How to Brew Yunnan Small Bean Coffee for Great Taste Without Bitterness - Pour-Over Catimor Coffee Brewing Tips and Steps

In the past, asking about coffee might have been more about whether it was imported, but nowadays, people are more likely to say that our Chinese Yunnan small-bean coffee is quite delicious! With the promotion of domestic products, you can now see Yunnan coffee in every coffee shop. Although Yunnan coffee has become known and recognized, it's still not very well understood, or rather, people don't know how to brew Yunnan coffee properly to make it taste good. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share with you how to brew Yunnan coffee.

Yunnan is China's largest coffee-growing region, where the climate is exceptionally suitable for coffee cultivation, also known as the golden belt. The western and southern parts of Yunnan Province lie between 15°N and the Tropic of Cancer, with most areas at elevations of 1000-2000 meters. The terrain is predominantly mountainous and sloped with significant variations, fertile soil, abundant sunshine, plentiful rainfall, and large temperature differences between day and night. FrontStreet Coffee believes that it is precisely these unique natural conditions that create the flavor profile of FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan small-bean coffee: characterized by rich and mellow body, gentle yet aromatic flavor, full-bodied taste, and distinctive fruity acidity.

Why FrontStreet Coffee Loves Yunnan Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee loves Yunnan coffee because it's China's own coffee. FrontStreet Coffee has two varieties of FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan small-bean coffee: one is Catimor, and the other is Typica coffee beans. Because Catimor has Robusta genes, its flavor profile is somewhat inferior compared to Typica coffee beans. In Lincang, Yunnan, FrontStreet Coffee also has its own coffee plantation, growing the ancient coffee variety—Typica.

Yunnan Coffee Growing Regions

Yunnan coffee cultivation is mainly distributed in Lincang, Baoshan, and Pu'er. These areas have natural resources of low latitude, high altitude (1000-2000m), and large temperature differences between day and night, making Yunnan a golden growing region for producing high-quality Arabica (small-bean) coffee.

Baoshan:

FrontStreet Coffee's FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan small-bean coffee comes from Baoshan. Baoshan has an average temperature of 21.5°C, reaching up to 40.4°C, with basically no frost throughout the year, making it a recognized best origin for small-bean coffee. The small-bean coffee cultivated here is famous both domestically and internationally for being rich but not bitter, aromatic but not intense, with small and uniformly shaped beans, full-bodied aroma, and fruity notes. International coffee organization tasting experts have rated Yunnan coffee as being in the same category as Colombian wet-processed small-bean coffee, representing the world's highest quality coffee. Yunnan Catimor coffee beans are correspondingly labeled as Yunnan small-bean coffee according to market customs.

Pu'er:

Pu'er coffee has a hundred-year history, beginning cultivation in the late 19th century and industrializing in 1988. Today, the city's coffee cultivation area reaches 767,000 mu, becoming the mainland's largest cultivation area, highest production, and best-quality main coffee producing region and coffee trade distribution center.

Lincang:

Located in the southwestern part of Yunnan Province, with the Tropic of Cancer crossing its southern part, bordering Pu'er to the east, Dali to the north, Baoshan to the west, and Myanmar to the southwest, it's named for its proximity to the Lancang River and is a brilliant pearl on China's southwestern border. Lincang has an average annual temperature between 16.8°C-17.2°C, with distinct wet and dry seasons and abundant sunshine.

FrontStreet Coffee has established its own manor in the Lincang growing region of Yunnan. Then in 2021, FrontStreet Coffee produced its first self-grown coffee bean—FrontStreet Coffee 2013 Natural Typica Coffee.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Varieties

Currently, the most widely cultivated coffee bean in the Yunnan region is Catimor, with small amounts of Typica and Bourbon coffee beans also grown in the Baoshan area. Although all these varieties belong to the Arabica species in the broad sense, there are still significant differences among these varieties.

