Yunnan coffee has attracted much attention in recent years, but many people still have questions about its varieties and flavors. This article sorts out the three planting waves of Yunnan coffee from its introduction to its rise, with a focus on explaining the relationship between Catimor and Typica, as well as the origin of the name "Yunnan small-bean coffee." At the same time, Front Street Coffee has established its own estate in Lincang to grow Typica, using natural processing and medium roasting, presenting citrus, berry, and caramel sweetness. Whether you are just encountering Yunnan beans or want to gain a deeper understanding of their varietal evolution, this article can provide a clear professional perspective.

With domestic goods consumption continuing to heat up, Yunnan coffee has also entered the public eye. Many people walk into a cafe and immediately ask: Which Yunnan beans do you have that are worth trying? Do you have Yunnan small-bean coffee? As people's requirements for specialty coffee become more detailed, Yunnan coffee bean varieties are also being repeatedly mentioned. Today, Front Street will guide everyone through a systematic understanding of the ins and outs of Yunnan coffee.

Everyone knows that for crops to develop astonishing flavors, suitable growing conditions are indispensable. The altitude must be high, and the climate must also cooperate. Most of the world's well-known coffee-producing regions basically fall within the "Coffee Belt" between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Within China's territory, the places that can simultaneously satisfy both the Coffee Belt and suitable altitude conditions are mainly Yunnan and Taiwan. However, for China, coffee is an introduced crop, while tea is a native species. According to existing literature, China's earliest record of coffee cultivation appeared in 1877, when Fujian governor Ding Richang proposed in the "Regulations for the Pacification and Development of the Aborigines" that the indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands switch to cash crops to replace a hunting lifestyle, and coffee was included in that list of crops.

The earliest place where coffee was cultivated in mainland China was precisely Yunnan. Both the "Binzhou County Annals" and "History of Catholicism in Yunnan" record that in 1904, French Catholic missionary Tian Deneng was dispatched by the Dali diocese to Binchuan, built a church in Zhukula Village, and personally planted the first coffee tree, solely for his own consumption.

Looking back at the development of Yunnan coffee, it has roughly gone through three waves:

The first wave appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, most people did not even know what coffee was, let alone its taste. The coffee beans grown in Yunnan were mainly exported to the Soviet Union to repay loans. The agricultural reclamation system was responsible for cultivation, and the national foreign trade department handled unified purchasing. The farms at that time included Baoshan Lujiang Farm, Xincheng Youth Farm, Dehong Zhefang Farm, Ruili Farm, Wanding Farm, Wenshan Babu Farm, and Tianbao Farm. The Yunnan coffee varieties of that period were mainly locally propagated Typica and Bourbon variants.

After the loan repayment task ended, the foreign trade department no longer actively purchased Yunnan coffee beans. At the same time, coffee diseases spread, and large numbers of coffee trees became infected or even died. In order to block transmission, people had to cut down many trees. Coffee planting area was once reduced to less than 3,000 mu.

The second wave began in the 1980s after reform and opening up. In 1988, Nestle began vigorously supporting Yunnan's coffee industry and actively promoted the Catimor variety locally. Catimor's yield can reach three times that of Typica, and its disease resistance is also stronger. For farmers, coffee flavor was not what they cared about most; they cared more about purchase prices and fruit harvests. As a result, Catimor gradually replaced Typica and became the main variety of Yunnan coffee, even once accounting for 90% of Yunnan coffee production.

The third wave of development occurred after 2000. As China's economy took off rapidly, many coffee brands began to turn their attention to China, and the concept of specialty coffee was introduced along with it. As market demand for specialty beans continued to rise, variety selection and cultivation work for Yunnan coffee also advanced actively. Even today, Yunnan coffee's path toward specialization is still continuing.

The name "Yunnan small-bean coffee" actually comes from Typica. Typica's coffee beans are relatively small, hence they are called small-bean. But as Front Street said earlier, because Catimor has high productivity and strong disease resistance, many growers could only reluctantly cut down Typica and switch to planting Catimor. At present, the planting area of Catimor in Yunnan is still very large, so the variety of Yunnan small-bean coffee is actually Catimor.

Catimor was developed in 1959 by CIFC, the Portuguese Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center, with Timor from Timor and Caturra as its parents. It inherited Timor's Robusta genes, so it has good resistance to coffee berry disease, leaf rust, and some insect pests.

Regarding Catimor, Taiwanese specialty coffee master Han Huaizong once described it as having a "devil-like aftertaste." Because it carries Robusta genes, Catimor coffee sometimes presents an earthy, fishy taste. Of course, with continuous improvements in cultivation techniques and processing methods, the flavor of Yunnan Catimor is also gradually improving.

In order to explore the local terroir flavors of Yunnan, FrontStreet Coffee established its own coffee estate in Lincang. The Lincang producing region is located in southwestern Yunnan, with the Tropic of Cancer running through its southern part, bordering Pu'er, Dali, and Baoshan, and adjoining Myanmar to the southwest. It is a pearl on the southwestern frontier of the motherland. The planting altitude here is above 1,000 meters, the annual temperature is about 17 degrees Celsius, the dry and wet seasons are distinct, and sunshine is abundant, providing very ideal conditions for FrontStreet Coffee to grow Typica.

The Typica in FrontStreet Coffee's estate adopts the natural processing method. Ripe coffee cherries are spread completely and evenly on raised beds for sun drying and are turned regularly to prevent uneven drying that could produce unpleasant fermentation flavors. Keeping the fruit intact allows more sugar to penetrate into the green coffee beans, making this bean's aroma richer and its sweetness more prominent.

After FrontStreet Coffee's roaster received this naturally processed Typica green bean, in order to balance aroma, sweetness, and the mouthfeel expression of Yunnan small-bean coffee, medium roasting was ultimately chosen.

Filter cup: Hario V60

Water temperature: 87 degrees Celsius

Coffee dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: 75% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve

Since the coffee beans shipped by Front Street are all freshly roasted within 5 days, by the time they arrive they have usually already gone through a 4 to 7 day resting period. The beans are relatively fresh and contain a higher amount of internal carbon dioxide. To make flavor extraction more stable, Front Street recommends a 30-second bloom during brewing.

First pour 30 grams of hot water and bloom for 30 seconds, then slowly pour in a fine stream from the center point in circles up to 125 grams. When the water level in the filter cup drops to the point where the coffee bed is almost exposed, continue pouring in circles up to 225 grams. The total extraction time is about 2 minutes.

The naturally processed Typica from FrontStreet Coffee's own estate brews into a full-bodied cup with bright acidity and sweetness, featuring citrus and berry notes, a hint of fermented wine aroma, caramel-like sweetness, a creamy finish, and a black tea-like tea sensation.

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