How Do Yunnan Coffee Trees Shape the Flavor in the Cup?

Yunnan coffee is known for a balanced mix of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, with chocolate notes and fruity acidity appearing together under a medium roast. Front Street carries two Yunnan beans: an entry-level pour-over with nutty, herbal, brown sugar, and plum notes, and a 2013 sun-dried Typica with melon sweetness and berry acidity.

Early Typica plantings in Yunnan were largely cut down because of leaf rust and low yields, replaced by the disease-resistant, higher-yielding Catimor; today over ninety percent of coffee trees in Yunnan are Catimor. Front Street still cultivates pure Typica in Lincang, and a French press with a set grind ratio and press timing works well for both.

Yunnan coffee has always been known for its balanced flavor, combining acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, with chocolate notes and fruity acidity coexisting under medium roast. Front Street Coffee currently has two representative Yunnan beans: one is an entry-level pour-over bean with nutty and herbal notes, brown sugar sweetness, and plum acidity; the other is a 2013 sun-dried Typica, featuring prominent melon sweetness, bright berry acidity, black tea-like body, and a clean aftertaste. Early Typica planted in Yunnan was extensively cut down due to leaf rust and low yield, replaced by the disease-resistant and high-yielding Catimor, and now over ninety percent of coffee trees in Yunnan are Catimor. Front Street insists on cultivating pure Typica in Lincang, naming it "Front Street 2013 Sun-Dried Typica." This article will also provide a detailed breakdown of the seven steps for brewing Yunnan coffee with a French press, from grinding ratio to pressing timing, helping you easily make a great cup of coffee.

Front Street believes that the flavor profile of Yunnan coffee is relatively neutral, meaning it combines acidity, sweetness, and bitterness simultaneously. When presented with a medium roast, it highlights chocolate notes while retaining some acidity.

Front Street has two Yunnan coffees. Among them, Front Street Yunnan Small-Molecule Coffee Beans present nutty and herbal aromas, brown sugar sweetness, and plum acidity, with a balanced mouthfeel, making them suitable as an entry-level pour-over single-origin.

The sun-dried Front Street 2013 Yunnan Typica has higher melon sweetness, berry acidity, a black tea-like richness, and chocolatey depth. The overall flavor is clear, and the aftertaste is clean, making it a representative pour-over specialty coffee bean.

In fact, the coffee variety planted in Yunnan in the early days was Typica. With the country's reform and opening up, many major international brands in the coffee industry entered this treasured land of Yunnan. Because Typica coffee trees are susceptible to coffee leaf rust and have lower yields, local coffee farmers reluctantly cut down this elegant-flavored variety and switched to planting the higher-yielding and leaf-rust-resistant Catimor variety.

In Han Huaizong's book "Specialty Coffee Studies," the introduction to China's coffee-producing regions mentions that in 1998, over 90% of Yunnan's coffee varieties were Catimor.

Catimor is a new variety developed in 1959 by the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center CIFC, a hybrid of Timor and Caturra. The characteristics of the Catimor variety are high productivity, short plants suitable for dense planting, and good disease resistance. However, because the Catimor variety carries Robusta genes, it sometimes has a bitter and grassy taste more pronounced than pure Arabica, and is slightly disadvantaged in cleanliness, fruity notes, and complexity.

Robusta has good resistance to leaf rust and rich oils, high yield, and is easy to cultivate. After crossing with the Arabica Typica, Catimor gained 25% Robusta genes, which improved its resistance to leaf rust, retained rich oils, and also acquired some of the rich flavors of the original Typica. Therefore, according to Front Street's understanding, most Yunnan estates have begun large-scale planting of Catimor, and the cultivation range of Typica has started to shrink.

At present, the vast majority of coffee trees planted in Yunnan belong to the Catimor variety, so Front Street Yunnan Small-Molecule Coffee uses it, and it also serves as Front Street's first representative showcase of Yunnan coffee.

In the beginning, Yunnan coffee was the Typica variety. As an ancient branch of Arabica, Typica has smaller beans, hence the name "Yunnan small-molecule," and local coffee farmers also call it the "old variety." So why does Yunnan plant Catimor instead of the higher-quality Typica? One reason is the high cost. You should know that Yunnan originally planted Typica, and at that time the concept of specialty coffee did not yet exist. Yunnan coffee was mainly measured by futures prices, and in the 1990s Nestlé introduced the higher-yielding Catimor to Yunnan for planting, using it as raw material for instant coffee production.

What Front Street cultivates in Lincang, Yunnan, is pure small-molecule coffee, that is, the Typica variety. Because it began in 2013, it was named "Front Street 2013 Sun-Dried Typica." It has a pure flavor and soft, moderate acidity, but low yield and is extremely susceptible to disease, so few coffee farmers are willing to plant it.

Front Street invites everyone to brew a pot of French press Yunnan coffee and taste it together!

Step one : Boil water first.

Step two : Grind the beans. A French press requires a coarser grind (medium-coarse). Front Street recommends a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15 to 1:16.

Step three : Place the French press on a digital scale, pour in 120 grams of hot water (and start timing), pouring directly into the center.

Step four : Use a wooden stirring spoon or chopsticks to gently stir the coffee grounds back and forth, somewhat like the motion of paddling a canoe. At this point the coffee grounds will begin to expand, and the process takes about 30 seconds, meaning it should bloom for 30 seconds.

Step five : After waiting for the coffee grounds to expand, add the remaining water and put on the lid. At this point, do not press down the filter yet; wait four minutes, no less.

Step six : Move the French press off the digital scale, then slowly press the filter down. The force required for pressing is about 7-9 kilograms. If the resistance encountered is too little, it means the coffee grounds are too coarse; if the resistance encountered is too great, it means the coffee grounds are too fine. After pressing the filter all the way down, you must immediately pour out the coffee, otherwise it will cause over-extraction.

Step seven : It's time to enjoy the delicious coffee. Pour the coffee into a warmed mug, and remember to rinse your mouth before drinking coffee so you can taste the original flavor of the coffee; the best drinking time for French press coffee is within 20 minutes. Therefore, when making coffee with a French press, if you can finish it within 10 minutes, both roast levels are suitable; if you finish it within 20 minutes, it is recommended to use dark-roasted coffee beans.

The above is the operation process for the French press. If you still don't quite understand, you can consult a Front Street barista, because Front Street has more than 50 kinds of single-origin coffee beans from different regions, fully capable of satisfying your curiosity and exploration of coffee.

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