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Yunnan Coffee: FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Coffee Estate Sun-Dried Typica Coffee Bean Story and Characteristics

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Since 2014, we visit Yunnan every two to three months to check on the growth of our coffee in the Yunnan plantation. Those who are familiar with the actual situation of coffee-producing regions, or have carefully read the books "Specialty Coffee Studies" and "Bean Hunter," should notice that many coffee-producing regions are relatively unstable. By a stroke of fate, our plantation (located between Yunnan and

Since 2014, we have been traveling to Yunnan every two to three months to check on the growth of our coffee in the plantations there.

Those who have some understanding of the actual situation in coffee-producing regions, or have seriously read the two books "Specialty Coffee Studies" and "Bean Hunter," should notice that many coffee-producing regions are quite unstable.

By a strange twist of fate, our plantation (located in a small town on the border of Yunnan and Myanmar) has had many similar experiences. An online article titled "In the Fog, Why FrontStreet Coffee Chose the Most Difficult Path" explains in great detail why we went to this place to grow coffee. Today, let's talk about some other things.

FrontStreet Coffee opened in 2013. At that time, we wanted to learn more about coffee cultivation and green beans, so going to Yunnan to grow coffee was an unavoidable hurdle.

The Three Elements of Specialty Coffee

Under general consensus, the three essential elements of specialty coffee are variety, altitude, and processing method.

Yunnan Coffee Landscape

Yunnan coffee is positioned to supply raw coffee materials, so they have all chosen the high-yielding Catimor variety, which is a hybrid variety. Yunnan currently has over 2 million acres of coffee, mostly developed between 2010-2011 when coffee prices provided stimulation.

What we wanted to understand, however, was how Typica and Bourbon varieties performed in Yunnan, so it wasn't possible for us to buy existing Yunnan coffee land. We could only start growing coffee from scratch through breeding methods.

The reason why various processing methods have become popular in Yunnan coffee is largely because they originally planted the Catimor variety. This represents a shortcut to highlight post-processing flavor characteristics without changing the variety and altitude.

Geopolitical Challenges

Our plantation is located in a border town. Beyond the border lies the Kokang region of northern Myanmar. In 2011, the Myanmar government officially named Kokang as the "Kokang Autonomous Region of Northern Shan State, Myanmar." When we were breeding at our plantation in 2014, the local situation had already begun to become somewhat tense. By 2015, war had broken out, and large numbers of refugees began pouring in.

Why would there be war right next to us?

Let me first provide a brief background about this region.

During World War II, Myanmar's founding father, General Aung San, first borrowed Japanese forces to drive out the British, then used Allied forces to drive out the Japanese. One year before Myanmar's independence, he was assassinated. His good friend U Nu became the first prime minister and governed Myanmar for 10 years. As a subordinate figure, in 1958 he resigned and handed power over to the military, then later served as prime minister again. In 1962, he was overthrown by a military coup, and Myanmar entered an era of military rule. The most important matter Aung San handled before his assassination was attempting to reach agreements with several major armed groups in northern Myanmar to achieve the unification of the Myanmar Federation. He failed to achieve this goal, as did U Nu. The military government took power in Myanmar in 1962 and implemented nationalism from 1964-1966, confiscating Chinese merchant assets. Consequently, major powers' support for northern Myanmar became open and continued until the end of the last century.

These northern armies have their own armed forces and respective territories, collectively known as "民地武" (Ethnic Armed Organizations). Due to the continuous strong offensives by the Myanmar military, they gradually announced their allegiance to the Myanmar central government. However, there remains a gap in military strength between the local forces and the central army.

Adjacent to our growing area is Kokang, formerly the territory of "Kokang King" Peng Jia-sheng. He adopted guerrilla warfare tactics using mountainous terrain advantages - when he couldn't win, he would run. When our plantation housing wasn't yet completed, we could only stay in hotels on the border line. Peng Jia-sheng's small villa was also built on the border line, about 50 meters away. When others came to attack him, he would run to the mountains or to our side. This standoff lasted for a year or two, resulting in landmines being planted on the Myanmar side of the border below where we stayed. Sometimes bullets would fly over, forcing the hotel to post notices warning guests. In the most serious incidents, the Myanmar Air Force directly dropped bombs on the Chinese side, forcing Chinese residents to plant national flags on their rooftops to prevent the Myanmar Air Force from continuing to drop bombs on their side.

Despite this, the situation was quite unsightly. Peng Jia-sheng's subordinates surrendered to the central government, and Peng Jia-sheng fled to Thailand. Before going to Thailand, he posted on many domestic Chinese websites claiming "we are Chinese" and asking people to donate money. What a joke - that place is called the "Kokang Autonomous Region of Northern Shan State, Myanmar," not the "Kokang Autonomous Region of Northern Shan State, China." The donation matter eventually fizzled out.

After several quiet years, our coffee plants gradually grew. In reality, whether during Peng Jia-sheng's period or after Myanmar took control, border residents from both sides still moved about quite freely - just a small path would take them across. However, about 50 kilometers inland, border checkpoints gradually appeared, preventing border residents from going deeper into the interior. On the other hand, the opposite side was extremely chaotic - with warfare, kidnappings, landmines, and other dangers - who would want to go there? But some people actually did want to go. Many casinos there were one of the two main sources of local income (I won't mention the other one). Many local young people worked as female dealers and male casino security guards. There were dedicated people who pretended to be young beautiful women online to target young men, buying them plane tickets to travel and meet girlfriends, then taking them across the border through small paths to the town, and then to the casinos where they would quickly lose all their money. After losing everything, they would be locked in iron cages and forced to call their families in China to pay back the money, with threats of having their ears cut off if they refused. Could young people from Chinese cities have ever encountered such scenes? Basically, no. This is why we would receive text messages from the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department as soon as we landed in Yunnan, warning us not to cross the border casually. During those years, dozens of people waited at local police stations every day to inquire about news from the other side.

When the pandemic began, Myanmar's medical system was extremely backward, and hospitals were simply insufficient. Isolation measures involved hanging mosquito nets in small groves as a formality, which is also why the pandemic situation in Myanmar was so severe.

Later, this side completely closed the border, installing over 100 kilometers of barbed wire fences, with tents every few kilometers staffed by several people, finally cutting off all paths from the other side.

Despite all precautions, Mangshi in the north still failed to maintain control a few weeks ago. Some people came over to this side two or three times, leading to renewed city-wide controls in Mangshi, so the local secretary was removed from his position.

We were also affected by the border controls. The pandemic was brought under significant control, and strict blocking measures were implemented at the border. It wasn't until limited travel resumed somewhat this year that we were able to go down during the coffee harvest season two months ago to harvest and process this season's coffee beans. The quantity is not large, so we can only offer them in limited quantities during this event for everyone to taste.