China's Finest Coffee Growing Regions: Yunnan's Premium Small-Bean Coffee with Balanced Acidity and Bitterness

When it comes to Chinese coffee, it's mainly divided into Hainan coffee and Yunnan coffee. Among them, Hainan primarily cultivates the Robusta variety, which is mostly dark roasted, resulting in a stimulating and intense flavor. Yunnan, as China's largest coffee-growing region, is not only the country's sole production base for high-quality coffee raw materials but also the earliest place in mainland China to cultivate coffee. Perhaps, Chinese people are not very familiar with Yunnan coffee, only knowing about Yunnan Pu'er tea, but now Yunnan coffee can be found in almost every coffee shop. With the release of the movie "Go Home," people have gained a deeper understanding of Yunnan coffee.

Yunnan: China's Premier Coffee Region

As China's largest coffee-producing region, although Yunnan's coffee production is slightly less compared to neighboring countries, the quality of its coffee is by no means inferior to that of other nations. Yunnan's coffee output accounts for 95% of China's total coffee production, making it the country's main coffee-producing area.

The coffee-growing areas in Yunnan are located in the southwestern part of the province, perfectly situated within the coffee golden cultivation belt—between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. With altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 meters, predominantly mountainous terrain with steep slopes, and fertile soil, farmers typically plant coffee trees on mountainsides. The abundant rainfall and sunshine in Yunnan, combined with significant day-night temperature differences at high altitudes, create exceptionally favorable terroir conditions for growing coffee trees. These conditions provide an excellent environment for coffee cultivation in Yunnan. As people's perceptions of coffee gradually change, Yunnan now places great emphasis on coffee quality and is gradually entering the specialty coffee stage.

Yunnan's Small Bean Coffee: Arabica by Another Name

Small bean coffee is not unique to Yunnan; basically, all places in the world that can produce coffee are growing it. Nowadays, we can see small bean coffee everywhere on the streets, except that businesses today tend to use its other name—Arabica coffee.

Yunnan's "small bean coffee" is actually what the market commonly calls "Arabica variety coffee"—just different naming conventions. All Arabica varieties originate from Africa, were then promoted and developed by Arabs, and finally spread to the Americas or Asia. In terms of flavor, Yunnan small bean coffee is relatively neutral—neither too acidic nor too bitter, with a comfortable micro-acidity that suits popular taste preferences.

Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Varieties

Yunnan small bean was originally named after Typica, as Typica is the Arabica small bean variety. The oldest coffee variety in Yunnan is Typica. Later, when Nestlé entered Yunnan, due to Typica's poor disease resistance and to increase coffee bean yields, coffee farmers were asked to cut down the flavorful Typica coffee trees and plant varieties with inferior flavor but better disease resistance and higher yields. Initially, the rust-resistant S288 was introduced, followed by the higher-yielding Catimor. In other words, the coffee trees currently grown in Yunnan are mainly Catimor varieties, and Yunnan small bean coffee is Catimor variety coffee.

"Small bean" refers to the smaller-sized Arabica variety in coffee, in contrast to Hainan's medium-sized Robusta coffee beans. Yunnan initially introduced and planted Typica and Bourbon, two pure Arabica varieties. The ancient Typica is recognized as a high-quality variety. The famous Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee belongs to the Typica variety, featuring rich aroma and delicate, diverse flavors, but with extremely low yields and susceptibility to rust disease, requiring more labor-intensive management. Coffee, after all, is a cash crop for Yunnan farmers to make a living. If yields are too low to meet income needs, it becomes difficult to maintain cultivation, so most Yunnan farmers choose to switch to higher-yielding varieties: Catimor.

Typica

The most classic premium Arabica variety, from which many commercial improved varieties now originate. It exhibits excellent flavor performance and is recognized as a specialty coffee variety, but with extremely low yields and susceptibility to rust disease, requiring more labor-intensive management. Typica coffee originates from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. The plants are relatively robust but not light-tolerant, with higher yields in Hawaii. Typica's top leaves are copper-colored, earning it the name "red-topped coffee."

Catimor

Currently, most coffee varieties grown in Yunnan are Catimor. Because Typica variety coffee trees are susceptible to coffee leaf rust disease and have lower yields, local coffee farmers have reluctantly cut down these flavorful Typica varieties and switched to cultivating Catimor varieties with higher yields and resistance to coffee leaf rust disease.

In Han Huaizong's book "Specialty Coffee Science," which introduces Chinese coffee-producing regions, it's mentioned that in 1998, over 90% of Yunnan's coffee varieties were Catimor.

Catimor is a new variety hybridized from Timor and Caturra, developed in 1959 by the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC. Catimor varieties are characterized by high productivity, dwarf plants suitable for dense planting, and good disease resistance. However, because Catimor varieties carry Robusta genes, they exhibit more noticeable bitterness, grassy flavors compared to pure Arabica, and are slightly disadvantaged in terms of cleanliness, fruity notes, and richness. Robusta varieties have good leaf rust resistance, rich oils, high yields, and are easy to cultivate. After hybridizing with Arabica's Typica, Catimor acquired 25% Robusta genes, improving leaf rust resistance while retaining rich oils and some of the original Typica's rich flavors. Therefore, most Yunnan estates now began large-scale cultivation of Catimor, while Typica's cultivation range began to shrink.

Major Coffee-Producing Regions in Yunnan

Yunnan doesn't have four distinct seasons—only dry and rainy seasons. Most coffee-producing regions share similar conditions, which is why some regions use the natural processing method. June marks the beginning of the rainy season in coffee-producing areas, with rain continuing for the next three to four months, providing the most favorable conditions for coffee cultivation. Only by planting seedlings during this time, with several months of rain nourishment, can they develop robust root systems to survive the first six-month dry season.

