Yunnan Coffee Beans: Differences Between Typica and Catimor, and Why Catimor's Flavor is Criticized

FrontStreet Coffee has its own coffee plantation in Lincang, Yunnan, where they grow Typica variety coffee trees. Why choose Typica instead of Catimor? Because FrontStreet Coffee wants everyone to experience the charm of Yunnan coffee beans, and Typica is one of the oldest Arabica-derived varieties, naturally offering the most primitive and best flavor profile, which is why FrontStreet Coffee selected it.

Actually, Yunnan coffee initially also started with Typica variety cultivation. Yunnan small-grain coffee refers to Arabica coffee beans. At that time, French missionary Tian Deneng brought coffee seeds (Typica) from Vietnam to Yunnan and successfully planted them in Zhugula Village, Binchuan County, Yunnan Province, telling people this was small-grain coffee (because Arabica coffee beans belong to small-fruit coffee, while Robusta belongs to medium-fruit coffee). Naturally, the Yunnan region refers to Arabica coffee beans as Yunnan small-grain.

However, in the late 19th century, leaf rust swept through most of the world's Typica. In 1959, Catimor, a hybrid cross between Timor and Caturra developed by the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC, was widely promoted due to its strong disease resistance and high productivity. The Chinese Yunnan growing region initially cultivated the elegant yet fragile Typica, but later, international brands like Nestlé and Starbucks entered the Chinese coffee market seeking coffee raw materials. For higher economic benefits and under the promotion of Catimor varieties by international brands like Nestlé, farmers cut down the fine Typica varieties and replaced them with high-yield, disease-resistant Catimor.

It was because of this that Catimor was born. It was developed in 1959 by Portugal's Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC, with their research focusing on disease resistance and high yield. But they also wanted to maintain good flavor, so they used the Timor variety derived from Robusta and the Caturra variety derived from Arabica for hybridization, thus developing the new variety named Catimor. Catimor didn't disappoint everyone either - it inherited Timor's Robusta genes, making it more resistant to coffee berry disease and coffee leaf rust, while also having stronger pest resistance. However, this also led to frequent criticism regarding its cup performance.

Catimor fruits mature quickly with high yields, requiring adequate fertilizer supply and shade. Additionally, Catimor's high yield corresponds to a relatively shorter commercial lifespan, averaging only ten years. Through FrontStreet Coffee's cupping tests, it was found that low-altitude planted Catimor shows no significant advantage or disadvantage in cup performance compared to other commercial varieties.

Typica Coffee Characteristics

As one of the ancient coffee varieties, Typica coffee has a delicate and clean flavor profile with balanced characteristics and high cup cleanliness - something that cannot be achieved through special processing methods. The reason Yunnan farmers are unwilling to grow Typica coffee is that the Typica variety has low yields and is susceptible to pests, making the effort disproportionate to the harvest. On the other hand, farmers have not yet developed specialty coffee awareness, so they keep their distance from the Typica variety.

Typica is also known as the old variety small-grain coffee. Its production is low, cultivation is difficult, so its price is much higher than ordinary small-grain coffee. Typica coffee originates from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. The plant is relatively robust but not tolerant to strong sunlight, with higher yields in Hawaii. The top leaves of Typica are reddish-bronze, earning it the name red-topped coffee. It belongs to the elegant-flavored ancient coffees but has a weak constitution, poor disease resistance, is susceptible to leaf rust, and has low fruit yield, making it economically unviable.

Because the Catimor variety carries Robusta genes, it inherited Robusta's strong disease resistance while also inheriting the criticized flavor profile of Robusta. Han Huaizong once described Catimor as having a "devilish aftertaste." With the development of cultivation techniques and variety improvements, Catimor's flavor has gradually become more elegant.

Main Yunnan Coffee Growing Regions

Yunnan coffee growing areas are mainly distributed in Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna, Dehong and other regions.

Lincang Region

Lincang City is located in the southwestern part of Yunnan Province. The Tropic of Cancer passes through its southern part. It borders Pu'er to the east, Dali to the north, Baoshan to the west, and Myanmar to the southwest. Therefore, it is also known as Lancang Jiang, a brilliant pearl on China's southwestern border. The average annual temperature in Lincang City ranges between 16.8°C to 17.2°C. The dry and wet seasons are distinct, with abundant sunshine.

