Kaku - Yunnan - China

Farrer’s not only have a long coffee heritage, but their small, dedicated team have the drive and vision to bring you the very best ethically sourced coffees from around the globe.

The next coffee in the Farrer’s subscription range is a new and intoxicating blend from the Chinese province of Yunnan.

Chinese coffee started appearing in the international coffee market fairly recently and is gaining interest from all over the world. Which is why we are really excited to announce our first ever Chinese coffee here at Farrer’s, it's a delicious one and one we highly recommend you try…

French missionaries first introduced coffee to the country over 200 years ago, cultivating the crop on a very small scale in the Yunnan valley on the Chinese border with Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. However, it would take another 100 years for larger scale cultivation to establish due to various UN and Chinese government schemes to kick in.

Today more than 23,000 hectares of coffee is being grown in China, with over 90% of the coffee harvest being cultivated in Yunnan, where the geography and climatic conditions are similar to Colombia and Indonesia.

 (Image by @fantiga on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/tcADrabUFAc)

Previously much of China's coffee harvest came from Bourbon and Typica varietals planted in the late 1950’s. However today roughly 70% of China's coffee comes from a newer coffee plant hybrid varietal known as Catimor, which is considerably more resistant to disease.

Although there is still some in the coffee industry who are hesitant to accept the Catimor variety due to its creation in a lab, it is gaining ground in the market as many are becoming more accepting of hybrid verities.

 

Kaku, where the coffee is produced is located in Paliang, the largest coffee producing area in Yunnan.  The family run farm and washing station located in Kaku is run by Mr Li, processing coffee grown on the farm at around 1600 metres and surrounded by villages and smallholders. 

 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!

Kaku is a delicate washed process coffee, delivering flavours of crisp apples, lime, apricot and vanilla.

Farm: Kaku

Country: China  

Region: Yunnan  

Varietal: Catimor

Process: Washed

Profile: Granny Smith Apples / Lime / Apricot/ Milk Chocolate / Vanilla

Cup Score: 84.5