What Arabica Varieties Make Up Yunnan Coffee Today?

Yunnan small-bean coffee is classified academically as Coffea arabica L. In the 1950s the Baoshan region grew Typica, Bourbon and S288. Typica is the oldest of these, with a clean, elegant cup, but it yields poorly and resists disease badly. Catimor was introduced later for dense planting and stronger disease resistance, and now covers the largest planted area in Yunnan.

What is commonly sold as Yunnan small-bean is therefore usually Catimor, though Lincang natural Typica lots still show the older varietal character. As an arabica coffee family, Typica also produced variants elsewhere: Jamaican Blue Mountain in the Caribbean, Hawaiian Kona in the Pacific, and Sumatran Mandheling in Indonesia. Typica itself originated in Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan, among the oldest lines in the species.

Yunnan small-bean coffee has attracted increasing attention in recent years. What exactly is its variety, how does it taste, and is it good as a pour-over? This article starts from the variety's origins, traces the histories of Typica and Catimor, analyzes the course of Yunnan coffee's quality improvement, and, combining two Yunnan beans from Front Street Coffee—Baoshan washed Catimor and Lincang natural Typica—provides specific pour-over parameters and flavor descriptions to help coffee enthusiasts gain a comprehensive understanding of the true character of Yunnan coffee.

When it comes to Asian coffee origins, many people's first thought is Indonesian Mandheling; its signature herbal notes and heavy body have made it a classic example of dark-roasted beans, and it can be found in pour-over, siphon, French press, moka pot, and other brewing devices. However, quite a few coffee enthusiasts first think of China's own Yunnan small-bean. As a coffee product with considerable domestic recognition, what grade is Yunnan small-bean actually at, and what is its most prominent characteristic?

Yunnan small-bean coffee is academically classified as Coffea arabica L. In the 1950s, the varieties mainly cultivated in the Baoshan region of Yunnan included Typica, Bourbon, and S288. Among them, Typica is the oldest variety, with a clean and elegant flavor, but its drawbacks are low yield and insufficient resistance to disease, making it prone to infection and death. For this reason, Yunnan later introduced Catimor, which can be planted densely and has stronger disease resistance, and it gradually became the coffee variety with the largest planted area in Yunnan today. Therefore, what is commonly called "Yunnan small-bean" in most cases actually refers to Catimor coffee beans produced in Yunnan.

As the most classic high-quality variety among Arabica, Typica has quite outstanding environmental adaptability. Many coffee varieties we are familiar with are in fact variants it produced in different regions: Jamaican Blue Mountain is a variant of Typica in the Caribbean island nation, Hawaiian Kona is a variant of Typica on a Pacific island, and Sumatran Mandheling is a variant of Typica after growing in Indonesia.

The Typica coffee tree originated in Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan and is one of the oldest varieties in the Arabica family; some also call it the old-variety small-bean coffee. This coffee tree grows relatively tall, with branches distributed in a conical shape, and the primary branches are inclined at about sixty degrees. The leaves are usually dark bronze, while the young leaves at the tips have a reddish-copper hue, hence the name "red-topped coffee." Typica plants are tall, yet their yield is lower than that of other varieties, and cultivation and management are quite difficult, which means obtaining high-quality Typica coffee beans is often not easy. Despite limited yield, its cupping score is extremely high, with rich layers of fruity aroma in the flavor.

In 1959, Portuguese researchers cultivated a small-stature coffee plant that could resist pests and diseases, grow normally at low altitudes, and produce considerable yield—in other words, Catimor was positioned as a "commercial bean" from the very beginning. Although Catimor achieved its expected value on the commercial level, its cupping quality has often been questioned, and there are certain flaws in its flavor. As a result, Catimor was long ignored by the market, and some producers were even unwilling to mark the name Catimor on the packaging. So what causes Catimor to carry such defects?

Catimor is a descendant of a cross between Caturra and Timor. Caturra is a widely praised natural mutant of Bourbon and frequently appears in various specialty coffee competitions; for example, among Front Street's own roasted coffee beans, dozens are made with Caturra. Timor, meanwhile, is a natural hybrid of Robusta and Arabica, discovered in the early twentieth century on the island of Timor in Southeast Asia. Robusta's flavor has never been very appealing, dominated by heavy bitterness, but it possesses extremely strong disease resistance, tolerates cold and heat, and has high yield. Catimor therefore inherited some of these characteristics: higher survival rate, better fruiting rate, and a shorter maturation cycle, naturally making it more popular among coffee farmers and producers.

