What Makes Yunnan Small-Bean Coffee Taste the Way It Does?

Yunnan small-bean coffee is Arabica, named small-bean to separate it from the medium-bean Robusta grown in Hainan. Most of the province sits between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, with fertile sloping soil and strong sun, inside the belt between 25°N and 25°S. Catimor is the main variety planted, and the cup shows nutty dry aroma with herbs, chocolate and caramel on the palate.

Growing conditions explain the profile. Coffee trees tolerate heat but not cold, and the ideal range for planting coffee trees is about 16 to 21°C, which the Yunnan highlands meet for much of the year. A Typica selection cultivated at a Lincang estate shows the regional style, and pour-over parameters can be adjusted to bring its gentle fruit acidity to the finish.

Yunnan coffee has continuously become a hot topic in coffee circles in recent years, and many enthusiasts are curious: what exactly makes the quality characteristics of Yunnan small-bean coffee good? What tier does hand-brewed Yunnan beans occupy? Starting from the terroir of the producing region, this article sorts out the cultivation geography, variety composition, and processing methods of Yunnan coffee, and focuses on introducing the Typica variety "Front Street 2013" cultivated at Front Street's own estate in Lincang. The article also includes complete hand-brewing extraction parameters and flavor descriptions to help you build a systematic understanding of coffee from the Yunnan producing region. Whether you are encountering Yunnan beans for the first time or want to gain a deeper understanding of the source of their flavor, you can obtain valuable reference from it.

Domestic Yunnan coffee is now a hot topic frequently discussed by coffee enthusiasts, and everyone is especially concerned about the quality performance and flavor direction of Yunnan coffee.

If you are still relatively unfamiliar with Yunnan coffee, you can start with Front Street Yunnan small-bean coffee beans. This bean reflects the typical style of the Yunnan producing region very well. Its dry aroma has obvious nutty notes, and on the palate you can feel the interweaving of herbs, chocolate, and caramel, with a hint of gentle fruit acidity left at the finish. After drinking this cup, you will be able to form a preliminary impression of Yunnan coffee.

Where is Yunnan small-bean coffee grown?

The name "small-bean coffee" is used to distinguish it from the medium-bean Robusta variety in China's Hainan producing region. In essence, like most producing regions around the world, it belongs to the Arabica species. At present, the main variety grown in Yunnan coffee is Catimor.

Coffee trees prefer warm environments. They can tolerate heat but cannot withstand cold. The more sufficient the sunlight, the more favorable it is for growth. The ideal growth temperature range is 16 to 21 degrees Celsius. For this reason, with the equator as the axis, the zone between 25°N and 25°S is called the "world coffee golden growing belt." Yunnan happens to fall within this golden belt. Most areas in the province are between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level, with fertile sloping soil, abundant sunshine, plentiful rainfall, and significant temperature differences between day and night. All of these provide good conditions for the growth of coffee trees.

The coffee-growing areas in Yunnan are concentrated in the southwestern part of the province, mainly distributed across the four major producing regions of Baoshan, Dehong, Pu'er, and Lincang. The three Yunnan coffee beans on Front Street's bean list come from Baoshan and Lincang respectively.

Coffee cultivation in Baoshan can be traced back as early as the mid-1950s, when it was introduced by the patriotic overseas Chinese Mr. Liang Jinshan. The area is frost-free all year round and has a warm climate, making it especially suitable for growing small-bean coffee. The Lujiangba area has a unique dry-hot valley climate, with little temperature variation throughout the year but an obvious difference between day and night, which gives Baoshan small-bean coffee a distinctive sweetness. In addition, rainfall is reasonable and on the lower side, creating extremely favorable conditions for the growth and development of coffee cherries.

What processing methods are used for Yunnan coffee beans?

In the past two years, many Yunnan beans on the market have used special processing methods to add flavor and make the aroma more intense, and some friends have mistakenly thought that this is the original taste of Yunnan coffee. This is not the case. Most Yunnan coffee farmers work under relatively difficult production conditions and cannot afford expensive processing equipment, so the vast majority of Yunnan coffee beans can only use the most natural processing methods, namely washed and natural.