In the 1970s and 1980s, coffee leaf rust disease broke out in many Central and South American countries, severely affecting coffee production. The Portuguese coffee research center CIFC, addressing the coffee leaf rust situation, hybridized Timor (which carries Robusta genes) with Caturra (a Bourbon variant) in 1959 to create Catimor, which is disease-resistant and high-yielding. To solve the disaster caused by leaf rust and with the encouragement and promotion of coffee organizations, Central and South America began widespread cultivation in the 1980s.

Due to inheriting Timor's Robusta genes, Catimor has strong resistance to coffee leaf rust, coffee berry disease, and pests, and can be intensively cultivated with high and stable yields. However, Catimor also inherits the flavor defects of Robusta beans, often described in cupping as having a "devil's aftertaste," insufficient aroma, bitter taste, and sometimes even irritating astringency.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Processing Methods

When FrontStreet Coffee visited Yunnan during the growing season, we truly experienced what a rainy season means. Sunny for a few minutes, then raining for half an hour. Because of the perennial rainy season and unstable climate, most Yunnan coffee beans are processed using the washed method. However, there are also natural-processed coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's Catimor includes both FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yunnan small-bean coffee and FrontStreet Coffee's natural Catimor coffee, and of course, there's also FrontStreet Coffee's natural Typica coffee from FrontStreet Coffee's manor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters for FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Catimor Coffee:

Since Yunnan coffee's flavor is not prominently acidic but mainly nutty in tone, FrontStreet Coffee chooses medium roast for this coffee to preserve the herbal aroma and gentle acidity of Yunnan beans, using finer grind size and higher water temperature with a V60 pour-over dripper. Pour the ground coffee into the dripper, and at this point, you can smell the herbal and nutty aroma of the beans.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that to brew a good pot of coffee, one should focus on these four aspects: water temperature, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and brewing technique.

1. Water Temperature

When brewing pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee chooses different water temperatures based on different roast levels. During roasting, substances contained in coffee beans are lost as the roast level deepens, so for dark roast coffee beans, temperature is reduced to avoid extracting too many undesirable flavors. For light to medium roast beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using water temperature of 90-91°C, while for medium-dark roast, 88°C is recommended.

2. Grind Size

Coffee grind size is also related to the roast level. Grind size refers to the size of coffee particles, as it affects the contact time between coffee and water. If the coffee grind is finer, water can extract more substances in the same amount of time, but finer grinds can easily lead to over-extraction during the brewing process. Conversely, the coarser the coffee grind, the fewer substances water can extract in the same time, but coarser grinds can easily lead to under-extraction.

Also, because everyone's grinder is different, the parameters will vary. Here FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing a #20 cupping calibration sieve with 0.85mm aperture. Take 10g of coffee beans, adjust to a general grind size and grind into coffee powder, then pour into the sieve for sifting. Weigh the sifted coffee powder (make sure to sieve until no more coffee powder can pass through to complete the sifting).

A pass rate of 70%-75% (7-7.5g from 10g of powder) is the most suitable grind size. The pour-over grind size is: 80% for light roast, and 75% for medium-dark roast. If the pass rate exceeds the suitable range, adjust the grind coarser; if it doesn't reach the suitable pass rate, adjust the grind finer.

3. Coffee-to-Water Ratio

This is FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over coffee extraction parameter for flavor differences based on SCAA Golden Cup extraction theory:

[Bold Flavor] 1:10-1:11 (equivalent to Golden Cup standard 1:12.5-1:13.5)

[Medium Flavor] 1:12-1:13 (equivalent to Golden Cup standard 1:14.5-1:15.5)

[Light Flavor] 1:14-1:16 (equivalent to Golden Cup standard 1:16.5-1:18.5)

A coffee bean weight to brewing water ratio of 1:14.5-1:15.5 most easily achieves the Golden Cup extraction rate of 18%-22% and concentration of 1.15%-1.35%.

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using the foolproof 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio when brewing coffee.

