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Café Mocha: The Perfect Balance of Bitter and Sweet

Mocha coffee brings together the bitterness of coffee, the smoothness of milk, the sweetness of chocolate and the richness of cream, all in perfect balance — which is why so many people love it. But do you know where mocha coffee comes from? Or that "mocha" refers to more than the fancy drink in your hand?

An Ancient Bean | Mocha Coffee Beans

Mocha takes its name from the famous port of Mocha. In the 15th century, transport in East Africa was extremely underdeveloped, yet the region produced some of the world's most precious coffee. All of it gathered at the port of Mocha in Yemen before being shipped to Europe.

Yemen's Mocha was the main export port near the Red Sea at the time. Today the port of Mocha has retreated inland as silt built up, and newer ports including Mombasa and Durban have taken its place. Back then, though, any African coffee gathered at Mocha for export was collectively called Mocha coffee. The origins associated with the Mocha port era thus survived, and beans from those origins are still called Mocha coffee beans. That is where the term "Mocha coffee" comes from.

In fact, authentic "Mocha coffee" is produced only in the Republic of Yemen on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula, growing on steep mountain slopes at altitudes of 3,000 to 8,000 feet, and it is also the world's oldest coffee. Yemen coffee holds the world's most unique, rich and fascinating set of aromas: red wine, wild notes, dried fruit, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes and even chocolate. You will see all kinds of adjectives attached to Yemen Mocha. Yemen Mocha breaks into different schools depending on where it grows — much like the chocolate and sour notes of MATTARI Mocha, or the wildness and fragrance of SANANI Mocha.

Traditionally, Yemen's best beans come from Mattari, followed by Sharki and then Sanani. These beans are low in caffeine. Mocha beans resemble Ethiopia's Harrar beans — small, sharply acidic and spiked with a strange, indescribable spice. Taste carefully and a hint of chocolate comes through as well.

Deep-roasted Yemen coffee often reveals a chocolate-like bittersweet quality, so adding chocolate to coffee was a natural step. This shaped today's flavored coffees made with chocolate sauce, which also carry the name "Mocha."

Yemen Mocha is complex and ever-changing. For roasters, coaxing out its best flavors is a real challenge. A light-to-medium roast reveals fruity sweetness, mildness and warm sun-dried fermentation notes; a deep roast reveals a rich red-wine fragrance and a bittersweet chocolate finish.

Flavor Profile: exotic, faintly wine-like, spicy and stimulating, distinctive

Recommended Roast: Medium roast

Rating: Excellent ★★★

Fancy Coffee | Café Mocha

Mocha coffee (also transliterated Mocha or Moka, loosely meaning Arabian quality coffee, with the English name Café Mocha, meaning chocolate coffee) is a variation on Italian latte (Caffè Latte). It is one of the oldest coffees, its history tracing back to the very origins of coffee.

The name comes from the small town of Mocha on the Red Sea coast in Yemen. It monopolized coffee export trade in the 15th century and had a particularly strong influence on coffee exported to the Arabian Peninsula.

Like a classic Italian latte, it is usually made with one-third Italian espresso (Caffè Espresso) and two-thirds milk foam, but it also includes a small amount of chocolate. The chocolate is normally added as chocolate syrup, though some coffee service systems use instant chocolate powder instead. Sometimes whipped cream, cocoa powder and marshmallows go on top to enhance the aroma and decorate the drink.

Unlike Italian cappuccino, mocha coffee does not have fresh milk foam on top. Instead it usually carries whipped cream and either cinnamon powder or cocoa powder for decoration and flavor. There is also a simple version that uses chocolate sauce for latte art.

Besides white mocha coffee, some variations use two kinds of chocolate syrup. They are sometimes called "Zebras" and sometimes jokingly referred to as "Tuxedo Mocha." Some European and Middle Eastern regions use Moccaccino to describe an Italian latte with added cocoa or chocolate; in the United States, Moccaccino refers to an Italian cappuccino with chocolate added.

Mocha coffee can fairly be called the most ornate of Italian coffees. Its distinctive chocolate finish leaves you wanting more — truly a taste that lingers long after the cup is empty.

Yemen Single-Origin Mocha Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

The single-origin Mocha beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee — Yemen Mocha Mattari Traditional Natural Process — come with full guarantees on brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value. A half-pound (227g) package costs only about 85 yuan. At 15g per pour-over cup, one package makes 15 cups, so each Americano costs only about 5–6 yuan. Compared with café prices that often run to dozens of yuan a cup, that is outstanding value.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Mocha's signature is its chocolate character, so if that is what draws you in, chocolate-forward beans are the place to look. FrontStreet's Black Cocoa Blend is a cost-effective espresso blend built on Brazilian nut aroma and smooth body, with Yunnan small-bean coffee adding the ripe plum-like acidity and a calm, even temper. Pulled as espresso it has fine crema and moderate intensity, and it holds its own as an Americano, a latte or a flavored specialty drink, finishing with caramel.

To taste that creamy chocolate quality in a single origin, consider FrontStreet's Brazil Queen Estate. From a smaller Mogiana plot and more carefully processed, it uses the rare Yellow Bourbon variety with its distinctive bright-yellow skin. After roasting you get Brazilian nut, cream, roasted peanut and caramel-cookie notes, with low acidity, a balanced body and a distinctly clean, sweet lift that keeps the finish going. Its rich aroma makes it as good in a pour-over, French press or clever dripper as it is through a moka pot or home espresso machine.