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Yemen Mocha Mattari

Basic Information

Country: Yemen

Region: Mattari

Altitude: 1,300~1,900m

Varietal: Typica, Bourbon

Process: Natural / Sundried

Introduction to Yemen Coffee Growing Regions

The Growing History of Yemen Coffee Beans

Yemen, famous for frankincense and spice trade, is the world's first origin of cultivated coffee Mocha. According to legend, this is also where Noah built the ark in biblical times.

Legend speaks of the Queen of Sheba, who 3,000 years ago led a large delegation with gold and spices to Jerusalem to meet King Solomon and bear his son. (It is rumored that this son became Ethiopia's first king)

Regardless, perhaps due to this ancient history, the people of this land are said to maintain strong self-respect and extreme independence. Yemen continues a lifestyle preserved from thousands of years ago, with many areas beyond the reach of central government authority.

Ethiopia, just across the sea from Yemen, also exported coffee via Mocha port, so Ethiopian natural-processed coffees are often called Mocha (such as Ethiopia Harra Mokka). Yemen Mocha is the originator of world coffee trade. Yemen's contribution to spreading delicious coffee worldwide cannot be overstated. It was called "Arabia Coffee," which later became the origin of the name "Arabica."

It is said that in the 17th century, Europeans first imported coffee and spread it worldwide from the world's largest coffee port—Mocha port.

Today's "Mocha Port" has not maintained its former prosperity and has become a historical port with only white sandy beaches remaining.

Despite this, it still "travels far and wide" under the name of Yemen Mocha coffee.

Although Ethiopia was the first country to discover coffee, Yemen was the first country in the world to cultivate coffee as a crop on a large scale. In the early 17th century, the first batch of Yemen coffee beans was exported to Europe via the ancient small port of Mocha, astonishing Europeans. Since all exported coffee bags had to be marked with MOCHA to prove they were transported from Mocha port, Europeans called the delicious coffee from Mocha port "Mocha coffee." This is why Mocha became synonymous with Yemen coffee in early times.

Mokhtar Alkhanshali

Thanks to the discovery of an Islamic scholar, Yemen coffee beans began spreading their fragrance worldwide from the 16th century, and for the following 150 years, Yemen became the world's sole coffee supplier.

However, with the large-scale cultivation of coffee worldwide later, Yemen coffee could not escape the so-called "development trend." Today, as Yemen coffee once again reaches the pinnacle of specialty coffee, one person must be mentioned—Mokhtar Alkhanshali.

A Yemeni-American, his "changed perspective" on coffee originated from a single-origin pour-over. From that moment, he entered the coffee industry, learned professional coffee knowledge, traveled to all major Yemeni growing regions, created the "Mattari model" suitable for Yemeni coffee cultivation and management, and continuously pursued near-perfect flavor standards.

Just when he thought he could finally share these rare flavors with the world, the Yemeni civil war broke out. The entire country was engulfed in flames of war, with all transportation blocked. Faced with sudden war and "accidents," and unwilling to let the flavors be destroyed, Mokhtar went through twists and turns, finally bringing the beans to the United States, where they ranked first in Coffee Review's annual top 30 list with a score of 97!

Yemen Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Ancient Natural Process Yemen Coffee Beans

Yemen is the classic of ancient natural processing and the world's only fully natural-processed coffee-producing country. The traditional water-free processing method has remained unchanged since the 17th century when Europeans became fascinated with wild-flavored Mocha. This is related to Yemen's extremely dry climate. Coffee is mainly grown in the central highlands, where annual rainfall is only 400-750mm, far below the optimal 1,500-2,000mm rainfall for Arabica.

Yemen coffee beans grow on steep slopes with little rainfall, poor soil, and insufficient sunlight. These unique, difficult, and unfavorable conditions for coffee growth have produced the irreplaceable Yemen Mocha in the coffee world. The main growing regions of Yemen coffee beans are Sanani, Mattari, and Ismaili.

The Mattari region is located in the highlands west of the capital, at altitudes of 2,000-2,400 meters, making it Yemen's highest-altitude growing region. However, it's the most remote with inconvenient transportation. Farmers often have to wait a period after harvesting before they can transport the beans out.

Due to the water-scarce environment, farmers have been unable to introduce more advanced washed processing methods. The wild flavor surpasses Harar coffee, making Yemen coffee beans the best choice for experiencing ancient flavors.

