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FrontStreet Coffee — An Introduction to Yunnan Baoshan Coffee

Baoshan is one of the few coffee-growing regions in China, with nearly a century of cultivation behind it. Thanks to the unique geography of the Lujiangba dry-hot river valley, its "Baoshan small-grain coffee" has been designated a national geographical indication protected product.

Yunnan province is famous for more than Pu'er tea — it also has vast fertile land for growing quality coffee, concentrated around Pu'er City and Baoshan City. Baoshan in particular has earned fame for producing one of the world's most expensive coffees: civet coffee.

Civet coffee originated in Indonesia. Civets eat ripe coffee cherries and pass the beans undigested; the beans are collected and processed, having undergone fermentation in the animal's digestive tract that lends the coffee a distinctive flavor. The style quickly became one of the most sought-after items in the coffee market.

Rarity commands a price: with so few civets in the world, a 50-gram package can cost over 800 yuan — roughly 200 yuan per cup. What many people don't know is that Baoshan is China's coffee hometown. Large-scale cultivation there began as early as 1952 — over sixty years of continuous production — and Baoshan was also among the first regions in China to make civet coffee, for which it remains well known.

Yunnan Baoshan sits on a low-latitude plateau whose special geography creates a vertical climate best described as "four seasons on one mountain, different weather every ten miles." Conditions like these suit coffee perfectly, and the beans from its highest elevations are often compared to Jamaican Blue Mountain.

Yunnan's coffee is grown mainly in Pu'er, Xishuangbanna, Wenshan, Baoshan, Dehong, and Lincang. Baoshan has the highest altitudes of the group, giving it a real cultivation advantage: clean air, high altitude, and wide day-night temperature swings that favor the accumulation of organic matter. That quality earned Baoshan coffee a gold medal at the 42nd Brussels Eureka Fair in 1993, winning over the exacting palates of professional tasters.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste Yunnan coffee for yourself, start with FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Small-Grain (Arabica) from Baoshan. Washed and roasted medium, it shows gentle nut and chocolate sweetness with a touch of plum acidity — an approachable, affordable introduction to China's homegrown specialty coffee.

For a clearer, more distinct Yunnan character, step up to FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Natural Typica, grown on FrontStreet's own estate. Typica is one of the oldest and purest Arabica varieties, and after natural processing and a medium roast it offers a fuller body with pronounced sweet-and-sour notes — dark berries, caramel sweetness, chocolate, a hint of dried apricot, and a black-tea finish.