How Is Yunnan Typica Coffee Grown and Brewed?

Yunnan is China's only region producing high-quality Arabica, sitting between 21 and 29 degrees north latitude with mountain terrain from 600 to 3,000 meters. Typica and Catimor varieties rose and fell there over the years, and sun-dried Typica now moves from seedling and planting through drying to a cup with a clean, sweet profile.

The growing belt has a clear dry season from November to April and a rainy season from May to October, with annual rainfall of roughly 2,200 to 2,700 millimeters and warm days that cool sharply at night. Coffee cultivation is concentrated in the southwest, including Lincang, Baoshan, and Pu'er.

Yunnan, as China's only high-quality Arabica producing region, has unique geographical and climatic conditions that provide a foundation for coffee cultivation, yet it also has an inherent shortcoming in altitude. Starting from the terroir conditions of the Yunnan producing region, this article reviews the rise and fall of Typica and Catimor varieties, and takes Front Street Coffee's planting practice in Yunnan starting from scratch as an example, documenting in detail the complete journey of Typica coffee from seedling cultivation and planting to sun-dried processing. The article also provides specific brewing parameters and methods for Front Street Yunnan sun-dried Typica and small-bean coffee, along with professional descriptions of their flavor and mouthfeel, making it suitable reading for coffee enthusiasts interested in the development of Yunnan coffee and pour-over practice.

Yunnan is the only province in China capable of producing high-quality Arabica coffee. Although coffee cultivation is not a major direction in China's overall agricultural layout, and policy support is relatively limited, for those of us who have devoted ourselves to the coffee industry, Yunnan has always occupied an almost sacred position. In recent years, more and more coastal coffee professionals have traveled to Yunnan to participate in the development of the coffee planting industry, and everyone shares a common belief: Yunnan is fully capable of growing coffee that is no inferior to that of Ethiopia and Panama.

Yunnan Producing Region

Yunnan is located between 21° and 29° north latitude, falling right within the coffee-growing belt. At the same time, Yunnan sits on the second step of China's terrain, dominated by mountains and hills, with most areas at elevations between 600 and 3,000 meters. The average temperature of the hottest month in the province is 19 to 22°C, and the coldest month 6 to 8°C, with pronounced temperature differences between day and night. Yunnan does not have distinct spring, summer, autumn, and winter, but the dry and wet seasons are clearly delineated: May to October is the rainy season, and November to April of the following year is the dry season. Annual precipitation in most areas ranges from 2,200 to 2,700 millimeters.

Yunnan's coffee-growing areas are mainly concentrated in the southwestern part of the province: Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er, and Dehong. Measured against the environmental standards required for producing high-quality coffee, Yunnan's conditions are only near the passing line. To grow truly excellent coffee, one must invest double the effort through acquired measures.

Front Street began growing coffee half a year earlier than it opened its store. The initial trial planting was in a place in Guangdong called Dazhen. At that time, the seedlings raised from Catimor had grown to 20 centimeters, and more than half a year had already passed before we finally clarified the relationships and order among variety, altitude, and processing method. First select the correct variety, plant it at a suitable altitude, and after the fruit ripens, find through experimentation the processing method that best expresses its distinctive flavor—this is the only logical chain, as Front Street understands it, by which specialty coffee can present a clear regional flavor.

So we gave up the plan to grow coffee in Guangdong. Because the place where we first roasted coffee was located on Bao'an Front Street, we renamed "Dazhen Coffee" to "Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)." At Front Street, while roasting coffee, we continued to explore with the idea of growing specialty coffee, successively visiting the Tropical Crops Research Institute (Institute of Tropical Agricultural Sciences), which has in-depth research in coffee cultivation—there is a Ministry of Agriculture coffee germplasm bank there—and also visited a small number of coffee farmers growing specialty coffee, clarifying why Yunnan had not grown mainstream specialty varieties such as Typica and Bourbon on a large scale. Later, by a fortunate coincidence, we found land suitable for planting.

Arabica coffee beans have clear requirements for growing altitude, usually needing to be above 1,000 meters; if one wants even better flavor, the altitude must be even higher. However, the altitude of most mountain ranges in Yunnan just barely reaches the passing line, which is an unavoidable shortcoming of Yunnan coffee. To compensate for the lack of altitude, on the premise of selecting excellent varieties, more refined agronomic management must be brought in to cope.

