Yunnan Coffee Bean Harvest Season Timeline and Introduction to Characteristics of Yunnan Coffee Growing Regions and Varieties

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Introduction to Yunnan Coffee Beans

In recent years, single-origin Yunnan coffee beans have been active in the specialty coffee market. Most of the Chinese-grown coffee beans available in the domestic market today are from Yunnan. Although Yunnan coffee beans are newcomers and their quality cannot be fully guaranteed yet, FrontStreet Coffee believes their potential is immense. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has established a coffee plantation in Baoshan, Yunnan. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share information about when Yunnan coffee beans mature, their varieties, and flavor characteristics.

When Do Yunnan Coffee Beans Mature?

First, it's important to know that specialty coffee beans on the market today refer to Arabica varieties. This variety offers the best flavor but has a specific characteristic regarding altitude - the higher the altitude, the richer the flavor expression. However, they cannot withstand frost. As we know, for every 500 meters increase in altitude, the temperature drops by 0.6 degrees Celsius. As agricultural products, coffee fruits naturally mature later at higher altitudes.

Based on FrontStreet Coffee's experience growing coffee in Yunnan, coffee trees in low-altitude areas of Yunnan typically start bearing fruit in early to mid-September, while FrontStreet Coffee's plantation, due to its higher altitude, doesn't mature until November.

Additionally, everyone knows that coffee is a short-day plant, which means it has multiple flowering periods with concentrated blooming phases. In Yunnan, Coffea arabica flowers from February to July, with peak flowering from March to May. Coffee flowering is greatly influenced by climate, particularly rainfall and temperature. Coffee flowers have a short lifespan of only 2-3 days. Coffea arabica typically begins to bloom between 3-5 AM and reaches full bloom from 5-7 AM. Coffee fruit development takes a long time. Coffea arabica fruit requires 8-10 months to mature, typically between October and December of the same year. Rainfall significantly affects fruit development, and climatic conditions directly impact the fruit. Therefore, normally, a coffee tree bears fruit only once a year.

What Varieties Are Yunnan Coffee Beans?

So what varieties are Yunnan coffee beans? As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, specialty coffee varieties are all Arabica coffee beans, and Yunnan is no exception. Common varieties such as Catimor, Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai are all grown there. However, seasoned coffee enthusiasts know that the most common Yunnan coffees on the market are Catimor varieties. For example, Yunnan small-bean coffee in the coffee market almost always refers to Yunnan Catimor coffee beans.

Although all these varieties are related to Arabica - Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai are all Arabica-derived varieties - Catimor is actually a hybrid cross between Robusta and Arabica. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce these varieties respectively.

Typica Coffee Beans

The most classic high-quality Arabica variety, from which many commercial improved varieties originate today. Typica coffee beans exhibit excellent flavor characteristics and are recognized as a specialty coffee variety, but their yield is extremely low and they are susceptible to rust disease, requiring more intensive human management. Typica coffee beans originate from Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan and are the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. The plants are relatively robust but not tolerant to strong sunlight, with higher yields in Hawaii. Typica has bronze-colored young leaves, earning it the name "red-topped coffee."

Bourbon Coffee Beans

This variety originates from Typica coffee beans and was expanded after being planted by the French in 1708 on Bourbon Island (now Réunion Island). Bourbon also has wonderful aroma and rich flavors, with higher yield and growth vigor than Typica, making it suitable for cultivation in areas of 1200-2000 meters altitude. However, it has weaker disease and pest resistance and is more sensitive to strong winds and heavy rainfall. Bourbon is the second most important variety after Typica among small-bean coffees. The main branches initially grow upward at a 45-degree angle to the trunk, drooping as fruit loads increase. The lateral branch nodes are denser, resulting in more fruit and higher yields. However, the berries are smaller and mature more slowly. Bourbon has green young leaves and terminal buds, earning it the name "green-topped coffee."

Caturra Coffee Beans

Caturra is a single-gene mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. It has better production capacity and disease resistance than Bourbon, with shorter plants that facilitate harvesting. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it has the problem of biennial production cycles. Its flavor is comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon, but more importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability, not requiring shade trees and thriving even when directly exposed to strong sunlight, earning it the nickname "sun coffee." It can adapt to high-density planting but requires more fertilizer, increasing costs, so initial acceptance by coffee farmers was not high.

Catuai Coffee Beans

Catuai is an Arabica hybrid variety, a cross between Mundo Novo (New World) and Caturra, with good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. It inherits the advantage of Caturra's short plant height, addressing Mundo Novo's shortcomings. Another advantage is its firm fruit that doesn't easily fall off in strong winds, addressing the weakness of Arabica fruits that are fragile. However, its overall flavor profile is more monotonous than Caturra and lacks the richness of Mundo Novo, which is its greatest drawback. Additionally, its fruit growth and harvesting lifespan is only about ten years, making its short lifespan another weakness.

