Where is the Best Coffee Region in Yunnan? Introduction to the Flavors of Yunnan Arabica Coffee Beans

Introduction to Yunnan Coffee

Coffee has entered people's lives and become an irreplaceable beverage. As our love for coffee grows, coffee is no longer limited to imported varieties. Coffee from our country has also embarked on the path of specialty coffee. Yunnan is a wonderful place and an excellent tourist destination. While Pu'er tea is famous there, coffee has now become another distinctive feature of Yunnan. Yunnan is a place suitable for coffee cultivation. FrontStreet Coffee has a coffee estate in Yunnan.

Yunnan's Coffee Growing Regions

FrontStreet Coffee offers a Yunnan small-bean coffee that is quite popular, which shows that Chinese people have developed an appreciation for coffee from their own country. Yunnan coffee has entered our vision and we have grown to love its flavor. Why is Yunnan so suitable for coffee cultivation? FrontStreet Coffee explains: Coffee is also a type of agricultural crop. Just like coconuts grow well in Hainan, but what about in Guangdong? It might not be the same. This is the product brought by the climate of each place. Coffee is generally suitable for cultivation between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, which we call the "coffee belt." The western and southern parts of Yunnan Province happen to be located between 15°N latitude and the Tropic of Cancer. At the same time, most areas have the high altitude required for coffee cultivation, with terrain mainly consisting of mountains and slopes that have significant variations, fertile soil, sufficient sunlight, abundant rainfall, and large temperature differences between day and night.

In fact, Yunnan has a long history of coffee cultivation. FrontStreet Coffee has learned that it can be traced back to 1904, when a French missionary brought coffee seeds from the China-Vietnam border to Yunnan and successfully planted the first coffee tree in a place called Zhukula. He probably never imagined that a hundred years later, coffee would become a highlight of specialty agriculture on the Yunnan plateau. Of course, most of these coffee trees have perished, and the surviving ones are only historical witnesses.

Around 1930, the renowned overseas Chinese leader Mr. Liang Jinshan brought coffee to Pu Piao and Luoming for cultivation, continuing until after the founding of New China. After 1952, under the guidance of expert Ma Guojin from the Baoshan Tropical Crop Research Institute, large-scale coffee cultivation began in places like Lujiang. The history of large-scale cultivation spans nearly 60 years to date, which can be considered the first explosion period of Yunnan coffee cultivation. In the 1890s, it was introduced to Zhukula, Binchuan County, Dali, China, and has since taken root and developed on mainland China. The characteristics of Yunnan coffee beans have become representatives of Chinese coffee, hence Yunnan coffee is also known as "Yunnan small-bean coffee."

Yunnan's coffee cultivation is mainly concentrated in these areas: Pu'er, Xishuangbanna, Wenshan, Baoshan, Dehong, Lincang, and other places.

Dehong

Dehong's climate resources are unique. The entire prefecture is located near the Tropic of Cancer, at a low latitude, and is influenced by the Indian Ocean southwest monsoon, belonging to the South Asian tropical monsoon climate. The Gaoligong Mountains to the northeast block the dry and cold air currents from Siberia from entering. In summer, the warm and humid air currents from the Indian Ocean rise along the windward slopes of the southwest-inclined mountains, forming abundant natural precipitation. Additionally, the low-latitude plateau region has a large solar incidence angle and good air transparency, making it one of the country's high-quality light regions.

The annual solar radiation is 137-143 calories/cm², annual rainfall is between 1400-1700 mm, average annual temperature is 18.4-20°C, annual sunshine is 2281-2453 hours, annual accumulated temperature is 6400-7300°C, annual land evaporation is between 1400-1900 mm, and the drought index is between 0.4-1.2. This has formed Dehong's characteristics: no severe cold in winter, no extreme heat in summer, abundant rainfall, simultaneous rain and heat periods, same season for dryness and coldness, small annual temperature range, large daily temperature range, short frost period, and few frost days, providing excellent growth and overwintering conditions for coffee trees.

Baoshan

Coffee cultivation in Baoshan began in the mid-1950s. The first coffee seedling was 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 Dam has become renowned far and wide.

Baoshan has a low-latitude mountainous subtropical monsoon climate. Due to its location on a low-latitude plateau and complex topography, it has formed a three-dimensional climate of "four seasons in one mountain, different weather within ten miles." Its characteristics are: small annual temperature range, large daily temperature range, average annual temperature of 14-17°C; abundant precipitation with distinct dry and wet seasons, uneven distribution, annual rainfall of 700-2100 mm.

