Yunnan Coffee Region Distribution: Introduction to Flavor Characteristics of China's Selected Single-Origin Yunnan Coffee Beans

What is Small Bean Coffee?

Small bean coffee, also known as Arabica, originated in Ethiopia and was improved and cultivated starting from the Arabian Peninsula. It is the most primitive and traditional Arabian coffee variety. The characteristics of native small bean coffee are: small particles, uneven fullness, high acidity, and obvious floral and fruit aromas.

History of Small Bean Coffee

World Coffee Origin: Ethiopia

Coffee was first discovered in the highland region of southwestern Ethiopia. Legend has it that it was accidentally discovered by a shepherd, opening the first stop of world coffee: the Ethiopian coffee kingdom.

Second Stop of Coffee Spread: Arabia

In the 13th century, the Ethiopian army invaded Yemen, bringing coffee to the Arab world. The rapid development of coffee in Arabia was thanks to the prohibition of alcohol at that time, and coffee became a substitute, which also prompted Arabs to improve coffee varieties. Since then, due to resource plunder and wars between various parts of the world, coffee gradually spread to all parts of the world.

History of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee

In 1892, during the late Qing Dynasty, when China was in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, many foreign invaders and species entered China. Coffee entered China with French missionary田德能, location: Zhukula Village, Dali, Yunnan. To this day, there are still 24 coffee trees over 90 years old growing in Zhukula Township.

In 1908, Hainan introduced coffee, but the effect was not very good, and several other regions also planted it, but none had good results. In 1952, scientific and technical personnel from the Mangshi Branch of the Yunnan Agricultural Experimental Station brought back more than 70 kilograms of fresh fruit from Nongxian Village to Lujiangba, Baoshan City for trial planting, and found that it showed good adaptability and excellent quality, and has since continued to develop and grow. In the late 1980s, Nestlé began to introduce Catimor coffee in the Simao region of Yunnan (now Pu'er City), and since then, China's coffee planting area began to increase, and the quality has also greatly improved through continuous exploration. In 1992, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assisted the Chinese government in establishing China's first modern coffee factory. Since then, Yunnan coffee has been continuously improved and expanded. According to the latest data released by the Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture, in 2017, Yunnan's coffee production reached 136,000 tons, accounting for more than 95% of the country's coffee production.

The Status of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee in the Coffee World

Impression of Yunnan Coffee among Chinese People

It is no exaggeration to say that more than 95% of people in China first encountered instant coffee, especially Nestlé's 3-in-1 instant coffee. Secondly, most people's first contact with freshly ground coffee after improving their quality of life comes from coffee shops, with Starbucks being the most famous. In addition, some people bought coffee for the first time as a Yunnan specialty from the tourism market, buying it incidentally.

This is everyone's impression of Yunnan small bean coffee: instant coffee is not fragrant! It's bitter with a burnt taste! 3-in-1 coffee is sweet and greasy, has no coffee aroma, but instead has an overwhelming artificial flavoring taste, with a lot of non-dairy creamer added! And coffee shops, in the eyes of many people, were once a symbol of petty bourgeoisie and pretentiousness. The high threshold made freshly ground coffee distant, and even when they went, they mostly drank prepared coffee, where the milk flavor outweighed the coffee flavor.

Status of Yunnan Coffee in the World

No status! Yunnan coffee has won awards before, but this did not affect foreign buyers' practice of suppressing prices when purchasing Yunnan coffee, setting it 20 cents below the international coffee futures price for raw beans!

If it were Colombian coffee, Ethiopian coffee, or Brazilian coffee, would it have fallen to this level? The answer is obvious. Only Chinese coffee has high quality but lacks corresponding status and price!

What is the Quality of Yunnan Small Bean Coffee?

Yunnan coffee, after a century of refinement, as well as the improvement of modern people's quality of life, has seen an increase in domestic coffee demand, and coffee quality has been continuously rising. However, domestic consumers don't seem to buy it. In their impression, Yunnan coffee is still "not good to drink! Not as good as imported products!"

In fact, the quality of Yunnan coffee is no longer inferior to imported beans of the same grade. Many foreign raw bean buyers purchase Yunnan coffee at prices more than 20 cents below international coffee prices, then transfer it abroad, relabel or process it, and resell it to China as "imported"! Perhaps the "imported coffee" you are currently drinking is actually Yunnan small bean coffee from China, you just don't know it yet. Support domestic coffee. Put aside those low-quality instant coffees used in the tourism market to make quick money from "one-time tourism," and you will discover that Yunnan coffee is truly delicious.

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