Flavor Profile of Yunnan Coffee Beans | Processing Methods, Varieties, Regions, and Estates

In the global coffee cultivation industry, a coffee belt extends from 25° north latitude to 25° south latitude, with coffee grown in 79 countries and regions worldwide. Among these, Yunnan small-bean coffee is primarily concentrated in high-latitude, high-altitude areas, while medium-bean coffee varieties are mainly found in low-latitude, low-altitude regions. The western and southern parts of China's Yunnan Province lie between 15° north latitude and the Tropic of Cancer.

Yunnan's natural conditions are remarkably similar to Colombia's - low latitude, high altitude, significant day-night temperature differences, fertile soil, abundant sunshine, and plentiful rainfall. For coffee, this is excellent news. The cool nights in high-altitude areas slow coffee growth, extend the maturation period, and allow for greater accumulation of flavor compounds. Yunnan small-bean coffee is rich without being bitter, aromatic without being intense, with subtle fruity notes - representing a unique flavor profile at the northern edge of the world's coffee map.

After China's reform and opening up, Yunnan established large-scale coffee cultivation as an economic pillar crop. However, factors such as inconvenient transportation, outdated cultivation techniques, insufficient expertise among practitioners, and predominantly smallholder farming prevented large-scale development. For a long time, Yunnan coffee served primarily as raw material for instant and low-grade coffee, with prices remaining consistently low.

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Yunnan Coffee Estate Beans

In the 2021 Yunnan coffee harvest season, FrontStreet Coffee processed a small batch of their own Yunnan Typica natural process coffee beans! Due to limited quantities, FrontStreet Coffee only released these beans in special events as "limited edition" for people to sample! FrontStreet Coffee also regularly shares these estate natural process Typica coffee beans at their stores as complimentary tastings for different customers.

By the way, FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu also features another Yunnan washed Typica Huaguoshan coffee bean.

Today, Yunnan coffee beans offer more choices in processing methods. Even just optimizations in details have led to the development of various different processing techniques.

FrontStreet Coffee's barista believes that traditional washed and natural processing methods best express the original flavors of a coffee's origin and region. On this note, FrontStreet Coffee must mention that our bean menu features many washed process coffees from places like Ethiopia, Panama, Colombia, and more.

We know that three main factors affect coffee flavor: origin, variety, and processing method.

Zhukula: The Historical Origins

Zhukula was once an unknown small village. This isolated, remote, and impoverished ancient village is located deep in the mountains of northeastern Pingchuan Town, Binchuan County, Dali City, Yunnan Province, surrounded by the Yupao River, a tributary of the Jinsha River, at the junction of three prefectures: Chuxiong, Dali, and Lijiang.

According to the "Binchuan County Gazetteer," Father Tian Deneng planted coffee trees here to enjoy coffee and taught locals how to make it. To conveniently provide coffee for himself and other missionaries, after the church was completed, Father Tian Deneng personally planted coffee trees in the corner of the wall.

Zhukula Village still preserves 13 acres of coffee cultivation, including 24 trees over 100 years old, making it China's oldest coffee forest. Through national and provincial discussions on coffee culture, Zhukula coffee has been called the "living fossil" of Chinese coffee. Over more than 100 years of development, Yunnan coffee has now established its dominant position in China in terms of both cultivation area and coffee bean production.

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Yunnan Coffee Regions

Now let's explore Yunnan's coffee stories one by one.

Coffee is produced in several areas of Yunnan, including Banna, Wenshan, Baoshan, Lincang, and Dehong. Among these, Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong are the four important coffee cultivation regions in Yunnan, primarily distributed in the southwestern part of the province.

Lincang Region

Lincang deserves special mention.

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

FrontStreet Coffee has established its own estate in Yunnan's Lincang region. Then in 2021, FrontStreet Coffee produced its first batch of estate-grown coffee beans.

Baoshan Region

Yunnan's Baoshan is situated in a low-latitude plateau. Due to its special geographical location, it has formed a three-dimensional climate where "one mountain has four seasons, and weather changes every ten miles." Such climate is extremely suitable for coffee cultivation. As early as 1952, Baoshan began large-scale coffee cultivation, with over 60 years of history to date. The region now has 5,000 acres of coffee plantations and is recognized as one of Asia's best coffee-producing regions. Data shows that in 2017, China's coffee export volume was 104,900 tons, with an export value of $646 million.

The highest altitude coffee grown here can compete with Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans in quality. This area also produces the world's most expensive kopi luwak.

Among them, Yunnan Province's coffee production reached 136,000 tons, accounting for over 95% of China's total coffee production, with the highest export volume in the country at 60,700 tons. The coffee industry is also the most well-developed and mature market economy industry among those led by the Baoshan municipal government since the founding of New China. To better develop this industry, Baoshan has made various attempts, including launching the Yunnan Baoshan Coffee World Project.

Baoshan has a long history of coffee cultivation and is recognized as the best origin for small-bean coffee, making it one of the better coffee-producing regions both nationally and globally.

