Characteristics and Flavor Profile of Yunnan Small Bean Catim Coffee: Origin Stories and Rankings of China's Yunnan Coffee

Yunnan Coffee from China

Coffee is a plant with demanding requirements for its growing environment, needing tropical and subtropical regions without frost, along with abundant sunshine and rainfall. Currently, China's main cultivation areas are Yunnan and Hainan, with Yunnan's geographical environment being exceptionally suitable for coffee tree cultivation. Since Chinese people historically had little habit of drinking coffee, it has only truly become popular domestically in recent years. However, Yunnan's coffee cultivation history can be traced back to the last century.

In 1904, French missionary Alfred Liard introduced and planted the first coffee tree in Yunnan, beginning the province's coffee cultivation history. Large-scale coffee cultivation in Yunnan mainly began in 1952, when scientific and technical personnel from national and provincial agricultural research institutes distributed 80kg of coffee seeds to farmers in Nujiangba, Baoshan for trial planting, starting large-scale coffee cultivation. Today, it already has nearly 70 years of cultivation history.

With the continuous development of the instant coffee market, Nestlé established a joint venture in China in 1988 to launch a coffee cultivation project and began experimental coffee cultivation in Pu'er, Yunnan. Nestlé Coffee Company successively established agricultural departments to specifically guide farmers on how to improve coffee varieties and cultivation, and would purchase the output at current US spot market prices. Nestlé's action pushed Yunnan's coffee industry forward, and today, Yunnan's coffee development already occupies a dominant position in China.

Coffee Growing Regions

Yunnan's coffee cultivation regions are mainly distributed in the southwestern part of the province, including Baoshan, Pu'er, Dehong, Lincang, and Xishuangbanna.

Pu'er, Yunnan's largest coffee cultivation base, has unique terroir conditions for growing coffee trees. It features abundant nutrient-rich red soil, plentiful water resources, and large areas of sunny, gentle slopes. Combined with a subtropical mountainous humid monsoon climate characterized by low latitude, monsoon, and highland climate, it creates an environment with large temperature differences between day and night, warm winters and cool summers—all favorable factors for coffee tree growth. Among Yunnan coffees, the most famous is Pu'er city's "Simao Small-Bean Coffee," also known as "Pu'er Coffee."

"Rich but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, with mellow aroma; rich in oil, with strong fruit acidity and persistent sweet aftertaste; this is a superior grade of coffee." This is the evaluation from domestic and international coffee experts after cupping Baoshan small-bean coffee. Baoshan's Nujiangba has a unique dry-hot valley climate in Yunnan, with an average annual temperature of 21.3°C. The mountains are frost-free, making it very suitable for cultivating Arabica varieties.

Lincang, named for its proximity to the Lancang River, is located in southwestern Yunnan, bordering Myanmar to the west. The terrain here is complex, with elevations above 1,000 meters and an average annual temperature of 17.3°C. There are no distinct four seasons but rather dry and rainy seasons, with the rainy season beginning in June each year and lasting 3-4 months. The large temperature difference between day and night makes it very suitable for growing high-altitude tropical plants like coffee. FrontStreet Coffee also has its own coffee estate in Lincang, cultivating the elegant Typica variety, which is FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 blend.

FrontStreet Coffee: Frontsteet 2013 Coffee Beans

Region: Lincang, Yunnan

Estate: FrontStreet Coffee Estate

Altitude: 1,300 meters

Variety: Typica

Processing: Natural

Flavor: Dried apricot, plum acidity, brown sugar

Yunnan Small-Bean Catimor Coffee

What we call Yunnan small-bean coffee is actually the Arabica variety. In the early stages of coffee industry development, mainly Typica and Bourbon varieties were cultivated. Due to Typica's weak disease resistance and low yield, Yunnan began introducing the Catimor variety. Today, the vast majority of coffee cultivation in Yunnan is Catimor.

Catimor is a hybrid variety of Timor and Caturra, developed and launched by Portugal in 1959. Because it inherited Robusta genes, it has high tolerance to berry disease and leaf rust, with advantages of high yield, fast coffee cherry maturation, and the ability to be densely planted, making it more preferred by coffee farmers.

Catimor grown at altitudes above 1,200 meters shows significantly inferior cupping performance compared to varieties like Caturra, Bourbon, and Typica. However, with improvements in Yunnan's cultivation management and green bean processing technology, premium batches of Catimor also show good performance in the international coffee market. The nutty and black tea aromas, along with plum-like sweet and sour notes, are increasingly popular among the public.

FrontStreet Coffee: Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee Beans

Region: Baoshan, China

Altitude: 1,200 meters

Processing: Washed

Variety: Catimor

Flavor: Nuts, melon and fruit aroma, brown sugar, plum acidity

With the continuous progress of Yunnan coffee, everyone has expectations for Yunnan specialty coffee. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee beginners can start by understanding the basic flavors of the Yunnan region. FrontStreet Coffee has launched 7 different daily-drinker beans from various countries and regions. Entry-level enthusiasts can obtain them at the lowest prices to taste regional coffee flavors, then choose different specialty coffees according to their own taste preferences.

Brewing Flavor

When selecting coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee, as the flavor descriptions on packaging are based on cupping comparisons of freshly roasted coffee. When the roasting date is too old, meaning the optimal tasting period has passed, the aroma becomes difficult to restore. FrontStreet Coffee's coffee is all freshly roasted within 5 days, so it can be brewed immediately upon receipt.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan small-bean coffee should have a balanced flavor profile, meaning not overly high acidity and heavy bitterness. Therefore, we use a V60 dripper with medium-fine grind size and water temperature that isn't too high for brewing.

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: 80% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Coffee Dose: 15 grams

Using a three-stage extraction, pour the ground coffee into the filter paper and start with 30g of water from the center for a 30-second bloom. Note to use a small, steady water flow throughout, circling from inside to out. For the second stage, pour 95g of water, and when the coffee liquid has almost finished flowing, begin the third stage with 100g until all the coffee has filtered through, then remove the dripper. The total time is approximately 2 minutes, with about 10 seconds margin for error.

The small-bean Catimor coffee has nutty and berry dry aromas. You can taste the sweetness of nuts, herbs, chocolate, and brown sugar, with balanced plum acidity and a finish with light fruit acidity.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: 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