The Historical Story of Yemeni Coffee: What Are Yemen's Coffee Regions? What Coffee Varieties Does Yemen Have?

When it comes to Yemeni coffee, one immediately pictures full-bodied, wild, sun-dried beans. Since ancient times, Yemeni coffee farmers have followed cultivation methods passed down from their ancestors. Because Yemen's rugged terrain makes farming difficult and rainfall is scarce, farmers mostly choose terraced fields or low-lying areas less exposed to intense sunlight. Most Yemeni farmers are also poor and cannot afford pesticides, so they rely almost exclusively on natural, organic cultivation.

The result is some of the world's most unique, rich and fascinating complex aromas: "red wine fragrance, wildness, dried fruit flavors, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, even chocolate..." You will see all manner of adjectives used to describe Yemeni Mocha coffee.

The Homeland of "Mocha" - Yemen

Discussing Yemeni coffee means discussing "Mocha." Everyone has heard of "mocha coffee," but what exactly is "Mocha"?

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

As early as over five hundred years ago, Yemen was producing coffee in the ancient way. In the early 17th century, the first Yemeni coffee sold to Europe was exported through the small ancient port of Mocha, astonishing Europeans, who began calling the delicious coffee from Mocha port "Mocha coffee" - the origin of the term.

Ethiopia, Yemen's neighbor across the Red Sea, also exported its coffee through Mocha port, which is why Ethiopian sun-dried coffee is often called Mocha too (such as Mocha-Harrar, from Ethiopia's Harrar). Today the old port of Mocha has long been abandoned due to sedimentation (it is now known as Al Makha), with exports handled by the northwestern port of Hodeida. But people long ago grew accustomed to the name, and Mocha has become renowned worldwide.

Dark-roasted Yemeni coffee often shows chocolate-like bittersweet notes, which is why today's chocolate-sauce flavored drinks are also called "mocha." So when you see the term "Mocha coffee," it may refer to pure Yemeni coffee, to neighboring Ethiopian coffee, or simply to chocolate-flavored coffee. For discerning connoisseurs, however, only genuine Yemeni coffee deserves the name.

The word "Mocha" has various spellings: Moka, Moca and Mocca are all common. On Yemeni coffee sacks and documents I have seen up to four local spellings - "Mokha," "Makha," "Morkha" and "Mukha" - all meaning the same thing.

Yemeni Mocha is the originator of the world coffee trade and made invaluable contributions to spreading delicious coffee across the globe. In the 17th century, Yemeni Mocha - then called "Arabia Coffee" (also the origin of the later "Arabica" species name!) - crossed the oceans to Catholic countries in Europe such as Italy. For more than 150 years thereafter, Yemen remained the only coffee origin exported to Europe.

In ancient times, in conservative Catholic countries, extraordinarily wonderful things were often considered evil, and coffee once bore an inexplicable guilt. Not until the coffee-loving Pope of the Vatican declared coffee a Catholic beverage and blessed those who drank it did coffee begin to spread widely through Europe. Although Ethiopia was the first country to discover coffee, it was Yemen that truly made it flourish.

A Living Relic in the Coffee World

To this day, Yemeni coffee farmers still produce coffee the way they did 500 years ago. Cherries grow naturally on the trees without any fertilizer or pesticides, taking moisture from mountain mists and summer rains to flower and fruit. In the dry winter, mature cherries are left to air-dry naturally on the trees - a unique and rare practice possible only in Arabia's extremely dry climate and intense sun; in other origins the same method would rot the cherries on the branch.

Ripe or dried cherries fall naturally or are shaken down and harvested. Coffee farmers, who make up nearly a quarter of Yemen's population, spread the cherries on rooftops, in low sheds before their homes, or even directly on the ground, drying under the intense dry winter sun. Once the skin and pulp have dried, old-fashioned stone mills - two stones stacked together - grind away the dried husks and pulp, and the beans are done.

Even now, a small number of Yemeni farms still use animals such as camels and donkeys to power their stone mills. Compared with the Central and South American countries that process huge quantities of coffee with advanced machinery - or even neighboring Kenya with its comparatively short coffee history - Yemeni Mocha is practically a living relic of the coffee world. And here is a thought: the Yemeni coffee you drink today differs little from the "Arabia coffee" that European nobles and merchants enjoyed hundreds of years ago in Europe's oldest cafes at St. Mark's Square in Venice.

Fascinating and Unique

Unlike the washed processing used in most coffee regions worldwide, Yemeni coffee is exclusively natural sun-dried. Hulling with stone mills (grinding two stones together) creates broken beans mixed in, so the appearance is uneven. Raw beans often contain small twigs, small stones, even dried insects (screened out during roasting). And the aromas are unlike anything else: "red wine fragrance, wildness, dried fruit flavors, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, even chocolate..."