Yunnan small bean coffee trees bear fruit in 3-4 years. Coffee is a short-day plant with multiple flowering periods and concentrated blooming characteristics. Small bean coffee in Yunnan flowers from February to July, with peak flowering from March to May. Coffee flowering is greatly influenced by climate, particularly rainfall and temperature. Coffee flowers have a short lifespan of only 2-3 days. Small bean coffee typically begins blooming between 3-5 AM and reaches full bloom between 5-7 AM. Coffee fruit development takes a long time. Small bean coffee fruit takes 8-10 months to mature, typically from October to December of the same year. Rainfall greatly affects fruit development, and climate conditions directly impact the fruit.

The main well-known coffee-growing areas in Yunnan are: Baoshan, Pu'er, Lincang, and Dehong.

Lincang City has a subtropical low-latitude plateau mountain monsoon climate with complex terrain and diverse climate types. Mainly influenced by the warm, moist air currents from the Indian Ocean and southwest monsoon, the distinction between four seasons is not obvious, but dry and rainy seasons are distinct. The area receives abundant rainfall and long sunshine hours, with an average annual sunshine duration exceeding 2,000 hours. The frost period is short, with some regions having no frost year-round. The vertical climate is evident, with average annual temperatures in mountainous areas ranging from 13-15°C.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has established its own estate in Yunnan's Lincang region. Then in 2021, FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) produced its first self-grown coffee bean—FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica Coffee. FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) took interest in this "green pearl on the border," and during FrontStreet Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) early establishment, simultaneously created its own coffee estate in one of Yunnan's main coffee-producing regions—Lincang—planting the oldest Arabica variety—Typica.

The tea town of Pu'er has a 150-year history of coffee cultivation. In the early 1990s, Pu'er City began developing coffee as a key industry for adjusting industrial structure and helping farmers increase income and achieve prosperity. Due to the influence of subtropical monsoon climate, most areas here are frost-free year-round, with no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer. Pu'er City has an average annual temperature of 15-20.3°C, with over 315 frost-free days annually, and annual rainfall of 1,100-2,780 mm.

Coffee cultivation in Baoshan began in the mid-1950s, with the first coffee seedlings introduced from Southeast Asia by the late patriotic overseas Chinese Mr. Liang Jinshan. In recent years, with the expansion of international trade, the small bean coffee from Lujiang Basin has become renowned far and wide. Baoshan has a low-latitude mountainous subtropical monsoon climate. Due to its location on a low-latitude plateau with complex terrain and landforms, a vertical climate has formed where "one mountain has four seasons, and different weather appears within ten li." Baoshan has a long history of coffee cultivation and is recognized as the "best small bean coffee-producing area," making it one of the better coffee-producing regions in the country and even globally. Most cultivation is also of the Catimor variety.

FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yunnan small bean coffee comes from Baoshan.

Dehong has no severe cold in winter, no extreme heat in summer, abundant rainfall, with rain and heat occurring simultaneously, dryness and cold in the same season, small annual temperature differences, large daily temperature differences, short frost periods, and few frosty days—providing excellent growing and overwintering conditions for coffee trees. The entire state is close to the Tropic of Cancer, at a low latitude, and influenced by the Indian Ocean southwest monsoon, belonging to the south subtropical monsoon climate.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Due to the perennial rainy season and unstable climate, most Yunnan coffee beans are processed using the washed method. However, there are also naturally processed coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's Catimor includes both washed Yunnan small bean coffee and natural Catimor coffee, and of course, there's also FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica Coffee from our FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) estate.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters for Yunnan Coffee:

To preserve the acidity and tea-like characteristics of Yunnan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) applies medium roasting. When brewing, you can use a V60 dripper with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, medium grind (approximately coarse sugar size/75% retention on China #20 standard sieve), and 88°C water temperature.

Using segmented extraction, bloom with twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds—that is, 30g of water for 30 seconds. The blooming process is necessary to allow the coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide gas, thereby making the subsequent extraction more stable. With a small water flow, pour in circles until reaching 125g, then continue pouring to 225g and stop. Remove the dripper once the water has finished dripping. Time from the start of pouring, with an extraction time of 2'00". Next, take the entire cup of coffee, shake it well, and pour into cups for tasting.

[FrontStreet Coffee Washed Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Flavor]: Herbal, nutty aroma, chocolate, caramel, with a hint of fruit acidity in the aftertaste.

[FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Natural Catimor Coffee Flavor]: Performance: Nuts, chocolate, spices, caramel, plum.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Suggestions:

To brew a delicious cup of coffee, attention to the freshness of coffee beans is still necessary. FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans greatly affects the coffee's flavor, so the coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) are all within 5 days of roasting. 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 peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee kindly reminds: once coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for degassing, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide production inside the package can also help the coffee flavor become rounded, so you can brew and drink a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because coffee powder oxidizes relatively quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee's flavor will dissipate more quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better experience the coffee's flavor.

With the promotion of domestic products, Chinese coffee is gradually being discovered and loved by everyone. FrontStreet Coffee loves Yunnan coffee mainly because it's Chinese people's own coffee. FrontStreet Coffee has over fifty single-origin coffees from different regions worldwide, including three from Yunnan: Yunnan Washed Small Bean Coffee, Yunnan Natural Catimor Coffee, and FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica Coffee from our FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) estate.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

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Important Notice :

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