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Yemen Mocha Mattari

Basic Information

Country: Yemen

Region: Mattari

Altitude: 2000-2400m

Varietal: Typica, Bourbon

Process: Natural / Sundried

Introduction to Yemen Coffee Growing Regions

The Growing History of Yemen Coffee Beans

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

Legend speaks of the Queen of Sheba, who 3000 years ago led a large delegation bearing 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 because of this ancient history, the people of this land are said to hold strong self-respect and fierce independence. Yemen maintains a way of life 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 through the port of Mocha, so Ethiopian natural-processed coffees are often called Mocha as well (such as Ethiopia Harra Mokka). Yemen Mocha is the originator of the world coffee trade, and Yemen's contribution to spreading delicious coffee around the globe 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.

Today's Mocha Port has not kept its former prosperity; it has become a historical port with only white sandy beaches remaining.

Even so, 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 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 through the ancient small port of Mocha, astonishing Europeans. Since every exported bag had to be marked MOCHA to prove it had come from Mocha port, Europeans called the delicious coffee from there "Mocha coffee." That is how 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 was the world's sole coffee supplier.

As coffee came to be cultivated on a large scale elsewhere, however, 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 began with a single-origin pour-over. From that moment he entered the coffee industry, learned professional coffee knowledge, traveled to all the major Yemeni growing regions, created the "Mattari model" suited to Yemeni coffee cultivation and management, and 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, and all transport was blocked. Faced with sudden war and "accidents," and unwilling to let the flavors be destroyed, Mokhtar went through twist after turn to bring the beans to the United States, where they ranked first on 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. Its traditional water-free method has remained unchanged since the 17th century, when Europeans became fascinated with wild-flavored Mocha. This is tied to Yemen's extremely dry climate. Coffee is grown mainly in the central highlands, where annual rainfall is only 400-750mm, far below the optimal 1500-2000mm for Arabica.

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

The Mattari region lies in the highlands west of the capital, at altitudes of 2000-2400 meters, making it Yemen's highest-altitude growing region. It is also the most remote and the hardest to reach, so farmers often must wait some time after harvest before the beans can be transported out.

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

In Yemen's central highlands, with their rugged and dangerous terrain, smallholders mostly practice scattered planting: a few plants on steep slopes, dozens on terraces or cliffs, each with different soil conditions and microclimates, producing different aromatic components.

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

Yemen's ancient natural 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 turn the beans to ensure even drying. Once 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. Yemen coffee also often carries an uncertain factor, the timing of seasonal rainfall, that makes it unpredictable. Calling it the world's most special coffee would not be an 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: an "unattractive" appearance, uneven size, and considerable color variation, looking as though it were made up 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 one, small but fragrant and rich.

Roasting Analysis

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

FrontStreet Coffee suggests keeping detailed records before roasting: bean moisture content, density, origin, processing method, roasting-room temperature and humidity, and so on, to plan your roasting curve. Record the relevant chemical and physical changes during the roast; this will help you understand the final results and improve your curve.

Roaster: Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans loaded

Roasting Curve:

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

At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly transforms into coffee aroma; this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'23" first crack begins; reduce heat to 60°C and open the air damper fully (reduce heat very carefully, without going so far that cracking stops). Drop at 197.9°C.

Cupping Report:

Medium roast City (caramel aroma): before grinding, the beans have a peanut aroma; after grinding, a caramel fragrance. While slurping, complex layers reveal a slight grape acidity appearing at the end of the taste changes, with a long spicy aftertaste. It is mouthwatering, sweet, and rounded, with a Middle Eastern milk-tea feeling that persists for a long time, and malt sweetness in the cup bottom. A medium-roasted Yemen Mocha keeps evolving. It is best brewed 7-14 days after roasting, when the complex wild fermented flavors peak.

Yemen Coffee Bean Brewing Analysis

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

A medium-roast coffee bed must also have some support strength to perform this "blocking" function. To avoid weakening the bed's support, you must master water-column intensity, pouring position, and a stable circular pouring technique; together these form 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, with a persistent caramel sweetness in the aftertaste.

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

Yemen Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Yemen Mocha beans offer 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 makes 15 cups, each costing less than 6 yuan. Compared with cafés selling cups for tens of yuan, that is a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Yemen and Ethiopia face each other across the Red Sea, and the two are bound together by coffee history; Ethiopian beans shipped from Mocha port were even called Mocha themselves. If the wild, ancient character of Yemen Mocha appeals to you, FrontStreet's Ethiopian lineup offers a fascinating comparison. Start with FrontStreet's Washed Yirgacheffe, where a clear jasmine fragrance meets bright citrus acidity, a light, elegant body, and a tea-like finish that drinks like a clean lemon tea. For a more luminous, bitter-free version from a single village station, FrontStreet's Gudingding Cooperative, founded in 2012 with around 300 member farmers, delivers citrus and lemon tones with an elegant white-floral lift.

For sweetness and depth, FrontStreet's Natural Red Cherry is dried in the whole fruit for two weeks and shows notes of peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon, while FrontStreet's Natural Huakui, from the Hambella area of Guji, is dried on raised beds for 21 days and pours with a light fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus, and mango over a thick, sweet, lingering body. For something more surprising, FrontStreet's Sidamo Natural Hamasho, built on the JARC 74 series, especially the small-beaned 74158, brings perfume lemon, strawberry, and star fruit. Whichever you choose, these origin-bound coffees are the closest thing to tasting the ancient roots that Yemen Mocha helped carry into the world.