In the past, Yunnan coffee farmers lacked mature accumulated experience in coffee cultivation, planted Catimor on plots at relatively low altitudes, and used rather rough processing methods, so the coffee produced was mediocre in quality and was mostly purchased for commercial instant coffee. With the spread of domestic specialty coffee culture, more and more coffee professionals and researchers have devoted themselves to the cultivation stage in Yunnan production areas, continuously improving coffee quality in aspects ranging from pest and disease control, shade tree management, soil and water conservation, and selection of planting altitude to fresh fruit picking and processing methods. Today, Yunnan Catimor coffee produced with professional methods can likewise display satisfying aroma and cleanliness.

When Front Street launched its Yunnan coffee everyday-drinking beans, after repeated cupping comparisons it finally selected washed Catimor from the Baoshan production area as the representative of Yunnan coffee, released in a 100-gram small package to make it convenient for everyone to taste the "flavor of Yunnan." The barista perceived a relatively balanced mouthfeel from this Front Street Yunnan small-bean, with nutty notes and a little plum-like fruitiness, as well as a sweetness similar to brown sugar, with an overall calm performance.

Most Yunnan coffee farmers work under relatively harsh production conditions and do not have expensive processing equipment, so Yunnan coffee beans generally adopt natural processing methods, namely washed and natural. Front Street chose washed Yunnan small-bean because washed beans have better cleanliness and can express the production area's basic flavor profile, which is also a natural processing method Front Street particularly favors. In addition, Yunnan is rich in freshwater resources, and the harvest season easily encounters rainfall, so it is inconvenient to adopt natural processing on a large scale.

If you prefer Yunnan coffee in the natural style, Front Street also has a Yunnan small-bean coffee from the Lincang production area in Yunnan—Front Street 2013, which belongs to the elegant-flavored Typica variety and uses the natural processing method. Lincang, Yunnan, is influenced by warm, humid air currents from the Indian Ocean and the southwest monsoon; the boundaries between the four seasons are not distinct, but the dry and wet seasons are clear, rainfall is abundant, sunshine duration is relatively long, and the frost period is short. In some areas there is no frost all year round, and the three-dimensional climate characteristics are prominent, making it very suitable for Arabica coffee cultivation. Front Street deliberately chose the most original Typica; Typica has rich and varied flavors, presenting various fruit acidity and delicate mouthfeel, and is recognized as a high-quality variety. The famous Blue Mountain coffee and Hawaiian Kona coffee both belong to Typica.

Around November each year, the coffee cherries grown by Front Street gradually mature. Front Street arranges for workers to pick the red coffee cherries one by one and spreads the fresh fruit under the sun to dry naturally, turning it from time to time so it dehydrates evenly and avoids negative flavors from excessive fermentation. Once the coffee beans have dehydrated to a purplish-red color and reached the target moisture content, they are sent for hulling and roasting. The natural Typica presents fuller fermented flavors, with prominent sweetness and aromas of caramel, berries, and black tea.

Some friends do not know how to extract Front Street Yunnan small-bean coffee beans after purchasing the roasted beans. First, Front Street believes that the freshness of coffee beans is crucial, because roasted coffee beans have an optimal flavor period, and once the peak aroma has passed, it is very difficult to extract the flavor. The beans shipped by Front Street are all freshly roasted within 5 days, precisely in the hope that everyone can enjoy the most complete flavor period.

Front Street's pour-over parameters:

Dripper: hario v60

Dose: 15g

Water temperature: 90°C

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

Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15

Three-stage pouring: wet the coffee bed with twice the coffee grounds' weight in water to form a dome and bloom for 30s, then pour in a thin stream in circles from the inside outward until 125g, pause, wait until the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, continue pouring the third stage with the same thin stream until 225g, and once all the coffee liquid has filtered through, remove the dripper. The time is about 2 minutes.

Front Street Yunnan small-bean everyday coffee flavor: it smells very nutty; on the palate there are herbal notes, chocolate, and caramel, with a faint fruity acidity in the finish; the overall mouthfeel is balanced, with good cleanliness.

Front Street 2013 natural Typica coffee flavor: the dry grounds present aromas of caramel, nuts, and citrus; when hot, there are chocolate, fermented notes, and berries; as the temperature drops, plum-like acidity appears, with a sweet finish of black tea and sugarcane. Medium-high body, clear mouthfeel, and rich, varied layers.

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