Why Are Coffee Shops Now Selling Premium Yunnan Coffee Beans? Which Regions Are Most Famous?

The Rise of Yunnan Specialty Coffee

Ten years ago, Yunnan's coffee development remained in a commercial production model, with its coffee bean trade mostly supplying instant coffee companies. After the emergence of "Yunnan Baoshan Small Bean Coffee" in December 2010, however, the public began to pay attention to whether China's Yunnan region could cultivate specialty coffee.

Yunnan Baoshan: Premium Coffee Growing Conditions

Yunnan Baoshan's small bean coffee grows on mountainous terrain at elevations of 800-1800 meters, frost-free throughout the year, and is recognized worldwide as one of the best origins for small bean coffee. The small bean coffee cultivated here features a relatively uniform flavor profile with fruity notes.

The coffee plants typically have a development period of 3-4 years, and this longer development cycle allows Yunnan's coffee cherries to develop more fully in flavor synthesis than those in other regions, resulting in richer and more distinctive coffee fruit flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's Commitment to Yunnan Coffee

Based on its excellent and unique flavor profile, and in support of domestic coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has been introducing small bean coffee from the Huaguoshan origin in Yunnan's Baoshan region every year since 2016. It is rich but not bitter, aromatic but not overpowering, with small, uniform beans, a rich mellow aroma, fruity notes, honeydew melon sweetness, cocoa bitterness and high balance.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The easiest way to start with Chinese coffee is FrontStreet Yunnan Small Bean. Small bean is another name for Arabica, the smallest-cherried of the three original coffee species, and coffee has grown here since 1904, when a French missionary brought Typica seeds from Vietnam and planted the first coffee tree in Zhugula village, Binchuan county, Yunnan. FrontStreet's Yunnan Small Bean comes from the Baoshan region and is washed and medium roasted, showing soft nut and chocolate sweetness with a light plum-like acidity, at a price that makes it many drinkers' first Yunnan cup.

To step further into the region, FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan Natural Typica comes from FrontStreet's own Yunnan farm, planted in 2013 in Lincang with the Typica variety, one of the oldest and purest Arabicas. The cherries are picked fully ripe and dried naturally, then medium roasted for balance. The result has darker berry notes, caramel sweetness, chocolate and a hint of dried apricot, with a black tea finish - a clear sign of how far Yunnan specialty coffee has come.

Yunnan also works beautifully as an espresso. FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend combines Yunnan small bean with Brazil Cerrado, so the Brazil supplies mixed-nut aroma and a balanced body while the Yunnan adds chocolate and citrus. Pulled as an Americano it balances sweet, sour and bitter with nut and brown sugar notes, and as a latte it brings almond and a creamy smoothness that is easy to work with.