Premium Yemen Coffee Origins: Flavor Characteristics of Yemen's Most Expensive Mocha Coffee Beans

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Although the specialty coffee wave represents a revival of "craftsmanship over machinery," the market still dominates supply and demand. Downstream businesses use different brewing methods to express various coffee styles, while upstream farmers develop distinctive processing methods in response to market trends. However, there is one country in the world that has been producing coffee using the most primitive methods since the 6th century: Yemen.

Yemen: The Ancient Birthplace of Coffee

Yemen is located in Western Asia, just a step away from the African continent. If Islamic clerics had not promoted coffee on the Arabian Peninsula, coffee might still be a wild plant in Ethiopia today. According to legend, coffee was introduced during the 6th century when Ethiopia ruled the region and was named Qahwa, meaning wine in Arabic. Later, the Ottoman Empire invaded in 1536 and controlled the coffee trade. To protect export revenue, authorities strictly prohibited the export of raw beans, requiring seeds to be boiled in water before leaving the country.

One of the World's Most Arid Countries

Yemen is one of the most arid countries in the world. Economically, the country currently relies on oil exports for three-quarters of its income, but the World Bank predicts that its reserves will be depleted around 2017. This once self-sufficient agricultural nation now depends on imports for 80% of its agricultural products. Reasons include population growth and water shortages caused by local farmers over-cultivating Qat (also known as khat or Arabian tea), a crop with history as long as coffee.

Qat is a common social drug among residents of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemenis like to entertain guests at home, chewing Qat while chatting with friends. It contains cathinone, a stimulant with effects similar to mild amphetamines that refreshes the mind. However, after the effects wear off, users feel depressed. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has not classified it as a drug, many Western countries have banned its import.

On the other hand, Yemen has long been plagued by drought. Its major cities rely on groundwater sources, with agriculture consuming 90% of drinking water, and Qat cultivation alone consumes significant water resources. Authorities predict that underground water reserves in the capital Sana'a will be depleted by 2017. Most Yemeni cities are built on high mountains, with residents relying on government or private wells for survival. The country has between 40,000 to 70,000 wells, some reaching 600 meters underground. Additionally, pumping water uphill is costly, with the government spending up to $7 billion annually on drilling and pumping. Therefore, in recent years, local authorities have decided to ban Qat, which wastes water and cannot satisfy hunger, replacing it with other crops. Coinciding with the rise of specialty coffee enthusiasm, the Yemeni government is now actively encouraging farmers to switch to coffee, which consumes half as much water as Qat.

Using the Most Primitive Production Methods

True Yemeni coffee is quite rare. Farmers harvest the fruits by hand when they ripen on the trees and dry them on the rooftops of stone houses built along mountains. The processes of pulp removal and hulling rely entirely on simple stone grinding equipment. Due to inconvenient transportation, coffee typically changes hands several times, mixing beans of varying sizes, qualities, and ages. Combined with numerous defects and improper processing, Yemeni coffee hardly reaches specialty grade by modern cupping standards. However, high-quality Yemeni coffee has unique flavors: complex Middle Eastern spices, cured meat, ripe fruits, wine notes, cocoa, with a rich body and strong sweet aftertaste. Like durian and stinky tofu, it polarizes lovers and haters.

High-Quality Yemeni Coffee's Unique Taste

In terms of growing regions, Mattari, west of the capital, is known for its heavy body and cocoa notes. Harazi has higher acidity and a lighter body. Other regions include Dhamari (also known as Anisi), Ibb, and Sana'a, named after the capital. However, Sana'a is not actually a growing region but a brand name used by intermediaries to mix and export coffee collected from nearby villages, similar to how Yemeni coffee historically used the port name Mocha.

Unlike the washed processing used in most coffee-growing regions worldwide, Yemeni coffee is entirely naturally processed and sun-dried. The hulling process using stone mills (grinding between two stones) creates broken beans, resulting in uneven 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 fascinating complex aromas: "red wine fragrance, wild flavor, dried fruit notes, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, and even chocolate..." You can see various adjectives used to describe Yemeni Mocha!

Because they are dried with the pulp intact, coffee berry flavors have the opportunity to "infuse" into the beans. When coffee fruits fall on the dry soil of the African highlands, they also absorb surrounding organic matter flavors, plus the "solar taste" imparted by the fierce Arabian Peninsula winter sun (you can smell similar aromas on sun-dried quilts), natural fermented ripe fruit flavors from the pulp, slight earthy notes... The 300,000 coffee farms spread across elevations from 3,000 to 8,000 feet, combined with ancient, 100% organic processing methods, create the world's unique Yemeni Mocha.

Among common Yemeni 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 aromas, dried fruit flavors, rich body, and often displaying chocolate-caramel sweetness when dark roasted.