Due to its unique geographical location and climate conditions, Lincang City has become the focus of many coffee companies. High-quality coffee seedling bases of 200 mu and 100 mu were established in Mengding Town, Gengma Dai and Yi Autonomous County, and Lincang Huanle Farm respectively. In Gengma, Zhenkang, Yun County, and Cangyuan, Yunnan coffee, also known as Yunnan small-grain, has uniformly sized and full coffee beans with a mellow and moderate taste.

Because of this, FrontStreet Coffee, in order to let more friends experience the charm of Yunnan coffee beans, established its own coffee plantation in Lincang, Yunnan, mainly growing Typica variety coffee. Because Typica is one of the oldest varieties derived from Arabica, its flavor expression is naturally the most primitive and best, which is why FrontStreet Coffee chose it. The coffee from FrontStreet Coffee's plantation was launched accordingly - FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Natural Typica Coffee. Of course, FrontStreet Coffee encountered numerous difficulties on the path of growing this coffee.

Baoshan

Baoshan region has a long history of coffee cultivation and is recognized as the best small-grain coffee producing area, making it one of the better coffee quality producing areas both nationally and globally.

The average temperature in Baoshan is 21.5°C, reaching up to 40.4°C, with basically no frost throughout the year, making it recognized as the best small-grain coffee producing area. The small-grain coffee cultivated here is famous at home and abroad for being rich but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, with small and uniform grains, mellow and rich flavor, and fruity notes. International Coffee Organization tasting experts evaluated Yunnan coffee as being in the same category as Colombian wet-processed small-grain coffee - among the highest quality coffee in the world. FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan small-grain coffee comes from the Baoshan region.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Yunnan's weather is rainy and foggy, so washed processing has become the most common processing method for Yunnan coffee. Of course, there are also natural processed ones, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Catimor Coffee and FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Natural Typica Coffee.

Washed Processing Method: Harvested berries are separated from most of the pulp using a depulping machine, then the parchment beans are guided to a clean water tank and soaked in water for fermentation to completely remove the remaining pulp layer. Through washed processing, unripe beans and defective beans are selected out due to buoyancy, and the fermentation process is easier to control, so the flavor doesn't have the miscellaneous taste of natural processed beans, but instead presents distinct fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and cleaner cup characteristics.

Natural Processing Method: Whole mature and complete red coffee cherries are evenly spread on drying beds for sun drying. Since the complete fruit skin and pulp layer are retained, the drying process is more complex and requires longer time. To avoid excessive fermentation, staff need to frequently turn each red coffee cherry at regular intervals.

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Typica, due to the use of natural processing method, has very full aroma and outstanding sweetness, with preserved fruit-like sweetness, soft plum acidity, rich nutty notes, and an aftertaste with brown sugar sweetness and tea-like sensation. Many friends who purchase this coffee bean from FrontStreet Coffee will ask FrontStreet Coffee's baristas how to brew it to best bring out its flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Typica is fragrant but not strong, rich but not bitter, possessing the traditional Yunnan small-grain coffee taste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters for Natural Typica Coffee

To preserve the sour-sweet sensation and tea-like characteristics of Yunnan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roast. When brewing, you can use a V60 dripper with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, medium grind (approximately coarse sugar size/China No. 20 standard sieve 80% pass-through rate), and 91°C water temperature.

Adopting segmented extraction, bloom with twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds, i.e., 30g of water for 30 seconds. The reason for the blooming process is to allow the coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide gas, thereby making the subsequent extraction more stable. Pour water in a small circular motion to 125g, then continue pouring to 225g and stop. Remove the dripper once the water has finished dripping through. Start timing from the beginning of pouring, with an extraction time of 2'00". Next, pick up the entire cup of coffee and shake it evenly, then pour into cups for tasting.

[FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica Coffee Flavor] Heavy body, prominent sour-sweet sensation, with citrus and berry notes, a hint of fermented wine aroma, caramel-like sweetness, creamy aftertaste, and black tea sensation.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Suggestions

Regarding coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans greatly affects the flavor of coffee. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when it arrives. The coffee degassing period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it's at the peak of flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee gently reminds: if coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for degassing, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide in the package also helps the coffee flavor become mellow. Therefore, you can immediately brew a cup upon receiving ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because coffee powder oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate relatively quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh for each brew to better experience the coffee's flavor.

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Important Notice :

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