Flavor Profile of Yunnan Typica Coffee Beans and Introduction to Huaguoshan Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Huaguo Mountain Washed Introduction

Yunnan Huaguo Mountain

Region: Baoshan

Variety: Typica

Altitude: 1200m

Processing Method: Washed

Flavor Profile: Floral, melon and fruit notes, tea-like sensation

Arabica coffee thrives on mountain terrain between 800 and 1800 meters. Push the altitude too high and the cup turns sour; drop it too low and bitterness dominates. Most arabica is planted in hot, dry valley areas around 1100 meters, where it develops moderate acidity, a rich aroma and a mellow body. Many parts of Yunnan offer exactly this kind of environment, and the result is high-quality beans.

The main growing areas are spread across Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna and Dehong. Baoshan averages 21.5°C, with highs reaching 40.4°C, and is essentially frost-free the whole year through, which has earned it a reputation as one of the best arabica regions around. Coffee grown here is prized at home and abroad for being rich without bitterness and aromatic without harshness, with small yet uniform beans, a deep mellow aroma and fruity notes. Tasting panels from international coffee organizations have placed Yunnan coffee in the same category as Colombian washed arabica, the highest tier in the world.

Cultivation Altitude

For arabica, 1200 meters is the quality watershed. Hainan coffee, which few people discuss, has stayed on the sidelines as a tourist souvenir, first because it is robusta, and second because Hainan sits at sea level, with most of the island below 300 meters. Wuzhishan in central Hainan reaches 1800 meters, but the urban area is only 320 meters. Hainan can grow souvenir coffee, but it lacks the capacity to cultivate high-quality arabica.

Cultivation altitude is a fundamental factor, and large stretches of Yunnan's mountains reach above 1000 meters. Kunming sits at 1895 meters, Baoshan at 1653.5 meters, Dali at 1976 meters, Chuxiong at 1773 meters, Dehong averages between 800 and 1500 meters, and Diqing averages 3380 meters. Higher ground, though, also means colder nights, so temperature has to be weighed in. The coffee belt generally lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn; outside those lines the risk of frost rises sharply, and coffee trees die when frost hits. In Yunnan, the Gaoligong Mountains north of Baoshan block the direct impact of Siberian cold currents in winter, and the countless ridges create protective microclimates suited to coffee.

Processing Method

After harvest, the cherries go through a depulping machine that separates most of the fruit pulp from the beans. The parchment beans are then directed into a clean water tank, where they soak and ferment to strip away any remaining mucilage. In the past, roughly five years ago, washing was often the processing method of choice for fine coffee.

Because washed coffee spends time in water, the beans undergo chemical changes that consume much of their simple sugars (fructose and glucose). That lowers the beans' sugar content while raising their organic acids. The upshot is a cup that keeps more of the bean's own aroma and shows bright fruit acidity, cleanliness and freshness. Washed processing also uses buoyancy differences to sort out underripe and defective beans and gives the producer tighter control over fermentation, so the cup is free of the off-notes that natural processing can carry. The trade-off is that such a "clean" profile can also feel a little less rich.

Yunnan arabica belongs to the Rubiaceae family, genus Coffea, with growing areas mainly distributed across Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna and Dehong. Arabica coffee itself originates from Ethiopia or the Arabian Peninsula.

Typica Variety

Typica: The most ancient native variety of Ethiopia, originating from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan. All arabica varieties descend from Typica. It offers an elegant flavor, but it has a weak constitution, poor disease resistance and a low yield. Outstanding estate coffees such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica family. Typica has reddish-brown terminal leaves, which gave it the name "red-topped coffee," and it is a member of the arabica species.

The coffee tree's opposite leaves are long and elliptical with smooth surfaces. Terminal branches are long with few side branches, and the flowers are white, blooming at the base where the leaf stem meets the branch. Mature cherries resemble cherries in appearance, turning bright red with sweet pulp and containing a pair of seeds, the coffee beans.

Typica terminal leaves are bronze-colored, and the beans are elliptical or slender and pointed. It offers an elegant flavor but has a weak constitution, poor disease resistance and a low fruit yield.

Typica is one of the oldest arabica varieties discovered to this day, alongside Bourbon. Arabica originates from Ethiopia, where the species still grows wild in the highland rainforests today. The Typica planted in Java was a gift from the Dutch honoring France's Louis XIV, surviving in the Persian Garden, and its seeds were carried by the French to the colony of Martinique in 1720.

Typica beans are slender, the tree is tall and elegant, and the cherries are elliptical with slightly inclined branches. Its long, spreading limbs form an open shape at an angle of 50-70 degrees. Each tree yields very little coffee, but it reaches high cupping scores.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For anyone exploring Yunnan for the first time, FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Baoshan small-bean coffee is the easiest place to start. It is washed and roasted to a medium level, balancing a touch of caramel against a gentle acidity, so the cup shows soft nut and chocolate sweetness with a light plum-like tartness. The washed process, which removes the mucilage by fermentation and rinsing before drying, lets the terroir of the region come through clearly, and the approachable price makes it a gentle introduction to Chinese arabica.

For a more vivid, higher-elevation expression, FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Yunnan Natural Typica is the next step up. Only fully ripe, deep-red cherries are picked and dried in the fruit, then roasted to a medium level for a rounder body and a brighter sweet-sour balance. Expect dark berry notes, caramel sweetness, chocolate and a hint of dried apricot, with a black-tea finish that lingers.