Yunnan Coffee Bean Varieties: Flavor Characteristics and Growing Regions - The Rise of Yunnan Small Beans

Yunnan coffee beans have gained significant recognition in the coffee community in recent years, with an increasing number of coffee enthusiasts beginning to explore Yunnan coffee beans and offering their fair evaluations. In fact, before Yunnan coffee received attention from the Chinese people, it was scattered in mysterious villages across our country, existing primarily for foreign exchange needs.

FrontStreet Coffee offers a coffee from Frontsteet Estate in Lincang, Yunnan, processed using the natural method, featuring flavors of berries, brown sugar, and nuts.

Development History

In 1892, during the late Qing Dynasty, when China was in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society period, many foreign invaders and species entered China. Coffee also arrived in China with French missionary Alfred Liétard, located in Zhukula Village, Dali, Yunnan. To this day, 24 coffee trees over 90 years old still grow in Zhukula Township. In 1889, the Mengzi Customs Office was officially opened. In 1905, the French opened Yunnan's first coffee bar in Mengzi—the "Yunnan-Vietnam Railway Bar" (a French-style café, a hybrid of coffee shop and tavern, and the mainstream model of European cafés). In 1904, with the construction of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, large numbers of foreign engineers, technicians, and Western gold prospectors flooded into Yunnan, bringing with them the prevailing coffee culture of the West. The railway was completed on April 1, 1910, and between 1912-1915, coffee cultivation began along the railway lines, with a small number of coffee trees still surviving today. In 1914, Jingpo border people introduced coffee cultivation to Nongxian Village in Ruili County, with the initial purpose of being cultivated as courtyard ornamental plants. Coffee seeds quietly grew in this land. Although the coffee history of Nongxian Village is often obscured in the mainstream narrative, Nongxian Village subtly influenced the progress of Yunnan coffee, occupying a pivotal position and opening the door to the large-scale cultivation history of later Baoshan coffee. In the spring of 1952, scientific and technical personnel from the Mangshi branch of the Yunnan Agricultural Experimental Station brought back over 70 kilograms of fresh fruit from Nongxian Village to trial plant in Lujiangba, Baoshan City, discovering good adaptability and excellent quality, which led to continuous development and growth. During the Sino-Soviet friendship era, Baoshan's coffee faced a major development opportunity, specifically supplied to the Soviet Union, making Baoshan the earliest area in Yunnan Province for industrialized coffee cultivation.

Yunnan coffee beans possess good complex layers, overall richness, with floral and citrus flavors complementing each other, and prominent malt flavors.

Coffee Varieties

Yunnan coffee beans are primarily composed of Catimor, a hybrid variety contaminated with Robusta genes. Yunnan Catimor grows in high-altitude regions of 1,500 meters, enhancing aroma and purity, combined with appropriate post-processing methods, resulting in excellent flavor. Catimor F6 is widely cultivated in coffee-growing areas of Yunnan Province, including Dehong, Baoshan, Pu'er, Xishuangbanna, Lincang, Wenshan, and Yuxi.

Yunnan small-grain coffee originally referred to the Typica variety planted in early Yunnan. Due to historical reasons, after the 1980s, Typica basically gave way to the hybrid Catimor variety, with planting area exceeding 8%, thus becoming Yunnan small-grain coffee.

Challenges

Compared to coffee on the world stage, Yunnan coffee started relatively late. Coffee producers of varying scales are mixed, with inconsistent quality levels. Small coffee producers lack management and promotion, resulting in small competitiveness and weak capabilities.

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