This is our second coffee from China, and a very close replacement to the Banka that we just ran out of, this lot is also a Catimor from the Banka washing station in Yunnan. As the climate changes, Asian coffees and China in particular will likely play a key role in specialty coffee's future. Here's a beautiful chocolate/cherry one to kick us off.
We sourced this coffee with new friends at Indochina, who are a small importing company focused on Asian coffees. They have a great reputation in the industry, and we're looking forward to growing the relationship together!
The coffee comes from the Banka farm and nearby villages. Banka was developed by Mr. Hu, a Yunnan native who has been producing coffee in this county, Menglian, for almost 20 years. He was one of the first farmers to engage in large scale coffee production in the area, and he employs hundreds of harvesters from various ethnic groups across his farms each year.
In 2018, Yunnan Coffee Traders took over the Banka wet mill and a portion of the Banka farm, about 100 hectares of land, installing one of the region’s first optical sorters, experimenting with processing methods such as yeast fermentation and trialing new varieties such as Pacamara and Yellow Bourbon. This Catimor variety is hand harvested, put through an optical sorter to select only the ripest cherries, fermented in a tank for about two days, then dried on raised beds.
YCT has three important goals: To create opportunities for Yunnan farmers to engage in sustainable production practices; to use industry best-practices for sourcing, processing, wholesaling, and exporting coffees; and to supply coffee to importers and roasters who care about sustainability, traceability, and transparency. We got this coffee from the importer Indochina, which works closely with YCT.
Elevation: 1350
Varietal: Catimor
Cup score: 84.5
Price paid per kg: £10.80
Process: Optical colour sorted, naturally processed, patio dried