The washed method procedure is as follows: first pour the coffee cherries into a water tank and use buoyancy to remove impurities and immature berries. Then use a depulper to remove the outer skin and most of the pulp, and put the coffee beans into a clean water tank to ferment. During fermentation, the mucilage layer produces acidic substances and thereby separates from the beans. Then rinse off the remaining mucilage with clean water to obtain raw beans still wrapped in the parchment layer, also known as parchment coffee. Finally, depending on the weather, choose natural sun-drying or machine drying to reduce the moisture content of the raw beans to about 12%, then use a huller to remove the parchment layer, and the coffee green beans are obtained.

Front Street has always believed that understanding Yunnan coffee should start from the flavor of the coffee itself, rather than relying on trendy processing methods to cover up the original taste. Therefore, the several coffee beans on Front Street's bean list all use traditional washed and natural methods. The one representing a daily-drinker Yunnan small-bean coffee uses the washed method, showing the coffee flavor unique to the producing region. Front Street also has a very popular coffee bean, "Front Street 2013," and from the name you can tell it is an exclusive Front Street product. It comes from Front Street's own estate in Lincang, Yunnan, uses the elegantly flavored Typica variety, and enhances the coffee's sweetness through the natural sun-drying processing method.

Yunnan coffee beans grown by Front Street

As early as many years ago, while exploring coffee knowledge, Front Street already had the idea of growing coffee itself, and in 2013 went to Lincang, Yunnan, to begin the process of planting coffee trees. From site selection, seed selection, seedling cultivation, planting, harvesting, processing, and roasting, everything was completed firsthand by Front Street colleagues, and a great deal of experience and knowledge about varieties, altitude, and processing methods was accumulated in the process.

Lincang, Yunnan, is affected by the warm, humid airflow from the Indian Ocean and the southwest monsoon. The boundaries between the four seasons are blurred, the dry season and rainy season are distinct, rainfall is relatively high, sunshine hours are long, the frost period is short, and some areas are frost-free all year round. Its three-dimensional climate characteristics are prominent, making it very suitable for Arabica coffee cultivation. Front Street deliberately chose the most original Typica. Typica has an elegant and pure flavor, but it is also famously low-yielding and poor in disease resistance, so Front Street invested a great deal of effort in planting and management. After 5 to 6 years of cultivation, in 2020 Front Street finally harvested its first batch of results, processed them naturally, and named them "Front Street 2013."

Around November each year, the coffee fruits grown by Front Street gradually mature. Front Street arranges for workers to pick the red coffee cherries one by one and spread the fresh fruit under the sun to dry naturally. After the coffee beans dehydrate to a purplish-red color and reach the target moisture content, they are sent for hulling and roasting.

What does Front Street Yunnan coffee taste like?

Based on the corresponding flavor tone of Yunnan coffee, Front Street believes that Yunnan coffee belongs to a balanced, neutral flavor profile, with both acidity and a rich bitterness, so medium roasting is used. In this way, Front Street 2013 Typica reveals the aromas of plum, dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, and black tea. The various flavors blend just right, and the sweetness is especially prominent.

FrontStreet Coffee hand-brewing parameters:

Dripper: hario v60

Dose: 15g

Water temperature: 90 degrees Celsius

Grind size: 75% passing through a No. 20 sieve

Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15

Three-stage pouring: first use twice the weight of the coffee grounds in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and allowing it to bloom for 30 seconds, then pour in a small stream in circles from the inside outward, pausing the staged pour at 125g, wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the height of the dripper, then use the same fine stream to pour the third stage up to 225g, until all the coffee liquid has filtered through, then remove the dripper. The whole process takes about 2 minutes.

Flavor performance of Front Street 2013 coffee beans: the dry aroma has a faint caramel and nutty aroma. On the palate, chocolate is the main tone, accompanied by a brown-sugar-like sweetness and slight fruit acidity, and the finish carries a slight black tea note. The overall flavor layers are relatively rich.

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