Front Street did not directly buy an existing coffee estate, but instead purchased a mountain suitable for growing coffee. The reason is that Front Street is very clear: no matter how good the land conditions are, if the wrong variety is planted, the coffee flavor will not be ideal (at that time, what was commonly planted in Yunnan was Catimor). Therefore we chose a planting route starting from zero. The variety planted by Front Street is Typica, which belongs to the category with excellent flavor performance within the Arabica species. At the same time, Typica's yield is very low, only one-third that of Catimor, which is also why it is more expensive. In addition, both Typica and Bourbon are highly susceptible to coffee leaf rust, which is also one of the factors why farmers are unwilling to grow Arabica.

Yunnan has no distinction of four seasons, only a dry season and a rainy season, and most coffee-producing regions are similar, which is precisely the fundamental reason why some producing regions adopt the sun-dried method. Entering June, the rainy season in the producing region begins, and the next three to four months will see continuous rainfall, which is the most favorable period for growing coffee. Only by planting the seedlings at this time, with the nourishment of the rain over the following months, can they grow a well-developed root system and survive the first dry season, which lasts half a year.

Growing coffee from scratch carries an extremely high time cost. Coffee takes three to four years from seedling to first fruiting, and after that, experimenting with suitable processing methods and finally stably reproducing them takes at least five years, at the fastest, to harvest the first batch of coffee. No one can guarantee growing top-quality specialty coffee on the first try, and Front Street firmly believes there is no such easy thing in the world. After multiple rounds of variety selection and breeding, waiting for the fruit and then conducting refining processing experiments, several more years passed.

Due to the impact of the pandemic last year, last year's Yunnan trip had to be postponed to this year.

This is a coffee tree planted by Front Street in May 2016, which has now grown to more than 3 meters tall.

The Typica seedlings planted in May 2019 now have lush branches and leaves.

This year Front Street's coffee production in Yunnan is about more than 100 kilograms.

This year Front Street brought the first batch of coffee cherries back to Guangdong for sun-dried processing.

Yunnan Coffee Bean Varieties

Small-bean coffee originally referred to the Typica variety. But later, as national policies opened up, international brands such as Nestlé and Starbucks entered one after another, and the demand for coffee beans rose sharply. Typica has poor disease resistance and low yield, while companies such as Nestlé promoted the cultivation of Catimor, which has strong disease resistance and high yield, in Yunnan. Many coffee farmers, for the sake of profit, cut down the elegant-flavored Typica and switched to planting Catimor. Today, more than 90% of coffee in Yunnan is Catimor, also called small-bean coffee. (Typica and Catimor both belong to the small-bean Arabica coffee species; now Yunnan small-bean coffee usually refers to the Catimor variety)

Catimor is a hybrid of the Timor variety, which carries Robusta genes, and the Caturra variety. Precisely because Catimor carries Robusta genes, it has a slight undesirable flavor and is inferior in quality to Typica.

Front Street named this self-produced coffee "Front Street 2013," to commemorate the starting point of Front Street's journey of coffee exploration. This batch of Front Street Yunnan coffee beans is entirely Typica coffee beans, that is, the ancient Arabica variety we often say has excellent flavor. Front Street adopts a sun-dried processing technique to ensure the coffee retains its pure natural flavor. After drying, the beans were not hulled immediately but transported to Front Street's roasting factory in Guangdong before hulling, which reduces the risk of damage to the green beans during transportation. When roasting this Front Street Yunnan coffee bean, Front Street chose a medium roast. In cupping, it presents flavors of ripe fruit, chocolate, and brown sugar.

Front Street Yunnan Sun-Dried Typica Coffee Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60

Water temperature: 88°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: fine granulated sugar coarseness (80% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street brewing method : staged extraction. Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, pour in a small stream in a circular motion until 124 grams for the first stage, and when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 227 grams and stop; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of the bloom.) Extraction time is 2 minutes.

Taste description : Front Street Yunnan sun-dried Typica coffee also has nutty notes, with a mouthfeel more solid than Yunnan washed coffee. Its acidity is slightly lower than Yunnan washed Typica coffee, but its sweetness is a bit greater, with a higher sense of balance, berry-like acidity, mingled with brown sugar, and a slight tea note.

Front Street Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60

Water temperature: 88°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: fine granulated sugar coarseness (80% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street brewing method: staged extraction. Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, pour in a small stream in a circular motion until 124 grams for the first stage, and when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 227 grams and stop; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of the bloom.) Extraction time is 2 minutes.

Taste description : Front Street Yunnan small-bean coffee smells very nutty, and on tasting has flavors of herbs, chocolate, and caramel, with a faint fruity acidity in the aftertaste.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.