Yemen Coffee Characteristics, Flavor, Taste, and Cultivation: Understanding Why Yemen Coffee is Expensive

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The Rarity and Character of Yemen Coffee

True Yemen coffee is quite uncommon. Farmers harvest the cherries by hand after they ripen on the trees, then dry them on the roofs of stone houses built along the mountainsides. The processes of pulp removal and hulling rely entirely on simple stone grinding equipment. Due to inconvenient transportation, coffee typically changes hands several times during transit, mixing beans of varying sizes, ages, and qualities. Additionally, there are many defects and improper processing. By modern cupping standards, Yemen coffee struggles to reach specialty grade levels. However, high-quality Yemen coffee possesses unique flavors: complex Middle Eastern spices, cured meat, ripe fruits, wine-like notes, and cocoa, with a rich body and strong sweet aftertaste. Like durian and stinky tofu, people tend to love it or hate it—there's no middle ground.

The Historical Significance of Mocha

Mocha originally referred to beans exported from the port of Mocha in Arabia, located within Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. Today, pure and rare Yemen Mocha is extremely uncommon. Authentic Mocha is rare, expensive, and features rich, mellow flavors.

This term was once synonymous with coffee itself.

And as rarity dictates value, the prices are quite remarkable!

The Evolution of Coffee Culture

Back when specialty coffee culture wasn't as widespread as it is today, the varieties you could find in coffee shops were few and far between.

Mocha, Colombia, Santos, Kilimanjaro, Mandheling, Blue Mountain—roughly these few varieties, plus one special iced coffee blend and one house blend hot coffee, and that was considered a complete inventory for a coffee shop.

But now, if you walk into a shop that only displays these aforementioned beans, you'd undoubtedly conclude that this place just happens to sell coffee—it's not professional enough! Right?

Yemen Mocha: The Historical Gateway to Europe

Although botanical research traces coffee's origins to Ethiopia, from a cultural perspective, the event that introduced coffee as a beverage to the European world occurred in Yemen, Arabia.

From that time onward, for a period, mentioning coffee was equivalent to mentioning Yemen, which was equivalent to mentioning Mocha.

Mocha was a commercial port. Just as Brazilian coffee was exported through the port of Santos, leading to Santos being used to refer to Brazilian coffee, the coffee-exporting port of Mocha also became the general name for Yemen coffee.

Unique Growing Conditions

Yemen is completely different from other coffee-producing countries. Lacking water, with an arid climate and poor soil, these conditions forced the coffee varieties that survived in Yemen to differ from the meticulously cultivated varieties of other major coffee-producing nations.

Compared to Arabian Yemen, the climate of Central and South America is like a fully-equipped greenhouse.

These unfavorable factors have caused Yemen's coffee industry to gradually decline.

However, it is precisely these factors that give Yemen coffee its untamable, wild primitive character.

Yemen Coffee in the Modern Market

Even though Yemen's coffee industry has declined, the specialty coffee market still features this bean today.

Yemen coffee varieties are complex, so they are generally named by their origin, such as Mattari, Sanani, Ismaeili, Hirazi, etc.

The formal name is prefixed with "Yemen Mocha," for example, YEMEN MOCHA MATTARI.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

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