Because the cherries are dried with the pulp still attached, the fruit's flavors have the chance to "infuse" into the beans. When coffee fruits fall on the dry soil of the highlands, they also absorb flavors from the surrounding organic matter. Combined with the "sun flavor" imparted by the intense Arabian winter sun (you can detect something similar in sun-dried quilts), the naturally fermented mature fruit flavors from the pulp, and subtle earthy notes - together with some 300,000 coffee farms spread across altitudes from 3,000 to 8,000 feet and ancient, 100% organic processing - this creates the world's unique Yemeni Mocha.

Diverse Flavors, Distinct Characteristics

Among common Yemeni Mochas, Mokha Mattari is the most renowned. Produced in Bani Matar (also known as Bany Mattar) province, Mattari is a high-altitude coffee that typically possesses excellent red wine fragrance and dried fruit flavors, full body, and often shows chocolate bittersweetness when dark roasted.

Because of Yemen's unstable situation and sharply reduced production in recent years, the renowned Mokha Mattari has become a target for adulteration, with reports of it being mixed with lower-grade inferior beans. Today, even the Mattari label is no guarantee of quality. Good Mattari beans are small, with a noticeable sweet wine aroma and moderate mature-fruit fermentation in the raw state. Excellent Mattari will never disappoint a connoisseur.

Mokha San'ani is a blend from tens of thousands of small farms on the mountain slopes near the capital San'a. Grown at slightly lower altitudes than Mattari, it generally has a lighter body and lower acidity but good fruit aromas, often showing riper fruit and wilder flavors than Mattari. In experience, San'ani quality varies greatly, with occasional inferior lots showing flat, earthy or over-fermented flavors - careful cupping and selection are essential work for importers, with no cutting corners allowed.

Mokha Ismaili is one of the traditional ancient varieties, grown at very high altitudes above 6,500 feet. Its beans are rounder and smaller than Mattari's, with full body and high complexity, and it often performs even better than Mattari. It is the lowest-production and most expensive Yemeni Mocha - and Yemeni Mocha is already not inexpensive. Quality Mokha Ismaili comes from the Hirazi region (less famous than Bani Matar, yet considered the best-producing area by local standards) on high mountain slopes, with Hirazi's highest altitudes reaching 8,000 feet.

Mokha Rimi is produced in the Djebel Remi (also Raimi, Rayma) region, with quality similar to San'ani. In my experience, Mokha Rimi typically carries slightly stronger fermentation notes and can present astonishingly rich raisin sweetness - properly roasted, the beans smell like opening a jar of rich fruit preserves.

Mokha Yafeh is produced in Yemen's southern Yafeh (also Yaffe) province. It is an uncommon Yemeni Mocha - the country's only "southern flavor" - with production limited and almost entirely exported to the neighboring United Arab Emirates, so it is rarely seen in the specialty market today.

A coffee expert once said: "Yemeni Mocha flavors are so diverse that not only do different origins, varieties and batches differ, but each sack, even each cup, can taste different." Because of this complexity and variability, roasting Yemeni Mocha to bring out its best is a real challenge. Light to medium roasts reveal fruity sweetness with gentle, warm sun-dried fermentation; dark roasts present rich red wine fragrance and a bittersweet chocolate aftertaste - all worthy of repeated savoring, with "lingering aroma that remains for days." Small wonder so many devoted coffee lovers rank Yemeni Mocha as their favorite.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations:

V60 / 1:15 / 90°C / 2-minute brewing time

Flavor: grape juice, chocolate, caramel, spices.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The sun-dried, fruit-infused character of Yemeni Mocha finds its closest modern relatives in FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed lineup. The FrontStreet Sun-Dried Red Cherry, from the famous Yirgacheffe region, uses only fully ripe whole cherries dried on raised beds - kept off the ground to avoid insects, dust and bacteria, and turned regularly for even drying - for the 27-30 days of continuous sunshine the method demands. After a medium-light roast it offers elegant florals and bright acidity along with pronounced tropical fruit, a full fermented richness and deep sweetness. The FrontStreet Sun-Dried Hua Kui, from Ethiopia's exceptional high-altitude Sidamo growing conditions, is also roasted medium-light to highlight its delicate aromatics: light fermentation, florals, citrus and mango, with honey sweetness, cocoa and spice over a thick, long-finishing body.

For naturals beyond Africa, the FrontStreet 2013 Sun-Dried Yunnan Typica - grown on FrontStreet's own estate, where the harvest season falls in the sunnier stretch of the year - shows balanced acidity and sweetness with berry-like acidity, dried apricot, brown sugar and a light tea feel, slightly sweeter than its washed counterpart. And the FrontStreet Colombia Sidra takes the concept further with double anaerobic natural processing - carbonic maceration in sealed tanks before drying - yielding dense tropical fruit aromas of passion fruit, apricot, dried fruit and grape with an almond-like finish. All are low-moisture, stable beans that keep well, just like a good aged Mocha.