Yunnan Coffee Dictionary: The Terminologies
Photography: Shawn Cao
In this blog, you will find the most frequently used terms regarding Yunnan coffee and Yunnan coffee beans. Due to the low recognition and the language barrier, it can be sometimes challenging to understand Yunnan coffee from its description. Use this article as an A-Z index for your Yunnan coffee exploration and feel free to let us know if there is anything else that you find important but missing from the list.
Baoshan: A coffee-producing region in western Yunnan. Baoshan is one of the world's largest arabica coffee growing areas, of which the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas account for about 92%. It is well-connected to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The main cultivating varietals are Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra. Disambiguation: Yunnan Baoshan is not the Baoshan District of Shanghai city.
Dali: The ancient capital city of Yunnan. Dali doesn’t produce coffee itself but exists as a critical cultural symbol of Yunnan’s culture and people. Some of Yunnan’s best roasteries are based in Dali.
Dehong: A coffee-producing region in the westernmost of Yunnan. Dehong is surrounded by Myanmar to the north, west and south. Its coffee cultivation has a history of hundreds of years, and it once set the highest yield record per production unit area. The planting area and the output account for about one-third of the province's total.
DeRe Varietals: Refer to the experimental varietals cultivated and developed within Yunnan Dehong Institute of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. Key outcomes of steady varietals include Yunnan Sarchimor and Purple-Leave Caturra.
Pu’er: Also known as Simao in older terminology. A coffee-producing region in southern Yunnan near Xishuangbanna, with the largest scale of plantations and the highest volume of green bean production in Yunnan mainly supplying the commodity coffee production in China. Famous for its domestic and international green bean trading impact and traffic. Also famous for tea growing and production.
Lancang: This coffee-producing region administratively belongs to Pu’er. Lancang is comparatively new in coffee cultivation and mainly supplies Chinese domestic commodity coffee production with the Catimor varietal.
Lincang: A coffee-producing region in western Yunnan near Baoshan. Lincang’s coffee growing area ranks second in Yunnan, mainly planting Catimor, Typica, and Caturra varietals.
Mu: Mu (亩) is an area measurement unit used in the Far East, particularly in China, where it is officially standardised. It corresponds to 1/15 of a hectare, or about 666.67 m2.
New varietal: Normally refers to the Catimor varietal introduced into Yunnan between the 1980s and 1990s.
Nujiang: A coffee-producing region in north-western Yunnan.
Old varietal: This term normally refers to the oldest Typica and Bourbon varietals cultivated in Yunnan since the early 1900s. The old varietal has existed since the pre-modernisation and industrialisation of the Chinese coffee scene.
Purple-leave Caturra: See DeRe varietals.
Simao: Refer to Pu’er. Not in use anymore on formal occasions.
Small-bean coffee: Normally refers to all Arabica varietals cultivated in Yunnan.
Wenshan: A coffee-producing region in south-eastern Yunnan, geographically very close to Vietnam. Disambiguation: Yunnan Wenshan is not the Wenshan District of Taipei City.
Xishuangbanna: A coffee-producing region in southwestern Yunnan near Pu’er. Xishuangbanna is a relatively niche due to its low yield. However, some of Yunnan’s best coffee processing stations and estates are located in Xishuangbanna.
Yunnan Catimor: Refer to the massively cultivated Catimor varietal grown in Yunnan, which was first introduced by Nestle China.
Yunnan Gesha/Geisha: Refer to the Gesha/Geisha varietal grown in Yunnan, initially imported from Panama for experimentation. The overall quality of Yunnan Gesha has been improving over the past decade and has been spoken very highly by local roasteries and coffee professionals.
Yunnan Sarchimor: See DeRe varietals.
/Author: Shai