The most widely planted coffee variety in Yunnan's coffee regions is currently Catimor. Additionally, in the Baoshan region, there are still small plantings of Typica and Bourbon varieties. Although both Typica and Bourbon belong to the Arabica species, they are essentially quite different.

Coffee Varieties in Yunnan

Let's introduce these three coffee varieties: Typica, Bourbon, and Catimor.

Catimor Coffee Variety

Strictly speaking, Catimor is not a pure Arabica lineage. It's a hybrid between the Timor variety (Robusta coffee species) and Caturra (a mutation of Bourbon), so Catimor has 25% Robusta coffee genetics.

It's precisely because of this 25% Robusta heritage that determines Catimor's flavor defects - insufficient aroma richness, prominent bitterness, and tendencies toward astringency and stimulating musty flavors.

Typica Coffee Variety

Typica originates from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. Its plants are relatively robust but intolerant to direct sunlight. Typica's top leaves are copper-colored, leading to its nickname "red-top coffee." Many commercial improved varieties today originate from this type.

Typica coffee beans are recognized as a specialty coffee variety. However, their yield is extremely low, and they're susceptible to rust disease, requiring more human labor for management and higher maintenance costs. Excellent estate beans like Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica variety.

Bourbon Coffee Variety

It's a mutation of Typica, with green terminal buds and young leaves, also known as "green-top coffee." Bourbon coffee beans have excellent aroma and rich layers, but very low disease resistance and not high yield. Therefore, many countries in Central and South America choose to plant Caturra (a natural mutation of Bourbon) or other more disease-resistant and higher-yielding coffee varieties.

Introduced by the French in the 18th century, round coffee beans were brought from Yemen to Réunion Island. At that time, Réunion Island was still called Bourbon Island, hence the name. Then in 1860, Bourbon was introduced to Brazil and from there rapidly spread to various countries in Central and South America, which still cultivate and produce Bourbon variety coffee beans today.

Typica coffee variety yields only 1/3 of Catimor's production, which explains why it's more expensive. At the same time, both Typica and Bourbon are very susceptible to coffee rust disease, which is one reason why coffee farmers are reluctant to plant Arabica varieties.

Due to the low yield and disease susceptibility of Typica and Bourbon varieties, plus high maintenance costs, this means growers need longer exploration times. Current coffee farmers don't yet have a "specialty coffee" consciousness; even if they understand specialty coffee, when faced with cutting down old trees and spending several years replanting, coffee farmers will only keep their distance.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Typica Coffee Beans

About 5-6 years ago, FrontStreet Coffee began sourcing Typica from Yunnan's Baoshan region, creating what has become a representative of Yunnan coffee characteristics - Yunnan Huaguoshan coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Huaguoshan Coffee Beans

Coffee Origin: Baoshan
Coffee Variety: Typica
Altitude: 1200m
Grade: AA
Processing Method: Washed

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Huaguoshan Coffee Beans Roasting Record

The bean moisture content was 10.9%, so the roasting plan was to charge at 200°C, then use high heat and low airflow to accelerate dehydration. After the dehydration phase, medium airflow and medium heat were used to prevent the Maillard reaction from being too rushed, with 3 minutes of development after first crack before dropping.

Return temperature: 1:32, 92.5°C
Yellowing point: 5:40, 148.5°C
First crack: 8:59, 188°C
3 minutes development, dropped at 12:00, 196°C

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Huaguoshan Coffee Beans Cupping Record

Rich fruit aroma, melon, plant herbal notes. Smooth entry with nuts and milk chocolate in the mid-section. Lively and bright plum acidity in the finish, mouth-watering on both sides of the palate. Good balance, medium body with full texture. From hot to warm, you can feel the layered sweetness and acidity - first sweet then acidic. Apricot, citrus-toned acidity with black tea in the aftertaste, with hints of brown sugar.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Small Bean Coffee & Yunnan Huaguoshan Coffee Brewing Experience Sharing

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a V60 dripper for brewing. Because the V60 has a large opening and its unique spiral ribs allow air to be expelled more easily, improving extraction quality. The body might not be as rich, but its high concentration brings out Yunnan coffee's fruity acidity and distinct aroma - a major characteristic.

Dripper: V60 #01
Water Temperature: 90-92°C
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-fine, similar to fine sugar (Chinese standard #20 sieve 80% pass rate)

Brewing Method: Poured in stages. 30g of water for 30-second bloom, then pour with a small stream in circles to 124g for the first stage. 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 dripper (timing starts from bloom). Total extraction time: 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Small Bean Coffee

Region: Yunnan Baoshan
Altitude: 1200m
Processing Method: Washed
Variety: Catimor

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Small Bean Coffee Flavor Description

Nutty aroma on the nose, with herbal, chocolate, and caramel notes on entry, finishing with a hint of fruit acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Huaguoshan Coffee Beans Flavor Description

Dry aroma has subtle citrus acidity and nutty fragrance. Flavor notes include plum and citrus acidity with nutty flavors, melon and fruit notes with brown sugar sweetness. The aftertaste carries black tea notes. Overall flavor layers are quite rich.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473