Due to Yemen's political instability and sharply reduced production in recent years, the most famous Mokha Mattari has become a target for adulteration, with frequent reports of mixing with lower-grade inferior beans. Today, even beans labeled as Mattari are not guaranteed to be high-quality. Good quality Mattari beans are small in size, with raw beans having a fragrant sweet wine aroma and moderate ripe fruit fermentation. Excellent Mattari performance will never disappoint coffee connoisseurs!

A coffee expert once said: "Yemeni Mocha flavors are so diverse that not only do different origins, tree varieties, and batches differ, but even each sack, and even each cup has different flavors." Because of its complexity and variability, for coffee roasters, how to roast Yemeni Mocha to bring out its best flavors is a great challenge! Light-medium roasting reveals fruity sweet aromas, gentle, warm sun-dried fermentation notes; dark roasting display rich red wine aromas, bittersweet chocolate aftertaste, making people savor it repeatedly, "with lingering aftertaste that lasts for days." This explains why so many enthusiastic coffee lovers list Yemeni Mocha as their favorite!

Confusing Nomenclature

Yemeni coffee naming conventions still lack universal standards, and there is no 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). In the commercial market, Yemeni Mocha typically adopts one of the following two naming methods: "origin name" or "variety name."

Mokha Mattari and Mokha San'ani use "origin naming," indicating production from Bani Matar province and the hillside areas near the capital San'a respectively; Mokha Ismaili uses "variety name naming," with its production located in Hirazi, southwest of Bani Matar.

Mokha Mattari: The most renowned coffee market name from Mattari in Bani Mattar (another spelling is Bany Mattar) province, west of Yemen's capital Sana'a. It's high-altitude coffee, typically featuring excellent red wine aromas, dried fruit flavors, rich body, and often displaying bittersweet chocolate notes when dark roasted. Good quality Mattari beans are small, with raw beans having a fragrant sweet wine aroma and moderate ripe fruit fermentation. Always emerges as a winner due to its more pronounced Yemeni style.

Mokha San'ani: A broad market name for coffee from several growing areas west of Yemen's capital Sana'a. It's a blend from tens of thousands of small farms on the hillsides near the capital San'a (left photo: Yemen's capital Sana'a). Grown at slightly lower altitudes than Mattari, generally with a lighter body and lower acidity, but with good fruit aromas, often having better ripe fruit and wild flavors than Mattari. Based on my experience, San'ani quality has varied greatly in recent years, with occasional inferior products featuring flat flavors, earthy notes, and excessive fermentation. Careful cupping and selection is essential work for coffee merchants—absolutely no cutting corners.

Mokha Ismaili: One of the traditional ancient varieties, a market name for famous coffee from central Yemen, also described as a traditional Yemeni coffee plant classification with higher beverage quality. Grown at very high altitudes, above 6,500 feet, characterized by rounder bean shapes, smaller than Mattari, rich body, high complexity, and often outperforming Mattari. This is the least produced and most expensive Yemeni Mocha (Yemeni Mocha is already not cheap). Excellent quality Mokha Ismaili comes from the high mountain slopes of the Hirazi region (though not as famous as Bani Matar, it's the region with the best local reputation in Yemen), with Hirazi region's highest altitudes reaching 8,000 feet!

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

Mokha Yafeh: Produced in Yemen's southern Yafeh (also known as Yaffe) province, belongs to uncommon Yemeni Mocha, is Yemen's only "southern flavor," with limited production, almost entirely exported to neighboring United Arab Emirates, rarely seen in the international specialty coffee market.

Arabian Mocha: A single-origin coffee from the mountainous regions of Yemen on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula bordering the Red Sea. The world's best cultivated coffee, famous for its high viscosity and special rich wine-like acidity.

Yemeni Mocha achieves different schools based on different growing areas, just like the chocolate and acidity of MATTARI Mocha, and the wildness and fragrance of SANANI Mocha.

Yemeni Coffee Characteristics:

Despite Yemeni coffee's superior quality, smoothness, and aroma, there are unsatisfactory aspects—quality cannot be consistently guaranteed.

The grading of its coffee beans is also uncertain. Traditionally, Yemen's best coffee beans come from Mattari, followed by Sharki, then Sanani. These coffee beans have low caffeine content. Dark roasted Yemeni coffee often reveals chocolate-like bittersweet notes.

This also influences today's chocolate-flavored specialty coffees, which are also labeled with the term "Mocha."

Yemeni coffee possesses the world's most unique, rich, and fascinating complex aromas: red wine fragrance, wild flavor, dried fruit notes, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, and even chocolate. You can see various adjectives used to describe Yemeni Mocha.

Just as Mocha has many meanings, its English spelling also varies: Moka, Moca, and Mocca are all common spellings. On Yemeni coffee sacks and documents, local spellings include four variations: "Mokha," "Makha," "Morkha," and "Mukha"—all representing the same meaning.

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