In Yemen's central highlands, with their rugged and dangerous terrain, small farmers mostly adopt a scattered planting method—several plants on steep slopes, dozens on terraces or cliffs—each with different soil conditions and microclimates, resulting in different aromatic components.

Yemen farmers' natural processing is rougher than Ethiopia's—drying directly on rooftops! This differs from the refined natural processing of Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, where red cherries are spread on "raised African beds," and is the main reason for Yemen coffee beans' particularly wild flavor.

Yemen's ancient natural processing method involves hand-harvesting fully ripe coffee beans, then placing freshly harvested beans directly on dedicated coffee drying grounds or their own compacted dirt front yards to sun-dry. During the drying period, which typically lasts about twenty days, wooden rakes are used to turn the beans to ensure even drying. After the coffee drying is complete, the outer pulp and skin are removed to extract the coffee beans.

Yemen coffee beans are rich, complex, wild, and full-bodied, with strong fermented flavors and low acidity. Additionally, Yemen coffee often contains an uncertain factor (the timing of seasonal rainfall) that makes it unpredictable. Calling it the world's most special coffee would be no exaggeration.

Refined Natural Processing

Mokhtar Alkhanshali also enhances the beans from Yemen's Mocha port with more refined natural processing, and the Yemen Mocha port beans speak through their flavors.

Yemen Coffee Bean Analysis

Green Bean Analysis

Mocha grades are divided into: Sanani

Coffee from the Mattari region has the following characteristics: appearance that is "unattractive," uneven size, and considerable color variation, looking like it's composed of small peas and empty defective beans.

Because the beans are very small, some call it small Mocha. Mocha is a flat bean, not a round bean—small but fragrant and rich.

Roasting Analysis

Yemen Mocha coffee beans belong to green beans with relatively low moisture content. Considering the uneven bean size and low moisture content, the dropping temperature should not be too high. Steep for 30 seconds, open the air damper to 3, until the green beans turn light green or white, then open the air damper to 4, and after first crack open to 5 (maximum).

FrontStreet Coffee suggests keeping detailed data records before roasting: coffee bean moisture content, density, origin, processing method, roasting room temperature and humidity, etc., to plan your roasting curve. Record relevant chemical and physical changes during the roasting process—this will help you better understand the final roasting results and improve your roasting curve.

Roaster: Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans loaded

Roasting Curve:

Charge at 170°C, air damper at 3. After 1 minute, reduce heat to 140°C, air damper unchanged. At 5'00", temperature reaches 147.2°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. Reduce heat to 110°C, air damper to 4.

At 8'00 minutes, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast smell clearly transforms into coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'23" first crack begins, reduce heat to 60°C, air damper fully open (reduce heat very carefully—don't reduce so much that cracking stops). Drop at 197.9°C.

Cupping Report:

Medium roast City (caramel aroma): Before grinding, the coffee beans have a peanut aroma. After grinding, there's a caramel fragrance. During slurping, complex layers reveal a slight grape acidity appearing at the end of the taste changes, with a long spicy aftertaste. It's mouthwatering, sweet, and rounded with a Middle Eastern milk tea feeling that persists for a long time. The cup bottom has malt sweetness. Medium-roasted Yemen Mocha continues to evolve. It's recommended to brew 7-14 days after roasting when the complex wild fermented flavors are at their best.

Yemen Coffee Bean Brewing Analysis

The coffee bed condition in pour-over brewing cannot be overlooked—this must be emphasized! The coffee bed plays a subtle role, one of which is providing resistance to allow hot water to stay in the filter cup long enough to ensure sufficient flavor extraction.

Medium-roast coffee beds must also have certain support strength to perform the "blocking" function. To prevent weakening the coffee bed's support strength, one must master [water column intensity], [pouring position], and [stable circular pouring technique]—this constitutes a complete [pouring technique].

Brewing Parameters:

1. Filter: V60

2. Water Temperature: 88°C

3. Grind Size: Fuji grinder setting 4

4. Roast Level: Medium roast

5. Bloom Time: 25 seconds

Flavor: Balanced, chocolate, persistent caramel sweetness in aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Technique: 15g coffee, Fuji grinder setting 4, V60 filter, 88-89°C water temperature. First pour 30g water for 25s bloom, then pour to 104g and stop. Wait until the coffee bed level drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until 220g. Avoid the last 5g. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time around 2:00 (counting from after bloom pour completion).

Yemen Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Yemen Mocha coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer excellent value—at only 85 yuan for a 227-gram bag. Calculating at 15g per cup, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 6 yuan. Compared to cafés selling cups for tens of yuan, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473