Lincang

FrontStreet Coffee's estate is located in Lincang. Its unique geographical location and climate conditions have made Lincang a focus of attention for many coffee companies. They have successively established high-quality coffee seedling bases of 200 mu and 100 mu respectively in Mengding Town, Gengma Autonomous County, and Xingfu Farm in Lincang City, and have carried out coffee cultivation in Gengma, Zhenkang, Yun County, Cangyuan, and Yongde.

Lincang City has a subtropical low-latitude plateau mountain monsoon climate with complex topography and is a region with multiple climate types. Lincang is mainly influenced by the warm and humid air currents from the Indian Ocean and the southwest monsoon. The distinction between four seasons is not obvious, but dry and rainy seasons are distinct. There is abundant rainfall and long sunshine hours, with an average annual sunshine of over 2000 hours. The frost period is short, and some areas are frost-free year-round. The three-dimensional climate is obvious, with average annual temperatures in mountainous areas of 13-15°C.

Pu'er

Pu'er, the hometown of tea, has a 150-year history of coffee cultivation. In the early 1990s, Pu'er City began to cultivate coffee development as an advantageous backbone industry for adjusting industrial structure and increasing farmers' income. Due to the influence of the subtropical monsoon climate, most areas here are frost-free year-round, with no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer. The average annual temperature in Pu'er City is 15-20.3°C, the annual frost-free period is over 315 days, and annual rainfall is 1100-2780 mm.

Yunnan Coffee Varieties

Yunnan coffee and Mandheling coffee both belong to Asian beans, with somewhat similar varieties, so their flavors share some similarities, namely pine and nutty notes. However, Yunnan coffee carries some local characteristics, namely plum acidity and tea-like sensations.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan's flavor comes from its Catimor variety, which has been cultivated for many years and is the most widespread. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has selected a Yunnan Catimor as an entry-level daily coffee bean from the Yunnan region, one of FrontStreet Coffee's daily coffee beans. Its flavor is nutty, with brown sugar, high body, and overall balance. Although classified under the Arabica species, Catimor is not entirely of Arabica lineage. Catimor is a hybrid variety from the Timor variety and Caturra. We know that Caturra comes from a natural mutation of Bourbon, while Timor is a coffee variety with Robusta genes. The Robusta heritage also gives Catimor higher disease and pest resistance as well as yield, but it also means the flavor lacks refinement.

Yunnan Coffee Processing Methods

The flavor characteristics of every coffee bean are inseparable from its processing method. At the same time, more suitable processing methods are adopted based on the climatic conditions at the time. Yunnan's weather is rainy and foggy, so washed processing has become the most common processing method for Yunnan coffee. Yunnan coffee mainly uses the washed processing method. The characteristics of washed coffee are cleanliness, stability, and higher acidity. What is the process of the washed processing method? The harvested coffee cherries are machine-processed to remove the skin and pulp. The peeled coffee beans are placed in fermentation tanks for fermentation, using fermentation to decompose the mucilage layer. The fermented coffee beans are repeatedly washed with clean water to remove the decomposed mucilage. Finally, the coffee beans are dried in the sun. Yunnan coffee beans processed using the washed method do not have the miscellaneous flavors of natural processed beans but instead have very distinct fruit acidity. Finally, the dried coffee beans can be stored and await shipment to various places.

Almost all of FrontStreet Coffee's daily coffee beans are processed using the washed method. The processing steps of the washed method make it stable, high-yielding, and have fewer defects, which can best reflect the flavor characteristics of coffee beans. This is also one of FrontStreet Coffee's favorite processing methods. Of course, later on, to adapt to introducing more coffee flavors, processing methods have also been innovated based on the original natural and washed methods.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

For coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing, which allows you to experience the rich flavors of coffee to the greatest extent. The coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that the freshness of coffee beans has a great impact on flavor. 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 resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it is at its optimal flavor.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this is to ensure the freshness of the coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that the freshness of coffee beans has a great impact on flavor. 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. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it is at its optimal flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to help grind the beans, which is also fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: if the coffee beans are ground in advance, there is no need for a resting period because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide inside the package can also make the coffee flavor become mellow. Therefore, you can immediately brew a cup when you receive the coffee powder. However, the coffee powder needs to be brewed promptly because coffee powder oxidizes relatively quickly after contact with air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate more quickly, and the coffee flavor will not be as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better taste the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Coffee Brewing Parameters:

To preserve the acidity and tea-like characteristics of Yunnan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roast. When brewing, you can use a V60 dripper, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, medium grind (approximately coarse sugar size / 75% passing rate through China No. 20 standard sieve), and water temperature of 88°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan small-bean coffee flavor: nuts, chocolate, spices, caramel, plum.

Of course, there are also more than fifty types of single-origin coffee, from various producing countries and regions, so coffee enthusiast friends can have more choices to select their favorite coffee to drink!

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 the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: 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