Catimor Coffee Beans

Catimor is not of pure Arabica lineage. It is a hybrid between Timor (belonging to the Robusta species) and Caturra (a mutation of Bourbon). Therefore, Catimor has 25% Robusta lineage, and its Robusta heritage determines its flavor defects: insufficient aroma, overall bitter taste, and tendencies toward astringency and pungent musty flavors.

The variety that FrontStreet Coffee primarily grows in Baoshan, Yunnan, is Typica. This is because FrontStreet Coffee believes that to change the perception that Yunnan coffee doesn't taste good, we must start from the root cause. Currently, Yunnan coffee blindly relies on special processing methods to quickly change undesirable coffee flavors, leading consumers to have the fixed impression that "only specially processed Yunnan coffee is drinkable."

In reality, this is not the case. The foundation of a delicious coffee bean lies in its original flavor. Since this is true, we must start from the factors that affect the coffee bean's inherent flavor: growing region, coffee variety, and processing method. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has chosen Typica variety coffee beans to showcase the charm of Yunnan coffee beans, because Typica coffee has its unique subtle and clean flavor, as well as balanced characteristics with high flavor cleanliness, which special processing methods cannot achieve. Whether coffee tastes good ultimately depends on the coffee bean variety, as special processing methods are not a long-term solution.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee uses the most traditional washed processing method for Yunnan coffee beans. This is because the washed processing method makes the coffee bean flavor cleaner and fresher, washing away defective flavors and presenting the most original flavor of the coffee beans. For this reason, the washed processing method is also FrontStreet Coffee's favorite. Through washed processing, unripe and defective beans are selected out due to buoyancy differences, and the fermentation process is easier to control. Therefore, unlike natural processed beans which may have impure flavors, washed beans present distinct fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and cleaner flavors.

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's compilation of information about when Yunnan coffee beans mature, their varieties, and flavor characteristics. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the brewing flavors of two Yunnan coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Huaguoshan Coffee Beans

Country: China

Region: Baoshan, Yunnan

Altitude: 1450-1550m

Variety: Typica

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Citrus, nuts, plum, melon fragrance, brown sugar, black tea sensation

The difference between FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Huaguoshan coffee beans and Yunnan small-bean coffee is that Huaguoshan is of Typica variety, while Yunnan small-bean coffee is Catimor. In fact, both beans can be called small-bean coffee, but because the fruit acidity of Typica's floral and fruity notes is more gentle and rich, it was specifically named Huaguoshan ("Flower and Fruit Mountain") to distinguish between the two varieties.

FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee Beans (Daily Use)

Country: China

Region: Baoshan, Yunnan

Altitude: 1200m

Variety: Catimor

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Herbal, nutty aroma, chocolate, caramel

Yunnan small-bean coffee refers to the small-bean coffee cultivated in the Yunnan region. Coffee is an evergreen small tree of the Rubiaceae family, native to Africa. Currently, the main cultivated beverage plants are small-bean and medium-bean coffee. Traditionally, small-bean coffee cultivated in Yunnan, China, specifically refers to a mixed population of Bourbon and Typica varieties.

FrontStreet Coffee Yunnan Coffee Bean Pour-Over Recommendations

Because both of these beans come from Yunnan and are medium roasted, Frontsteet recommends using a V60 conical filter. The V60 has a wider opening, and its unique spiral rib design allows air to be expelled more easily, thereby improving extraction quality. The mouthfeel might not be as thick, but its high concentration brings out the fruit acidity and distinct aroma of Yunnan coffee, which is its major characteristic.

Filter: V60

Water Temperature: 90-92°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine, equivalent to fine sugar granularity (VARIO 50: 57% passing rate through China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing Method: Segmented extraction

Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Continue with a small stream circular pour until reaching 124g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 227g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from the beginning of the bloom) Total extraction time is 2 minutes.

Huaguoshan Brewing Flavor Description: Rich but not bitter, aromatic but not strong, with floral notes, sweet melon in the middle, and a black tea sensation in the finish.

Yunnan Small-Bean Brewing Flavor Description: Smooth entry, Asian herbal plant aroma, lively and bright acidity, mouth-watering on both cheeks, gentle acidity with good balance of richness and body, rich layers, with distinct black chocolate, honey, and cane sugar flavors in the aftertaste. When completely cooled, brown sugar flavors emerge.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473