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Traditional Natural Process: Savoring the Ancient Mocha Flavor of Mattari - Reborn from Conflict

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). Yemen Mocha Mattari, Yemen Mocha Mattari, Yemen Mocha. Country: Yemen, Region: Mattari, Altitude: 1,300-1,900m, Varietal: Typica

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For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Yemen Mocha Mattari

Country: Yemen

Region: Mattari

Altitude: 1,300~1,900m

Varietal: Typica, Bourbon

Process: Natural / Sundried

01 | Introduction to Growing Region

History of Yemen Coffee

Yemen, famous for frankincense or spice trade, is the world's first place to cultivate coffee Mocha.

If traced back, this is also where Noah built the ark in the Bible.

Legend has it that 3,000 years ago, the legendary Queen Sheba led a large delegation with gold and spices to Jerusalem to find King Solomon and gave birth to a son. (It is rumored that this son was the first king of Ethiopia)

Regardless, perhaps due to historical reasons since ancient times, it is said that the people of this land still have strong self-esteem and are extremely independent.

Yemen, which continues the lifestyle preserved thousands of years ago, has many places where the central government's ruling power cannot reach. Ethiopia, separated from Yemen by a sea, also exported coffee through Mocha Port, so Ethiopian natural process coffee is often called Mocha (such as Ethiopia Harra Mokka). Yemen Mocha is the originator of world coffee trade. Yemen's contribution to promoting delicious coffee to the world is undeniable, known as "Arabia Coffee," which is also the origin of the later name "Arabica original species."

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

Today's "Mocha Port" has failed to continue its prosperity compared to its former reputation, becoming a historic port with only white sandy beaches.

Even so, it still "travels far and wide" in the name of coffee.

Although Ethiopia is the first country to discover coffee in the world, Yemen was the first country to produce coffee on a large scale as a crop. In the early 17th century, the first batch of Yemen coffee was exported to Europe via the ancient small port - Mocha Port, which amazed Europeans. Because 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 early Mocha became synonymous with coffee.

Mokhtar Alkhanshali

Thanks to the discovery of an Islamic scholar, Yemen coffee began to spread its fragrance worldwide from the 16th century and for the following 150 years; Yemen also became the world's only supplier of coffee.

But with the later large-scale cultivation of coffee worldwide, Yemen coffee could not escape the so-called "development trend"; today, as Yemen coffee once again reaches the pinnacle of specialty coffee, we must mention him - Mokhtar Alkhanshali.

A Yemeni-American, his "change" in coffee originated from a single-origin pour-over. It was from that moment that he entered the coffee industry, learned professional coffee knowledge, traveled to all major producing areas in Yemen, created the "Mokhtar model" suitable for Yemen's coffee cultivation and management, and continuously pursued the nearly perfect flavor standards in his heart.

Just when he thought he could finally share this rare flavor with the world, the Yemeni civil war broke out, and the entire country was shrouded in the flames of war, with all transportation blocked. Due to the sudden war and "accident," to prevent the flavor from being destroyed, Mokhtar went through twists and turns, finally bringing the beans to the United States across the ocean, ranking first in COFFEE REVIEW's annual top 30 list of 97-point coffee beans!

02 | Processing Method

Ancient Natural Processing

Yemen is a classic of ancient natural processing, and also the world's only all-natural process coffee producing country. The traditional processing method without water washing has remained unchanged from the 17th century when Europeans were fascinated by wild Mocha to this day. This is related to Yemen's extremely dry climate. Coffee is mainly cultivated in the central highlands, with annual rainfall of only 400-750mm, far below the optimal 1,500-2,000mm rainfall for Arabica.

Yemen coffee grows on steep slopes with little rainfall, poor soil, and insufficient sunlight - difficult conditions unfavorable to coffee growth, yet these have nurtured the irreplaceable Yemen Mocha in the coffee world. The main coffee producing regions are Sanani, Mattari, and Ismaili.

The Mattari region is located in the highlands west of the capital, with an altitude of 2,000-2,400 meters, making it the highest altitude producing area in Yemen, but also the most remote with inconvenient transportation. Farmers often have to wait for some time after harvesting before they can transport it out.

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

In the central highlands of Yemen, mountains rise and fall, rugged and dangerous. Small farmers mostly adopt a dispersed planting method, with a few plants on steep slopes, dozens on terraces or cliffs, each with different soil and microclimate, thus different aromatic components.

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

Yemen's ancient natural processing method involves manually harvesting fully mature coffee beans, then directly placing the freshly harvested coffee beans in dedicated coffee drying fields or their own compacted earthen courtyards to sun-dry. During the drying period, wooden rakes are generally used to turn the beans to ensure even drying of each bean. After about twenty days when the coffee drying is complete, the outer pulp and skin are removed to extract the coffee beans.

Yemen coffee has rich, complex, wild, mellow flavors with strong fermentation notes and low acidity characteristics. Additionally, Yemen coffee often contains an uncertain factor (timing of seasonal rainfall) that makes it unpredictable, making it no exaggeration to call it the most special coffee in the world.

Refined Natural Processing

Mokhtar Alkhanshali also blessed the beans from Yemen Mocha Port with more refined natural processing, and the beans from Yemen Mocha Port speak through their flavor.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

Mocha grades are divided into: Sanani

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

(Mocca) Because the bean shape is very small, it's also called small Mocha. Mocha is a flat bean, not a round bean. Small but fragrant and rich.

04 | Roasting Analysis

Yemen Mocha belongs to green beans with relatively low moisture content. Considering the uneven size of the beans, the charging temperature for low-moisture green beans should not be too high. Preheat for 30 seconds, open the air damper to 3, until the green beans turn light green or white, open the air damper to 4, and after first crack open to 5 (maximum).

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

Roaster: Yangjia 800N, charge 550g green beans

Roasting Curve:

Charge at 170°C, air damper set to 3, adjust fire power to 140 degrees after 1 minute, air damper unchanged, roast to 5'00", temperature 147.2°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete, adjust fire power to 110 degrees, air damper to 4;

At 8'00 minutes, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma obviously changes to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'23" first crack begins, adjust fire power down to 60 degrees, air damper fully open (adjust fire power very carefully, not so small that there's no cracking sound), drop at 197.9°C.

Cupping Report:

Medium roast City (caramel aroma): Before grinding the coffee beans, there's a peanut aroma. After grinding, there's caramel fragrance. During sipping, the layers are complex, with a slight grape acidity appearing at the end of changes in the mouth. The spicy aftertaste is long, with a sweet, rounded mouthfeel and a Middle Eastern milk tea feeling that lasts for a long time. The bottom of the cup has malt sweetness. Medium-roasted Yemen Mocha will continue to change. It's recommended to brew 7-14 days after roasting, when the complex wild fermentation flavor is the best.

04 | Brewing Analysis

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

Medium roast coffee beds must also have a certain supporting force to exert the "blocking" function. To prevent weakening the bed's supporting force, one must master the "water column strength," "watering position," and add "stable circular technique" to form a complete "watering technique."

1. Filter cup: V60

2. Water temperature: 88°C

3. Grind size: Fuji Royal grind setting 4

4. Roast degree: Medium roast

5. Bloom time: 25 seconds

Flavor: Balanced, chocolate, persistent caramel sweetness in aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee suggests technique: 15g coffee, Fuji Royal "ghost tooth" grinder setting 4, V60 filter cup, 88-89°C water temperature, first pour 30g water, bloom for 25s, pour to 104g water and stop, wait until the bed water level drops to half before pouring again, slowly pour until 220g water, don't use the last 5g, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time about 2:00 (counting starts after bloom pour completes)