Nav: Home > Coffee >

How Should You Drink Yemeni Coffee? What Are the Characteristics of Yemen Coffee Beans? Yemeni Specialty Coffee Beans

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) According to the World Coffee Research Institute, the first archaeological evidence of beverage coffee consumption was discovered in the city of Zabid, Yemen. In the 15th century, Yemen began to cultivate coffee internally to meet local demand. In 1450, Yemen's Islamic Sufi practitioners first used it during late-night prayers

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

The Origins of Coffee in Yemen

According to the World Coffee Research Institute, the first archaeological evidence of coffee beverage consumption was discovered in the city of Zabid, Yemen.

In the 15th century, coffee cultivation began within Yemen to meet local demand. In 1450, Yemeni Islamic Sufi practitioners first started drinking coffee to stay awake during late-night prayers. This led to the transformation of mountainsides into terraced slopes, where people invented agricultural techniques for growing coffee.

The love for dark infusion spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, where merchants and traders met from around the world.

Yemen shipped large quantities of unroasted beans from the port of Mokha, and coffee drinking became popular worldwide, with coffee shops opening in Europe starting from 1650.

Understanding Mocha Coffee

Mocha originally referred to beans shipped from the port of Mocha in Arabia, located within Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. Today's pure, rare Yemen Mocha is extremely uncommon, with authentic Mocha being rare and expensive, featuring rich and mellow flavors.

Yemen Mocha, although botanically speaking coffee originated in Ethiopia, from a cultural perspective, the event of introducing coffee as a beverage to the European world occurred in Arab Yemen. From that time for a period, talking about coffee was equivalent to talking about Yemen, and also equivalent to talking about Mocha.

Mocha was a commercial port, just as Brazilian coffee is exported from the port of Santos, so Santos is used to refer to Brazilian coffee. Similarly, the port of Mocha, which exported coffee, became the collective name for Yemen coffee.

Unique Characteristics of Yemen Coffee

Yemen is completely different from other coffee-producing countries. Lack of water, arid climate, and barren land have caused the coffee tree species that survive in Yemen to differ from the meticulously cultivated varieties of other major coffee-producing nations. Compared to Arab Yemen, the climate of Central and South America is like a fully equipped greenhouse. These unfavorable factors have caused the Yemen coffee industry to decline day by day. However, due to these same factors, Yemen coffee exhibits an uncontrollable, primitive wildness in its flavor profile.

Although the Yemen coffee industry has declined, the specialty coffee market still sees the presence of these beans today.

Coffee Varieties and Production

Yemen coffee varieties are complex, so they are generally named by their origin, such as Mattari, Sanani, Ismaeili, Hirazi, etc. The formal name is prefixed with Yemen Mocha, for example, YEMEN MOCHA MATTARI.

Because coffee is expensive. The manual production methods of Yemen coffee, exploitation by layers of middlemen, and expensive transportation costs make coffee almost no different from a luxury good. Before 1690, there were only three coffee-growing regions in the entire world, all located in Yemen. These regions were situated on steep mountains with irrigation facilities, divided into small coffee plots, with only a few hundred farmers cultivating them.

Farmers bring their own coffee beans from nearby small coffee plots to sell in the market year-round. De la Roque recorded that harvests were "not fixed in quantity, not regular in timing, so Arabs knew no such thing as a harvest season." Coffee farmers brought coffee beans to the market six days a week, with each day bringing slightly more to sell than the previous day; when prices were low, they would hold back and not sell. In the market, Indian and Arab merchants controlled the coffee business. From the early 17th century, Dutch and British East India Companies had representatives in Mocha, but even so, like De la Roque, they purchased through Indian middlemen who were said to be the most skilled at bargaining down prices. Europeans had low commercial status because they lacked political influence, and the only European goods that Yemenis wanted were piastre coins made from Mexican silver, which they demanded immediately.