Banka Natural Coffee, Yunnan, China
Origin: China
Process: Natural
Producers: Yunnan Coffee Traders, Banka Washing Station
Grown: Yunnan
Altitude: 1350 metres
Varietals: Catimor
Cupping Score: 85
Tasting Notes:
This lot is full of the flavours of milk chocolate sweetness, a full rounded body with hints of soft red fruits, including strawberry and subtle floral notes, including jasmine.
Brew Guide:
V60 and AeroPress
AeroPress
Steep
Fine to medium grind
15g to 240ml water
91-96 ℃
2-3 minutes
2 minutes
Espresso
Pressure
Find Grind
7-10g to 30-60ml water
91-96 ℃
20-30 seconds
French Press
Steep
Coarse grind
35g to 500ml water
91-96 ℃
3-5 minutes
Roast Info:
Light to medium
Farm Info:
Banka farm and washing station is based in Menglian Dai, Lahu and Va Autonomous County, Yunnan and is named after the two nearby villages, Banka Yi and Banka Er, where coffee is grown and harvested, for the lot, as well as in nearby Aqi Badu and on the farm itself.
Banka farm covers approximately 100 hectares in Yunnan prvince. The farm installed one of the region’s first optical sorters, and has been experimenting with processing methods including yeast fermentation and has also been actively involved in cultivating new varieties including Pacamara and Yellow Bourbon.
Yunnan Coffee Traders who operate Banka Farm started in 2016, are pioneers when it comes to growing specialty coffee in Yunnan, operating farming, milling, research and training facilities across the province.
Processing Info:
During processing, the cherries are run through an optical cherry colour sorter. The cherries are then placed in water and floaters are removed. Next, the cherries are bagged for 48 hours before they are dried. During the drying process, the cherries are then placed in solar dryers on raised beds for roughly 20 days, and are turned 6 times every day.
Solar dryers are simple structure s that allow the collection of solar energy and air to continuously flow around the coffee, which enables fast drying by effectively raising the micro-climate temperatures within the structure and therefore very effectively lowering the moisture content of the processed coffee beans during storage and prevents development of microorganisms and the damage they can cause to the coffee. Once the cherries have been dried, they are bagged and taken to the dry milled in Pu’er city before being sold.
Coffee Country Info:
Coffee is fairly new crop for China, first grown by French missionaries some 200 years ago, who cultivated the crop on a small scale in the Yunnan valley, located on the Chinese border with Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos.
Larger scale cultivation didn’t begin until around 140 years later, when in 1988 various United Nations and Chinese government incentivised schemes kicked in, which saw production rapidly grow to around 4,000 hectares. Today more than 23,000 hectares of coffee is being grown in China, with over 90% of the coffee harvest, currently around 30,000 tonnes being cultivated in Yunnan, where the geography and climatic conditions are similar to Colombia and Indonesia.
In the past much of China's coffee harvest was made up of Bourbon and Typica varietals planted in the 1950’s. These days approximately 70% of all of China's coffee comes from a newer coffee plant hybrid called Catimor, which is highly disease resistant.
Catimor is controversial in specialist coffee circles because it was entirely created in a lab, in Portugal, in 1959, by scientists searching for the magic formula for high yielding coffee plants with high disease resistance and small plant size.
On one side of its family tree lies Caturra, the highly rated Bourbon natural mutation from Brazil, on the other side is the Timor Hybrid, a genetic misnomer, the result of a natural mating of a Robusta plant with an Arabica plant. This hint of Robusta has led to many snubbing the varietal, but they are really missing out!
