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Yemen Mattari Mocha Coffee Beans

Yemen Mocha possesses a wonderfully layered flavor — wild yet restrained, and remarkably versatile.

The arid Arabian soil, combined with the dry air, makes the beans grown here especially hard and small. It is this unique climate that gives Yemen Mocha its layered, chameleonic character. Those captivated by its ever-shifting flavors have praised Yemen Mocha as the fine wine of Arabia.

Flavor description: A rich, fresh berry aroma with red-wine fragrance and subtle chocolate, floral notes, medium viscosity, and a wild, ever-changing aromatic profile that finishes sweet. Not oily, not astringent, not too acidic, not too bitter — precisely the balance that makes this mid-priced bean so deeply appealing.

On the 36 coffee aroma scale: woody notes, coffee cherry pulp, blackcurrant, maple syrup, caramel, dark chocolate, almond.

Ancient Coffee: The Original "Mocha"

Mocha takes its name from the famous Port of Mocha. In the fifteenth century, transport across East Africa was rudimentary, yet the region produced some of the world's most precious coffee. All of it converged on the Port of Mocha in Yemen before being shipped to Europe.

At the time, Mocha was the principal export port on the Red Sea. Today it has silted up and retreated inland, and newer ports such as Mombasa and Durban have taken over its role. But any African coffee that passed through Mocha and out into the world was, in that era, collectively called Mocha coffee. The origins attached to that name have been preserved, and beans from those origins are still sold as Mocha coffee beans. That is how the term was born.

In fact, authentic "Mocha coffee" grows only in the Republic of Yemen, on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, on steep mountain slopes at altitudes of three to eight thousand feet — making it the most ancient cultivated coffee in the world. Yemeni coffee offers some of the most unique, rich and fascinating complexity in the cup: red wine, wildness, dried fruit, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, wood, even chocolate. Every adjective you can imagine has been used to describe Yemen Mocha. Different growing regions produce distinctly different schools of flavor — the chocolate notes and acidity of Mattari Mocha, for example, versus the rugged intensity and fragrance of Sanani.

Tradition holds that Yemen's finest beans come from Mattari, followed by Sharki, then Sanani. These beans are low in caffeine. Mocha beans resemble Ethiopian Harrar in appearance: small-grained, sharply acidic, laced with a strange, indescribable spiciness — and, on careful tasting, a whisper of chocolate.

Dark-roasted Yemeni coffee often reveals a bittersweet, chocolate-like charm, which is why adding chocolate to coffee developed so naturally as an idea. That history is behind today's chocolate-sauce beverage that also borrows the name "Mocha."

Yemen Mocha's complexity makes it a genuine roasting challenge: how do you coax out its best? Light to medium roasts reveal fruity sweetness and the gentle warmth of sun-dried fermentation; dark roasts bring a rich red-wine fragrance and a bittersweet chocolate finish.

Flavor: exotic, slightly winey, spicy and stimulating, distinctive

Recommended roast: medium

Rating: excellent ★★★

Yemen Mocha from FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Yemen Mocha is dependable in both brand and quality, and the value is remarkable: a 227-gram pack costs only about 85 yuan. At 15 grams of beans per cup, one pack brews 15 cups — roughly 6 yuan per cup. Against cafés charging tens of yuan per cup, that is an honest, wholehearted recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Yemen Mocha's floral-and-wine complexity intrigues you, FrontStreet Coffee's Guodingding Cooperative Yirgacheffe is the perfect companion discovery. A classic washed Yirgacheffe, it is known worldwide for its sweet white-floral aroma — remarkably close to jasmine — and bright citrus acidity, with a green-tea finish.

Brewed as a pour-over, it shows clear floral-fruity character, a lifting lemony acidity and honeyed sweetness. It also shines as a cold brew: steeping at low temperature draws out the coffee's lighter molecules, producing an iced coffee as refreshing as fruit tea.

For something even more layered, FrontStreet's Mozart from Costa Rica offers a different expression of fruit: a unique raisin-honey process that brings notes of dried fruit, ripe pineapple and sweet orange, with an intoxicating osmanthus aroma released as hot water hits the grounds — fragrant, clean and sweet, and equally wonderful as a cold brew or iced pour-over.