What variety is Yunnan small-bean coffee? Where is Yunnan small-bean coffee originally from? What's the relationship between Yunnan small-bean coffee and Nestlé?

The vast majority of renowned coffee regions owe their fame largely to the distinctive characteristics of certain coffee varieties produced locally. For instance, Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee, Panama's Geisha coffee, Indonesia's Mandheling coffee, and, of course, our country's Yunnan Arabica coffee.

Although Yunnan Arabica is a household name, FrontStreet Coffee believes that many friends don't fully understand it. Therefore, today FrontStreet Coffee will share with everyone what exactly "Yunnan Arabica" is.

What is Yunnan Arabica?

Despite the coffee genus comprising over 130 major species, among these 130-plus varieties, only three possess commercial value. They are Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. To better identify them, coffee farmers named them according to their fruit sizes: small-grained, medium-grained, and large-grained.

Arabica is the smallest among them, so we can understand that small-grained coffee refers to Arabica. Therefore, Yunnan Arabica naturally refers to Arabica coffee cultivated in Yunnan. However! As everyone knows, Arabica is a large category that encompasses hundreds or even thousands of different varieties, such as Typica, Bourbon, Geisha, and so on. Although Yunnan Arabica generally refers to all Arabica species coffee cultivated in Yunnan, in reality, the main small-grained varieties cultivated in Yunnan during different periods have certain distinctions. As for what exactly these differences are, it should be akin to the distinction between pure-blood wizards and mixed-blood wizards in the magical world!

Yunnan Arabica in Different Periods

The cultivation history of Yunnan coffee can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty, and according to records, coffee was introduced to Yunnan by two different groups. One group was introduced by Jingpo ethnic border residents, while the other group, which had the most widespread influence, was introduced by French missionaries. In the 18th year of the Guangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1892), French missionary Alfred Liard introduced coffee from Vietnam and planted it in Zhukula Village, Binchuan County, Dali, teaching local residents a series of coffee processing methods including handling, grinding, and brewing.

However, due to the extremely remote geographical location and inconvenient transportation of the area, coupled with the relatively small cultivation area, coffee did not quickly achieve widespread propagation as in other countries at that time. It wasn't until after the founding of New China that Yunnan coffee truly began its journey to fame. In 1952, experts from the Institute of Tropical Economic Crops of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences conducted a survey in Zhefang Township, Dehong Prefecture, and discovered plants bearing red fruits in farmers' courtyards that they had never seen before. They then purchased a large quantity of fresh fruits and brought them back to Lujiangba, Baoshan City, to begin cultivation research. After identification, this was confirmed to be "small-grained coffee" widely cultivated in South America.

Coinciding with the economic development phase after the founding of the nation, in order to supply coffee to Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist brother countries, Yunnan soon began large-scale coffee popularization and promotion of cultivation, establishing China's first small-grained coffee cultivation base locally. Because Yunnan's climate environment is extremely superior, and with various assistance from foreign experts, coffee cultivation was a great success! With unique flavor, extremely high yield, and a cultivation area of up to 50,000 mu, Yunnan Arabica enjoyed considerable reputation in the international market at that time. During this period, the Yunnan Arabica passed around among people referred to "old varieties" with pure Arabica lineage such as Typica and Bourbon cultivated in Yunnan.

If this "path" had remained unobstructed, our country might have become a major coffee cultivation power today. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. By the 1960s and 1970s, the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations halted China's coffee industry, which had just begun. Many coffee plantations stopped cultivating coffee and switched to other crops. It wasn't until the 1980s when Brazil and other South American coffee cultivation countries suffered from leaf rust disease, causing severe production declines and subsequent coffee price surges. Some international coffee companies, seeking to reduce dependence on these producing countries, directly developed new, undeveloped coffee origins. Africa and Asia became key targets for this project. In 1988, during China's reform and opening up wave, Nestlé established a joint venture company in China and introduced Catimor 7963 from the Portuguese Coffee Rust Research Center (CIFC) for trial cultivation, with the aim of acquiring a batch of coffee bean raw materials at favorable prices for instant product production. To this end, Nestlé vigorously promoted the development of Yunnan's coffee agriculture and established a coffee agriculture department in 1992 to better guide and research the cultivation and improvement of Yunnan coffee.

However, the main research object remained Catimor, which is an Arabica species hybridized from the Timor variety and Caturra. Timor is a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta, while Caturra is a pure Arabica species. Therefore, the hybridized Catimor possesses three-quarters Arabica lineage and is naturally classified as an Arabica species. The Robusta genes give Catimor extremely strong disease resistance and extremely high productivity, about three times that of veteran varieties like Typica and Bourbon. However, it is precisely because of the presence of Robusta genes that Catimor's flavor performance is somewhat inferior. "Wild, earthy taste, miscellaneous flavors" are Mr. Han Huaizong's descriptions of Catimor's previous flavor characteristics, and everyone can imagine for themselves.

And as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, Nestlé's purpose was to reduce the cost of raw materials for instant product production. So although Catimor's flavor is not excellent, its characteristics of high disease resistance and high yield make it more favored by people. Consequently, under Nestlé's influence, most coffee farmers cut down the old varieties one after another and replaced them with Catimor, beginning large-scale cultivation! This wave of substitution reached its peak around 2010-2011 when the price of Brazilian coffee beans reached its peak. During this period, Yunnan coffee beans reached their historical peak but quickly faded. Although today's Yunnan coffee cultivation area reaches up to a million mu, 95% of it is planted with Catimor. Therefore, everyone can understand that although Yunnan Arabica generally refers to all Arabica cultivated in Yunnan, it now more commonly refers to Catimor, which has Robusta lineage.

With the gradual expansion of China's specialty coffee market, the current improvements in Yunnan's coffee cultivation and processing have gradually eliminated the earthy and bitter miscellaneous flavors of Yunnan coffee. However, to make Yunnan coffee form a regional flavor recognized by the world, FrontStreet Coffee believes we must start from the root cause. The fact that more and more old varieties with pure Arabica lineage have been released in Yunnan in recent years fully demonstrates that people have already realized this point and are gradually changing. So, let's wait and see~

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