How to Drink Yemen Mocha Coffee, the Living Fossil of the Coffee World, and Which Brand of Yemen Mocha Drip Coffee is Best

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The Most Unique, Rich, and Fascinatingly Complex Aromas in the World

"Red wine fragrance, wild flavors, dried fruit notes, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, and even chocolate flavors..." You can see all sorts of adjectives being used to describe Yemen Mocha coffee.

The Homeland of "Mocha" - Yemen

When it comes to Yemeni coffee, "Mocha" must be mentioned. Everyone has heard of "Mocha coffee," but what exactly is "Mocha"?

There are many answers to this question. Some say Mocha is a specific origin, while in some people's impressions, Mocha is a sweet chocolate-flavored coffee. In fact, authentic "Mocha coffee" is only produced in the Republic of Yemen, located in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula, and grown on steep mountain slopes at altitudes ranging from three to eight thousand feet. It is also the world's most ancient coffee.

As early as five hundred years ago, Yemen (also transliterated as "Yemen") was already producing coffee using ancient methods. In the early 17th century, the first batch of Yemeni coffee sold to Europe was exported through the ancient small port of Mocha, astonishing Europeans. They called the delicious coffee shipped from Mocha port "Mocha coffee," which is the origin of the term "Mocha coffee."

Ethiopia, the neighboring country across the Red Sea, also exported coffee through Mocha port. Therefore, Ethiopian natural-processed coffee is often called Mocha as well (such as Mocha Harrar). Today, the old port of Mocha has long been abandoned due to silt accumulation (now known as Al Makha), and exports are handled by the northwestern port of Hodeida. However, people have long been accustomed to the name Mocha, and its fame resonates worldwide.

Deep-roasted Yemeni coffee often exhibits chocolate-like bitter-sweet notes, influencing today's flavored coffees with chocolate sauce to also be labeled as "Mocha." Therefore, when you see the words "Mocha coffee," it could refer to pure Yemeni coffee, neighboring Ethiopian coffee, or simply mean "flavored coffee with chocolate sauce." Regardless, for discerning coffee connoisseurs, only genuine Yemeni coffee qualifies to be called "Mocha coffee."

The term "Mocha" has various spellings: Moka, Moca, and Mocca are all common variations. On Yemeni coffee sacks and documents, I've seen as many as four local spellings: "Mokha," "Makha," "Morkha," and "Mukha," all representing the same meaning.

The Pioneer of World Coffee Trade

Yemen Mocha is the pioneer of world coffee trade, making an indelible contribution to spreading delicious coffee worldwide. In the 17th century, Yemen Mocha, known as "Arabia Coffee" (this is also the origin of the later "Arabica" species name!), crossed oceans to reach Italy and other European Catholic countries. For more than 150 years thereafter, Yemeni coffee remained the only coffee origin exported to Europe.

In ancient times, in conservative Catholic countries, extraordinarily wonderful things were often considered evil, once burdening coffee with inexplicable sin. It wasn't until the Vatican Pope, who also loved coffee, declared coffee as a Catholic beverage and blessed those who drank it that coffee began to spread widely throughout Europe. Although Ethiopia was the first country to discover coffee, it was Yemen that truly made coffee flourish.

The Only Living Relic in the Coffee World

To this day, Yemeni coffee farmers still use the same methods from five hundred years ago to produce coffee. Coffee cherries grow naturally on trees without any artificial fertilizers or pesticides. In summer, they receive moisture from the sparse mountain rains and mists, flowering and fruiting. During the dry winter, mature coffee cherries are allowed to hang on trees to air-dry naturally—this is a very unique and rare practice because only the extremely dry climate and intense sun of Arabia permit this approach. In other coffee-producing regions, the same method could cause coffee cherries to rot on the trees.

Ripe or dried coffee cherries naturally fall from trees, are shaken down, or are picked. Coffee farmers, who constitute nearly a quarter of Yemen's total population, spread the pulped cherries to dry on their rooftops, in front of their homes in low sheds, or even directly on the soil, exposed to the fierce dry winter sun. After the fruit skin and pulp dry, old-fashioned stone mills (two overlapping stones) are used to grind away the dry hard shells and pulp, and the coffee beans are processed!

To this day, a few Yemeni coffee farms still use animals (such as camels, donkeys) as power sources for stone mills. Compared to Central and South American countries that use advanced mechanical equipment to process large quantities of coffee beans, or even neighboring Kenya with its relatively short coffee history, Yemen Mocha is practically the only living relic in the coffee world! Did you know? The Yemeni coffee you drink today is basically not much different from the "Arabia Coffee" that European noble merchants enjoyed hundreds of years ago in Europe's oldest cafés in St. Mark's Square, Venice, Italy.

Fascinating and Unique

Unlike the washed processing methods used in most coffee-growing regions worldwide, Yemeni coffee is entirely naturally processed. The dehulling process using stone mills (grinding with two stones) creates broken beans mixed in, resulting in irregular appearance. Raw beans are often mixed with small branches, small stones, and even dried insects (which are screened out during roasting). It also possesses the world's most unique, rich, and fascinatingly complex aromas: "Red wine fragrance, wild flavors, dried fruit notes, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, and even chocolate flavors..." You can see all sorts of adjectives being used to describe Yemen Mocha!

