Introduction to Yunnan Small Bean Coffee - Characteristics of Yunnan Coffee - Flavor Profile of Yunnan Specialty Coffee - Yunnan

In the past, because most Yunnan coffee was used as raw material for instant coffee, it left people with a rather poor impression. However, today, as coffee drinking habits continue to rise in China, Yunnan coffee is also continuously optimizing and developing. More and more local coffee brands are emerging, many coffee shops have included Yunnan products on their menus, and people have begun to actively want to taste the coffee flavor here. When it comes to Yunnan coffee, I believe many people, like FrontStreet Coffee, immediately think of Yunnan Xiaoli. So why is it called "Xiaoli"? Is it good to drink? Are there specialty coffees in Yunnan? Where are they grown? Next, please listen to FrontStreet Coffee's answers one by one.

Yunnan Xiaoli is Arabica

FrontStreet Coffee learned from reviewing materials that the so-called "Xiaoli coffee" is actually Arabica coffee, mainly to contrast with the Zhongli coffee produced in Hainan Province, China, which is Robusta.

Since 1904, when French missionary田德能 introduced the first coffee tree in Zhugula Village, Binchuan, Yunnan, the cultivation of Yunnan coffee began, so Yunnan's connection with coffee has a century-long history. Truly commercial cultivation began in the 1950s when the famous botanist Professor Qin Renchang from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, identified the red fruits found in the courtyards of Dai farmers in Luxi County, Dehong Prefecture, as Xiaoli coffee. At his suggestion, coffee seedlings were trial-planted at Mangshi Forest Farm and Lujiangba in Baoshan City, thus ushering in a new era of coffee research and production in New China.

Before the 1960s of the last century, Yunnan's large-scale cultivation was mainly of the two Xiaoli varieties: Typica and Bourbon. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, major coffee producing regions around the world suffered from leaf rust attacks, and coffee people everywhere began to find ways to solve this problem. In 1990, driven by the foreign-invested company Nestlé, Yunnan introduced the Catimor variety from Central and South America, which has better disease resistance and higher yields, to replace the "unprofitable" Typica variety coffee trees. Catimor began to be planted on a large scale in Yunnan, with continuously increasing yields breaking through, but the flavor was not excellent. At that time, the raw bean processing technology of Yunnan farmers was not sophisticated enough, and often the produced coffee batches were sold at low prices, becoming bulk blended beans or formulas for instant coffee.

Catimor is a combination of Arabica and Robusta. Robusta has good leaf rust resistance, rich oils, high yield, and is easy to cultivate. After hybridizing with Arabica Typica, Catimor has 25% Robusta genes. It improved leaf rust resistance, retained rich oils, and also has part of the rich flavor of the original Typica, so most Yunnan estates began large-scale planting of Catimor. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Catimor coffee grown in Yunnan has flavors of nuts, brown sugar, and plum, with an overall balanced and simple taste.

What are the specialty coffee producing areas of Yunnan Xiaoli?

Currently, Yunnan coffee cultivation is distributed in eight regions, with six main producing areas: Pu'er, Baoshan, Dehong, Lincang, Nujiang, and Xishuangbanna. These places have natural conditions of low latitude, high altitude, and large temperature differences between day and night, making Yunnan a golden cultivation area for producing high-quality Arabica coffee.

Coffee is generally planted between higher altitude mountain slopes. The rolling hills, fertile soil, sufficient sunlight, and concentrated rainfall brought by the rainy season allow coffee trees to quickly integrate into the local terroir. Yunnan coffee has successively obtained five geographical indication protection products: "Baoshan Xiaoli Coffee," "Zhukula Coffee," "Dehong Xiaoli Coffee," "Pu'er Xiaoli Coffee," and "Simao Coffee." FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan producing area representative is the selection of Baoshan's Xiaoli coffee.

As international trade continues to expand, the Xiaoli coffee from Lujiangba in Baoshan has become renowned. Baoshan has a low-latitude mountainous subtropical monsoon climate. Due to its location at low latitude and high altitude, with complex terrain, it creates a three-dimensional climate of "four seasons in one mountain, different weather within ten miles." The annual temperature range is small, while the daily temperature range is large, with an average annual temperature of 14-17°C. Precipitation is abundant with distinct wet and dry seasons, unevenly distributed, with annual rainfall of 700-2100 mm. Combined with reasonably low rainfall, this provides extremely advantageous conditions for coffee fruit production, creating the unique sweet aftertaste of Baoshan Xiaoli coffee.

In addition, there is another coffee on FrontStreet Coffee's bean list that is exclusively produced by FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Natural Typica coffee. Why is it exclusive? Because this coffee is produced from FrontStreet Coffee's own estate. In 2013, FrontStreet Coffee established its own estate in Lincang, handling everything from site selection, variety selection, seedling cultivation, planting, harvesting, processing, to roasting. From this, FrontStreet Coffee has summarized a lot of experience and knowledge. FrontStreet Coffee specifically chose the most original Arabica variety - Typica - and produced it using natural sun-drying processing, naming it "FrontStreet Coffee 2013," which has received praise from many customers for its elegant and mild taste.

Yunnan's Lincang is influenced by the warm and humid air currents from the Indian Ocean and southwest monsoon. The distinction between four seasons is not obvious, but dry and rainy seasons are distinct. There is more rainfall, long sunshine hours, short frost periods, and some areas are frost-free year-round, with a obvious three-dimensional climate, very suitable for Arabica coffee cultivation. FrontStreet Coffee specifically chose the most original Typica. Typica has elegant and pure flavor, but it is also notorious for low yield and poor resistance, so FrontStreet Coffee also put in a lot of effort in cultivation management. After 5-6 years of cultivation, FrontStreet Coffee finally harvested the first batch of results in 2020, produced it using natural processing, and also named it "FrontStreet Coffee 2013."

How to brew Yunnan Xiaoli coffee for the best taste?

For these coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses the natural sun-drying processing method. Natural drying does not require too much equipment; it mainly needs to be evenly dried continuously under sunny weather. FrontStreet Coffee will arrange personnel to turn them regularly to avoid uneven heating of coffee fruits, which could lead to over-fermentation. When the coffee fruits dehydrate from bright red to dark purple and reach the target moisture content, they can be sent for hulling and packaging.

In terms of roasting, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan coffee should have both rich coffee aroma and certain acidity, so FrontStreet Coffee uses a medium roast level. For daily store production, FrontStreet Coffee uses hand-pour extraction, hoping to present the coffee's own aroma for everyone to taste. Hand-poured black coffee is not only the daily extraction method of FrontStreet Coffee's baristas but also a simple method that many coffee enthusiasts can operate at home.

FrontStreet Coffee considers that Yunnan Typica coffee tends toward a balanced taste, meaning it should not have excessive acidity and heavy bitterness. FrontStreet Coffee prefers to use a V60 dripper, with medium-fine grind size and medium water temperature for extraction, to highlight the neutral and balanced taste of Yunnan Typica coffee beans.

Brewing parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60

Dose: 15g

Water temperature: 90°C

Grind size: 75% pass-through rate on #20 sieve

Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15

Three-stage pouring: Use twice the amount of coffee powder in water to moisten the powder bed, forming a dome and let it bloom for 30s, then use a small water stream to pour in circles from inside to outside to 125g for segmentation. Wait until the powder bed drops to half the dripper's position, then continue with the same fine water stream to inject the third stage to 225g, until all coffee liquid is filtered, then remove the dripper, taking about 2 minutes.

For 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 FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat, 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