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

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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

Coffee arabica is suitable for growing on mountainous terrain at altitudes of 800-1800 meters. If the altitude is too high, the taste becomes sour; if too low, it becomes bitter. Most arabica coffee is planted in dry, hot valley areas around 1100 meters altitude, resulting in moderate acidity, rich aroma, and mellow flavor. Many regions in Yunnan have unique environments suitable for growing arabica coffee, producing high-quality beans.

The main cultivation areas are distributed in Lincang, Baoshan, Simao, Xishuangbanna, and Dehong. Baoshan has an average temperature of 21.5°C, reaching highs of 40.4°C, and is essentially frost-free year-round, making it recognized as the best arabica coffee production area. The arabica coffee cultivated here is renowned both domestically and internationally for being rich without bitterness, aromatic without harshness, with small yet uniform beans, rich mellow aroma, and fruity notes. International coffee organization tasting experts have rated Yunnan coffee as being in the same category as Colombian wet-processed arabica coffee, representing the highest quality coffee in the world.

Cultivation Altitude

For arabica coffee, 1200 meters is the quality watershed. You'll notice that Hainan coffee, which few people discuss, has remained non-mainstream and can only be sold as a tourist souvenir. This is firstly because it's robusta, and secondly because Hainan's terrain is at sea level, with most areas below 300 meters. While Wuzhishan in central Hainan reaches 1800 meters, the urban area is only 320 meters. Hainan can grow some souvenir coffee, but it lacks the capacity to cultivate high-quality arabica.

Since cultivation altitude is a fundamental factor, large areas of Yunnan's mountains can reach above 1000 meters. Kunming sits at 1895 meters altitude, Baoshan at 1653.5 meters, Dali at 1976 meters, Chuxiong at 1773 meters, Dehong averages 800-1500 meters, and Diqing averages 3380 meters. With higher altitudes, temperature must also be considered. Generally, the coffee belt lies between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, as outside these zones, the probability of frost increases significantly. Coffee trees die when exposed to frost. However, in Yunnan, the Gaoligong Mountains north of Baoshan block the direct impact of Siberian cold currents in winter, and the numerous mountains create protective microclimates suitable for coffee growth.

Processing Method

The harvested cherries are processed using a depulping machine to separate most of the fruit pulp from the coffee beans. The parchment beans are then directed to a clean water tank, where they soak and ferment to thoroughly remove any remaining fruit pulp layer. In the past (about five years ago), the washed method was often the preferred processing method for fine coffee beans.

Through water processing, underripe and defective beans are selected out due to buoyancy differences, and the fermentation process is better controlled. Therefore, unlike natural-processed beans that may have impurities in flavor, washed coffee presents distinct fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and cleaner cup characteristics (free from any negative flavors like astringency or sharpness). However, because it's too "clean," the richness of flavor is also somewhat weaker.

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

Typica Variety

Typica: The oldest native variety of Ethiopia, originating from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan. All arabica varieties are derived from Typica. It offers elegant flavor but has weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield. Excellent estate coffees such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica variety. Typica has reddish-brown terminal leaves, earning it the name "red-topped coffee," and belongs to the arabica species.

The coffee tree's opposite leaves are long elliptical, with smooth leaf surfaces. The terminal branches are long with few side branches, while the flowers are white, blooming at the base where leaf stems connect to branches. Mature coffee cherries resemble cherries in appearance, appearing bright red with sweet pulp, containing a pair of seeds - the coffee beans.

Typica is one of the oldest native varieties of Ethiopia. Typica terminal leaves are bronze-colored, and the beans are elliptical or slender and pointed; it offers elegant flavor but has weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield.

Typica is one of the oldest varieties of arabica coffee trees discovered today, along with Bourbon. Arabica originates from Ethiopia, where this tree species still grows naturally in the local pristine rainforest highlands today. The Typica planted in Java was a gift from the Dutch to honor France's Louis XIV, surviving in the Persian Garden, and its seeds were brought by the French to the French colony of Martinique in 1720.

Typica beans are slender, the tree is tall and elegant, and the cherries are elliptical with slightly inclined branches. Typica has long, spreading limbs forming an open pattern at an angle of 50-70 degrees. Each tree produces very low coffee yields, but achieves high cupping scores.

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