DRIVE ALONE - China

Highlights

“Yunlan Estate sits at Plot Patuya in the Xishuangbanna region of Yunnan, growing coffee inside a rainforest ecosystem where sugar development in the cherry runs as high as 25% Brix. Founder Zhang Hongjun rebuilt the estate into an award-winning specialty producer after a fire destroyed the original operation, and the work shows in how the fruit is handled: every cherry is picked by hand at full ripeness and processed the same day with a refined K72 washed method - 72 hours of controlled fermentation before washing and drying. Dark Arts roasts it as a bright, lifted filter coffee. The cup opens on lemonade-like acidity, then settles into a digestive-biscuit malt sweetness with a warm spice finish, backed by the white flower and cane sugar the producer describes. Varietal: hybrid Caturra. Altitude: 1,600-1,800 m.a.s.l. 250 g retail box at GBP 15.05.”