4. Brewing Technique

Finally, pour-over technique is also very important. Common techniques include three-stage pour, single-stream pour, drip pour, etc. Here FrontStreet Coffee recommends beginners use the three-stage pouring method to brew, as this technique is suitable for light roast, light to medium, and medium-dark roast coffee beans. The segmented extraction of three-stage pouring can clearly express the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee, better ensuring the flavor presentation. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will teach everyone how to perform three-stage pour-over coffee brewing.

Three-Stage Pour-Over Technique:

(FrontStreet Coffee's three-stage pour-over method for brewing Yunnan Catimor coffee)

Use a V60 dripper for richer coffee flavor, water temperature 88°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, 15g coffee dose, grind size (75% pass rate on China #20 standard sieve).

First Pour: Bloom (helps release gas)

First wet the V60 dripper to make the filter paper fit better with the coffee dripper, pour out the water from the serving pot while adding 15g of coffee powder, and bloom with 30g of water for 30s. Many coffee enthusiasts don't know why pour-over coffee needs blooming. Actually, blooming occurs because coffee beans undergo a series of chemical reactions and physical changes during the roasting process from green beans to roasted beans. After reaching a certain roast level, coffee beans accumulate large amounts of gas (mostly carbon dioxide).

Generally, the fresher the coffee and the closer to roasting, the more bubbles during blooming. Dark roast beans also release more gas during blooming than light roast beans. FrontStreet Coffee's coffee beans are all freshly roasted, so we generally recommend customers let the beans rest for three days first, allowing the coffee beans to release carbon dioxide first, which can avoid instability and under-extraction issues during brewing.

After the bloom releases gas, coffee particles can absorb water evenly, allowing for more uniform extraction later. A good bloom can help coffee powder quickly, fully, and evenly release gas while also allowing the coffee powder to fully and quickly contact water, helping the coffee powder to be extracted evenly. These are precisely the purpose and significance of pour-over coffee blooming.

Second Pour

After blooming for 30s, perform the second pour. Start with a small water stream in a circular motion from the center until reaching 125g, then stop. To concentrate the water column's penetrating power, keep the circular motion range small, about the size of a one-yuan coin, then expand outward. From the second water addition, pay attention to water volume, trying not to exceed the height of the coffee bed. That is, when the water column approaches the filter paper, you can stop adding water.

Third Pour

When the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, start the third pour using the same technique until reaching 225g. Wait until all dripping is complete before removing the dripper.

From the third water addition, observe the rate of water level drop.同样 start from the center with circular motion, keeping water volume below the coffee bed height. At this point, you'll also observe that foam proportion fills the surface. The third pour should increase the tumbling of coffee particles to make all settled particles tumble, thereby dissolving soluble substances.

The tumbling particles will begin to settle when water addition stops. At this point, rely on the flow rate created by the dropping water level to cause friction between coffee particles. Once water addition stops, coffee powder particles sink, causing blockage, so pay special attention to the rhythm of water addition. If there are too many interruptions in water flow, it's equivalent to letting coffee powder particles soak in water continuously, which will lead to astringency and undesirable flavors in the tail-end extraction.

Start timing from the first pour, extraction time is 2'00". Next, pick up the entire pot of coffee and shake it evenly, then pour into cups for tasting.

[FrontStreet Coffee Washed Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee Flavor]: Herbal, nutty aroma, chocolate, caramel, tea-like sensation.

[FrontStreet Coffee Natural Yunnan Catimor Coffee Flavor]: Nuts, chocolate, spices, caramel, plum.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Regarding coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans is a crucial part of brewing. The coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all within 5 days of roasting, because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that coffee bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it's exactly at peak flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind the beans for them, which is also fine, but FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: once coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for resting, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide in the packaging can also help mellow the coffee flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because ground coffee oxidizes relatively quickly after contact with air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate faster and won't be as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better enjoy the coffee's flavor.

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 personal WeChat: 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