China's 99% Yunnan Coffee Beans Main Origin Rankings - Which Brand of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Has the Best Overall Flavor

Yunnan Coffee: A Journey Through China's Premier Coffee Region

In 1904, French missionary Alfred Tienne came to Dali, Yunnan from Vietnam to spread his faith. He planted the first coffee trees in the local Zhukula Village, marking the beginning of coffee cultivation in Yunnan.

With the implementation of reform and opening-up policies, industrial development accelerated, and coffee cultivation areas in Yunnan expanded year by year. Today, many major brands have also joined the Yunnan coffee industry, such as Nestlé, Starbucks, and COSTA.

Yunnan Coffee Growing Regions

As the specialty coffee market expands, Yunnan, as an important coffee-producing region in China, shows broad development prospects.

The coffee-growing areas in Yunnan are located in the southwestern part of the province, precisely on the golden coffee cultivation belt—between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The altitude ranges from approximately 1,000 to 2,000 meters, with predominantly mountainous terrain, steep mountain slopes, and fertile soil. Farmers typically plant coffee trees on the mountainsides. Yunnan's abundant rainfall and sunshine, combined with significant temperature differences between day and night at high altitudes, create exceptionally favorable terroir conditions for growing coffee trees.

The main coffee bean cultivation regions in Yunnan are Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong.

Lincang

Named for its proximity to the Lancang River, Lincang is located in southwestern Yunnan, bordering Myanmar to the west. The terrain here is complex, with elevations above 1,000 meters and an average annual temperature of 17.3°C. Instead of four distinct seasons, it's divided into dry and rainy seasons. The rainy season begins each June and lasts for 3-4 months. With abundant rainfall, sunshine, and significant temperature differences between day and night, this area is exceptionally suitable for growing high-altitude tropical plants like coffee. Thanks to these geographical advantages, coffee fruits absorb more nutrients, resulting in richer and more intense flavor profiles.

To truly explore coffee cultivation, FrontStreet Coffee established its own coffee plantation in the Lincang region in 2013. FrontStreet Coffee planted the elegant Typica variety here, studying management meticulously, and finally harvested the first batch of coffee fruits in the seventh year—what became FrontStreet Coffee 2013.

FrontStreet Coffee: FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Coffee Beans

Region: Lincang, Yunnan

Estate: FrontStreet Coffee Estate

Altitude: 1,300 meters

Variety: Typica

Processing: Natural processing method

Baoshan

Coffee cultivation in Baoshan began in the mid-1950s, with the first coffee seedlings introduced by the late patriotic overseas Chinese Mr. Liang Jinshan from Southeast Asia. The quality of Baoshan small-bean coffee has gained national recognition, and in 2010, it was designated as a National Geographical Indication Product by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The average temperature in Baoshan is approximately 21.3°C, reaching highs of 40.4°C. With basically no frost throughout the year, it's widely recognized as the best region for growing small-bean coffee. With the expansion of international trade, Baoshan's Lujiangba small-bean coffee has gained recognition from coffee experts both domestically and internationally. It was once described as: "Strong but not bitter, aromatic but not intense, with mellow fragrance; rich in oil content, with rich fruit acidity and persistent aftertaste; this is the finest among coffees."

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan daily bean selection features washed small-bean coffee from Baoshan. Regular customers may have noticed that most of FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans use washed processing. FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processing better presents the fundamental flavors of coffee. For this washed Yunnan small-bean coffee, the washed processing highlights the rich nutty notes and soft acidity of Yunnan coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's original intention in offering daily beans was to allow coffee beginners to experience representative flavors from different regions at the most affordable prices, helping them quickly get started.

Pu'er

When most people think of Pu'er, they think of tea, but Pu'er city is actually Yunnan's largest coffee cultivation base. In the 1990s, Nestlé launched an agricultural technical assistance service project in Yunnan, establishing demonstration farms. Nestlé established a coffee agronomy service department in Yunnan, cultivating coffee seeds suitable for local soil conditions and climate, and providing technical advice to local coffee farmers to improve the yield and quality of Yunnan coffee beans. Today, high-quality coffee beans from Pu'er are exported to European and American countries.

Dehong

As the "Hometown of Chinese Coffee," Dehong first introduced coffee seeds from the China-Myanmar border in 1951, beginning large-scale coffee tree cultivation. Dehong hosts China's largest coffee seed gene bank—the Ministry of Agriculture's Ruili Coffee Germplasm Resource Garden, one of the first nine tropical crop germplasm resource gardens authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee

The Yunnan small-bean coffee we often hear about is actually the Arabica variety. The initially cultivated variety in Yunnan was Typica, belonging to the ancient Arabica varieties. The coffee beans grown are much smaller than Robusta beans, hence the name "small-bean." Typica has pure and elegant flavor, but due to its weak disease resistance, susceptibility to leaf rust disease, and low yield, it cannot meet farmers' income needs. With local promotion in Yunnan, large-scale cultivation of the new Catimor variety began, replacing the original low-yield Typica variety.

Catimor inherits Robusta genes from Timor, showing stronger resistance to coffee berry disease and coffee leaf rust. With only partial shade needed, coffee trees can grow vigorously. Coffee fruits mature quickly and yields are high, making farmers more inclined to plant the Catimor variety.

Washed Processing

Due to the impact of perennial rainy seasons, high air humidity, and unstable sunshine, most Yunnan coffee beans choose washed processing.

The harvested coffee fruits are put into machines to remove the skin and pulp, then placed in clean water tanks for soaking. This allows acidic substances produced during fermentation to decompose the mucilage layer attached to the raw beans. Finally, they are thoroughly washed and then sun-dried. This processing method avoids the negative fermentation acidity that can appear in natural processing and results in cleaner coffee.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed Yunnan small-bean coffee has softer, cleaner acidity, so recommends using a faster-flow V60 dripper. The dripper's body has multiple ribs of varying lengths, which helps with extraction exhaust and accelerates flow rate, resulting in more distinct coffee flavor layers.

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 91°C

Grind Size: 80% passing through No. 20 standard sieve

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Coffee Amount: 15 grams

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction. After grinding the coffee and pouring it into the filter paper, start pouring from the center with 30g of water and let it bloom for 30 seconds. Pay attention to maintaining a small water flow, circling steadily from inside to outward throughout the process. In the second stage, pour 95g of water, and when the coffee liquid has almost finished flowing, begin the third stage with 100g of water, until all coffee has filtered through, then remove the dripper. The total time is approximately 2 minutes, with about 10 seconds margin before and after.

When brewed, this Yunnan small-bean daily coffee presents nutty and brown sugar sweetness on the first sip. As the temperature decreases, plum acidity can be tasted, followed by black tea aftertaste in the finish. The overall experience is smooth.

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

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473