Yunnan Coffee Varieties and Characteristics Introduction Are Yunnan's Arabica Coffee Beans Pure Enough

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Introduction to Yunnan Coffee by FrontStreet Coffee

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 1000-2000 meters, with mountainous and sloped terrain that features significant elevation changes. The region boasts fertile soil, abundant sunshine, plentiful rainfall, and large temperature differences between day and night. These unique natural conditions create the distinctive characteristics of Yunnan small-bean coffee—rich without bitterness, fragrant without harshness, with a subtle fruitiness. As early as the 1950s, Yunnan small-bean coffee was highly popular in the international coffee market and was recognized as a premium grade of coffee.

The cultivation history of Yunnan coffee 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. The coffee plants propagated from these seeds still have more than thirty specimens in Binchuan County that continue to flower and bear fruit today.

Large-scale cultivation of Yunnan coffee began in the mid-1950s, with a cultivation area reaching 4,000 hectares at its peak. By the end of 1997, the province's coffee cultivation area had reached 7,800 hectares. Currently, the province's cultivation area accounts for 70% of the national total, and its production accounts for 83% of the country's total. Whether measured by cultivation area or coffee bean production, Yunnan coffee has established its dominant position within China.

The suitable cultivation areas for Yunnan coffee are distributed in the southern and southwestern regions of Yunnan, including Simao, Xishuangbanna, Wenshan, Baoshan, and Dehong.

Yunnan Organic Typica coffee is one of the oldest varieties in Yunnan. From 2011-2012, the annual production of this bean throughout Yunnan was only 30,000 tons, making it extremely rare. With beans above 15 mesh, grown at altitudes over 1,200 meters, it exhibits strong fruit acidity. Its characteristics include: fresh coffee raw beans of the current season, mellow and rich flavor, delicate and smooth texture, excellent fruit acidity, making it a premium product with strong personality. Grown on the Gaoligong Mountains above the Nujiang River Basin in Baoshan, Yunnan, this high-quality natural coffee utilizes various natural techniques to ensure the growth of coffee trees, as the natural ecological environment is what organic coffee consumers seek.

"Yunnan small-bean coffee—fragrant without bitterness, rich without harshness," so many people classify Yunnan coffee varieties as "small-bean variety," and the natural evaluation of Yunnan coffee's flavor is "fragrant without bitterness, rich without harshness."

Regardless of correctness, upon careful investigation, among the more than 900 currently named coffee varieties, there is no term "small-bean variety." Therefore, this "small-bean variety" cannot strictly be considered a coffee variety—it is merely a nickname given by Yunnan people to this variety. In fact, the proper name for Yunnan "small-bean coffee" should be Arabica—Typica or Arabica—Bourbon.

Knowledge Point: Ethiopia holds the ancestral position in the coffee world as the birthplace of Arabica beans and is currently Africa's largest Arabica-producing country. The Kaffa Forest in Ethiopia is particularly known as the "coffee gene pool."

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