Introduction to Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee: Are the Beans Small? The Four Major Coffee Growing Regions in Yunnan

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Yunnan Coffee Growing Region

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

The western and southern parts of Yunnan Province are located between 15°N latitude and the Tropic of Cancer. Most areas have elevations between 1,000-2,000 meters, with predominantly mountainous and sloped terrain. The region features significant elevation changes, 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 but not bitter, fragrant but not overpowering, with a slight fruity note. As early as the 1950s, Yunnan small-bean coffee was highly popular in the international coffee market and was rated as a premium coffee variety.

Currently, Yunnan has a total of 42 counties and cities cultivating coffee, distributed across 11 prefectures and cities, with 380,000 farming households engaged in coffee cultivation. Yunnan has formed eight major coffee-producing regions: Pu'er, Lincang, Baoshan, Dehong, Xishuangbanna, Dali, Nujiang, and Wenshan. Additionally, small amounts of coffee are also grown in areas such as Chuxiong, Honghe, Yuxi, and Lijiang.

In fact, "small-bean coffee" is merely one of the former names for this coffee variety. The term "small-bean" refers to its relatively small fruit size. Correspondingly, coffee with medium-sized berries is called medium-bean coffee, while the variety with the largest fruit size is large-bean coffee.

Small-bean coffee is not unique to Yunnan - basically all coffee-producing regions around the world grow it. Today, we can see small-bean coffee everywhere on the streets, only that businesses now more commonly use its other name - Arabica coffee.

The term "Arabica" appears very frequently in advertising and promotional materials.

Since before the 15th century AD, commercial coffee cultivation was monopolized by Arabs, so when European botanists named coffee, they described it as "the plant from Arabia" - Arabica, pronounced as Arabica.

So at this point, it should be clear that Yunnan's "small-bean coffee" is actually what we commonly call "Arabica variety coffee" on the market today - just different naming conventions. All Arabica originates from Africa, was then promoted and developed by Arabs, and finally spread to the Americas or Asia.

Knowledge Point: As early as 1892, a French missionary brought coffee seeds to Yunnan and successfully planted the first coffee tree in a place called Zhukula.

In Summary

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