How Many Coffee Regions Does Yemen Mocha Have? How to Enjoy Yemen Mocha Coffee Beans with Different Flavor Characteristics

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How Many Coffee Growing Regions Does Yemen Mocha Have? How Should Mocha Coffee Beans from Different Regions with Various Flavor Characteristics Be Consumed?

Among common Yemen Mocha varieties, Mokha Mattari is the most renowned. Mattari, produced in the Bani Matar (also known as Bany Mattar) province, is high-altitude coffee that typically possesses excellent red wine aroma, dried fruit flavors, and a rich body. When dark roasted, it often displays bittersweet chocolate notes. Yemen, this traditional Islamic country, produces authentic natural process coffee. Mattari Mocha from the Bani Mattar region features a clear red wine texture and deep, captivating dark chocolate flavors. This 2011 batch of premium Mattari Mocha exhibits more tropical fruit dried flavors compared to previous years, not only increasing the depth of complexity but also showing significant improvement in green bean preparation quality. The green beans are vibrant green and uniform, with noticeably reduced proportions of white beans, broken beans, and unripe fruits—truly an exceptional grade of natural process coffee beans.

Due to Yemen's political instability and sharply reduced production in recent years, the renowned Mokha Mattari has become a target for adulteration, with frequent reports of mixing with lower-grade inferior beans. Today, even when labeled as Mattari, it's no guarantee of high quality. Good quality Mattari beans are small in size, with green beans emitting a pleasant sweet wine aroma and moderate ripe fruit fermentation notes. Excellent Mattari performance will certainly not disappoint coffee connoisseurs!

Variety: Heirloom Yemen Moka Seedstock

Mattari coffee beans are small and elongated, with uniform color representing the best quality grade. They possess unique and rich flavors of red wine, dried fruits, grapes, cinnamon, tobacco, and the most widely known chocolate flavor. After grinding, the coffee beans release jasmine fragrance. When brewed at high temperatures, you can first detect fermented wine aroma. When sipped, there's a slight grape acidity that subtly changes in the mouth, creating a sweet, round aftertaste with cocoa chocolate sweetness. As the temperature decreases, you begin to taste the varied and complex texture, retaining a very captivating malt sweetness. The overall style is gentle and reserved, with aroma and aftertaste carrying Mocha's mellowness, truly worthy of being called the "Queen of Coffee."

Yemen Mocha Coffee Growing Regions:

Mokha San'ani is a blend from tens of thousands of small farms on the slopes near the capital San'a (Figure 2). The cultivation altitude is slightly lower than Mattari, generally with a lighter body than Mattari, lower acidity, but good fruit aroma, often possessing better ripe fruit and wild flavors than Mattari. Based on experience, San'ani quality varies greatly, with occasional inferior products featuring flat flavors, earthy notes, or excessive fermentation. Careful cupping and selection are essential homework for coffee importers—absolutely no shortcuts allowed.

Mokha Ismaili is one of the traditional ancient varieties, planted at very high altitudes above 6,500 feet. Its characteristic feature is more rounded bean shape, smaller than Mattari, with rich body and high complexity. Generally, it often performs beyond Mattari. This is the lowest-production, most expensive Yemen Mocha (Yemen Mocha was already not inexpensive). Quality Mokha Ismaili is produced in the high mountain slopes of the Hirazi region (though less famous than Bani Matar, it's the best-regarded growing region among locals in Yemen). The highest altitude in the Hirazi region reaches up to 8,000 feet!

Mokha Rimi is produced in the Djebel Remi (also known as Raimi, Rayma) region, with quality similar to San'ani. In my experience, Mokha Rimi typically has slightly heavier fermentation notes, occasionally displaying astonishingly rich raisin sweetness. When properly roasted, the coffee beans smell like opening a bottle of rich fruit jam.

Mokha Yafeh is produced in the southern Yafeh (also known as Yaffe) province of Yemen, belonging to uncommon Yemen Mocha varieties. It's Yemen's only "southern flavor," with limited production that is almost entirely exported to neighboring United Arab Emirates, making it rarely seen in the specialty coffee market.

A coffee expert once said: "Yemen Mocha flavors are so diverse—how can there only be differences between different origins, varieties, and batches? Even each bag, or even each cup, has a different flavor." Because of its complexity and variability, for coffee roasters, how to bring out the best flavors of Yemen Mocha is a major challenge! Light-medium roasting reveals fruity sweetness, gentle, warm natural fermentation notes; dark roasting display rich red wine aroma and bittersweet chocolate aftertaste, all worthy of repeated savoring, "lingering flavor that remains for days." This explains why so many enthusiastic coffee connoisseurs list Yemen Mocha as their favorite!

Confusing Naming Conventions

Yemen coffee naming conventions still lack universal standards today, with no official grading system. Local residents have their own classification system, with hundreds of coffee codes and names for internal classification purposes, but these are not applicable to the commercial market (for export purposes). In the commercial market, Yemen Mocha typically adopts one of the following two naming methods: "origin name" or "variety name."

Taking several Yemen Mocha varieties that have been sold as examples: Yemen Mocha Mattari Mokha Mattari and Yemen Mocha San'ani Mokha San'ani use the "origin naming method," indicating production from Bani Matar province and the slopes near the capital San'a respectively; Yemen Mocha Ismaili Mokha Ismaili uses the "variety name naming method," with its production located in Hirazi, southwest of Bani Matar.

It's worth mentioning that Ismaili is both the name of an ancient Yemen variety and a place name, often causing confusion and making it difficult to distinguish. The only way to know whether your purchased Mokha Ismaili refers to the variety or the place name is to ask your supplier clearly. We generally label it as: Yemen Mokha Ismaili (Hirazi), indicating the origin in parentheses for greater clarity.

Cupping Report:

The front stage features wet aroma reminiscent of dried pineapple and red wine, accompanied by deep, sweet Merlot red wine in the middle stage, with a hint of woody and slight leather notes, and a final stage with very intense dark chocolate flavor. The rich, full body gives this coffee a long, smooth characteristic.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommends Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 88°C

Grind Size: Small Fuji grinder setting 4

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g coffee grounds. First pour 25g water, let it bloom for 25 seconds. Second pour until reaching 120g, then stop pouring. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g total water. Extraction time approximately 2:00.

Analysis: Using a three-stage brewing method to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back stage flavors of the coffee. Because V60 has many ribs and faster drainage, stopping the flow can extend the extraction time.

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