, Yunnan's planting area and production both account for more than 95% of the country's total. Areas in southern and western Yunnan such as Dehong, Lincang, Pu'er, Baoshan, Xishuangbanna, and Wenshan are all distribution areas for Yunnan small-seed coffee cultivation. To date, Yunnan's coffee planting area has reached 1.8 million mu, with an annual coffee production of 150,000 tons.

Dehong Prefecture (The Hometown of Chinese Coffee)

As one of the main coffee-producing areas in Yunnan Province, Dehong Prefecture is one of the earliest regions for coffee cultivation in the province. According to historical records, Nongxian Village in Dehong Prefecture introduced small-seed coffee cultivation as early as 1914, giving it a coffee cultivation history of over a hundred years. Dehong Prefecture also houses China's largest coffee seed gene bank—the Ministry of Agriculture's Ruili Coffee Germplasm Resource Garden, which is one of the first nine tropical crop germplasm resource gardens designated by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Dehong Prefecture has a typical South Asian tropical rainforest climate with no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer. The altitude is generally above 1,000 meters. Coffee cultivation is mainly focused on small-seed coffee varieties, which once set a national record of 363.5 kilograms of coffee beans per mu (China's average coffee bean yield per mu is approximately 80-100 kilograms). By the 2015/2016 production season, the coffee area had expanded to 189,300 mu, with a production of 17,700 tons.

In recent years, Dehong's leading coffee company Hougu has made significant progress in planting base construction, primary processing, and deep processing. The region has the only national-level agricultural industrialization leading enterprise in the coffee industry—Dehong Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd., and has successfully registered the "Dehong Coffee" geographical indication.

Knowledge Point

Tip: The Typica old variety offers excellent flavor, good taste, and distinct aroma, but has weak disease resistance.

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