Because they are dried with the pulp intact, the coffee cherry flavors have an opportunity to "infuse" into the coffee beans. When coffee fruits fall on the dry soil of the African highlands, they also absorb flavors from surrounding organic matter. Combined with the "sun-kissed flavor" imparted by the intense Arabian winter sun (you can smell similar aromas on sun-dried quilts), the natural fermentation flavors of ripe fruit pulp, and some earthy notes... the 300,000 coffee farms spread across altitudes from 3,000 to 8,000 feet, along with ancient, 100% organic processing methods, create the world's unique Yemen Mocha.

Various Flavors and Different Characteristics

Among common Yemen Mochas, Mokha Mattari is the most renowned. Produced in the Bani Matar (also known as Bany Mattar) province, Mattari is high-altitude coffee, typically featuring excellent red wine aroma, dried fruit flavors, full body, and often exhibits chocolate-like bitter-sweet notes when dark roasted.

Due to Yemen's unstable political situation in recent years and sharply reduced production, the most famous Mokha Mattari in the coffee world has become a target for adulteration, with cases of mixing with lower-grade inferior beans being heard. Today, even when labeled as Mattari, it's no guarantee of high quality. Good quality Mattari beans are small in size, with raw beans having a noticeable sweet wine aroma and moderate ripe fruit fermentation notes. Excellent Mattari performance will never disappoint coffee connoisseurs!

Mokha San'ani is a blend from tens of thousands of small farms on mountain slopes near the capital San'a (Figure 2). Grown at slightly lower altitudes than Mattari, it generally has a lighter body than Mattari, lower acidity, but good fruit aroma, often having better ripe fruit and wild flavors than Mattari. Based on experience, San'ani quality varies greatly, with occasionally flat-flavored, earthy, or overly fermented inferior products. Careful cupping and selection is essential work for coffee importers—absolutely no cutting corners.

Mokha Ismaili is one of the traditional ancient varieties, grown at very high altitudes above 6,500 feet. Its characteristic feature is more rounded beans, smaller than Mattari, with full body and high complexity. Generally, it often surpasses Mattari in performance. This is the lowest-production, most expensive Yemen Mocha (Yemen Mocha is already not cheap to begin with). High-quality Mokha Ismaili is produced in the Hirazi region (though not as famous as Bani Matar, it's the region with the best local reputation in Yemen) on high mountain slopes, with Hirazi region's highest altitude reaching 8,000 feet!

Mokha Rimi is produced in the Djebel Remi (also known as Raimi, Rayma) region, with quality similar to San'ani. In my experience, Mokha Rimi usually has slightly heavier fermentation notes, occasionally exhibiting surprisingly rich raisin sweetness. When properly roasted, the coffee beans smell like opening a jar of rich fruit jam.

Mokha Yafeh is produced in Yemen's southern Yafeh (also known as Yaffe) province, belonging to uncommon Yemen Mocha varieties. It is Yemen's only "southern flavor," with limited production that is almost entirely exported to neighboring United Arab Emirates, rarely seen in the specialty coffee market.

One coffee expert once said: "Yemen Mocha flavors are so diverse that it's not just different origins, different varieties, or different batches that vary—every bag, even every cup has a different flavor." Because of its complexity and variability, for coffee roasters, how to bring out the best flavors of Yemen Mocha is a major challenge! Light to medium roasts reveal fruity sweetness, mild, warm natural fermentation notes; dark roasts display rich red wine aromas, bittersweet chocolate aftertaste, all worthy of repeated savoring, "lingering aftertaste that lasts for days." This explains why so many enthusiastic coffee connoisseurs list Yemen Mocha as their favorite!

Confusing Nomenclature

Yemeni coffee naming methods still have no universal standards today, nor any official grading system. Local residents have their own classification system with hundreds of coffee codes and names for internal classification purposes, but these are not applicable to the commercial market (for export purposes). In the commercial market, Yemen Mocha typically adopts one of the following two naming methods: "origin name" or "variety name."

Take several Yemen Mochas that have been sold as examples: Yemen Mokha Mattari and Yemen Mokha San'ani use the "origin naming method," indicating production from Bani Matar province and mountain slopes near the capital San'a respectively; Yemen Mokha Ismaili uses the "variety name naming method," with its production location being Hirazi, southwest of Bani Matar.

It's worth noting that Ismaili is both an ancient Yemeni variety name and a geographical name, often causing confusion. To know whether the Mokha Ismaili you purchased refers to the variety or the geographical name, the only way is to ask your supplier clearly. We typically label it this way: Yemen Mokha Ismaili (Hirazi), indicating the origin in parentheses for clarity.

Brewing Analysis

The condition of the coffee bed in pour-over brewing cannot be overlooked—this must be emphasized! The coffee bed plays a subtle role, one of its functions is to provide resistance, allowing hot water to remain in the filter cup long enough to ensure sufficient flavor extraction. Medium-roasted coffee beds must also have certain supporting strength to perform the "blocking" function. To prevent weakening the coffee bed's supporting strength, one must master the "water column intensity," "pouring position," and "stable circular pouring technique"—this constitutes a complete "pouring technique."

1. Filter cup: V60
2. Water temperature: 88°C
3. Grind size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 4
4. Roast level: Medium roast
5. Bloom time: 25 seconds

Flavor: Balanced, chocolate, persistent caramel sweetness in the aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee's recommended method: 15g coffee, Fuji Royal grinder setting 4, V60 filter cup, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g water for 25s bloom, then pour to 104g and pause. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before continuing to pour slowly until reaching 220g. Don't use the last 5g. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time around 2:00 (counting from completion of bloom pour).

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