San'ani Mokha San'ani Coffee Region | Traditional Natural Processing of Local Native Mokha Varieties Jaa'

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San'ani Mokha Coffee Region | Ancient Natural Sun-Drying Processing Method and Flavor Profiles of Local Native Mocha Varieties: Jaa'di, Taffahi, Dawairi

Mocha San'ani is a blend from tens of thousands of small farms on the mountain slopes near the capital San'a. The growing altitude is slightly lower than Mattari, and generally speaking, the body is lighter than Mattari with lower acidity, but the fruit aroma is excellent, often having better ripe fruit and wild flavors than Mattari. Based on experience, San'ani quality varies greatly, with occasional inferior products that have flat flavors, earthy tastes, or excessive fermentation. Careful cupping and selection is essential work for coffee importers—absolutely no cutting corners. In fact, Yemen is located on the Arabian Peninsula of the Asian continent, very close to Africa—just across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. However, other Arab countries do not produce coffee, so the world classifies Yemen coffee as African coffee. Mocha is Yemen's coffee export port. Because naming all extremely small sub-regions in coffee trade history has certain difficulties, even though coffee from these insignificant small regions is excellent, it was named after the export location. Nearby, including sun-dried beans from East Africa, were originally exported from Mocha Port to worldwide destinations. Today, Mocha Port has long been silted and disappeared, and many Ethiopian sun-dried beans are also named Mocha, such as the well-known Harar Mocha, because their flavors share common characteristics with Yemen coffee.

Yemen was the first country to use coffee as a cash crop. Legend says that in the 6th century, Islamic Sufi pilgrims introduced it from Ethiopia. The most correct spelling should be Al-Mahka, which is the Arabic spelling. It grows on steep terrain with little rainfall, poor soil, and insufficient sunlight—unique and difficult conditions unfavorable to coffee growth, yet these have nurtured the irreplaceable Yemen Mocha. Most wild Yemen beans are unmanaged, growing naturally, then maturing, falling, and drying. Farmers only do the work of collection. Overall style is "wild" or "natural" with earthy complexity. For some people, it's pungent with spice aromas, but regardless, you must find time to try it. If you deeply fall in love with it, that will be the beginning of a completely new coffee journey. Yemen Sanani is located in the capital region, with coffee grown on terraces. There are wild varieties without verifiable documentation. Sanani's greatest characteristic is that raw beans have a fermented wine aroma. The calm, lingering fermented wine aroma is not found in sun-dried beans from other countries.

Compared to the washed processing methods of most coffee producing regions in the world, Yemen coffee is entirely naturally sun-dried. The hulling process with stone grinding (crushing between two stones) causes broken beans to be mixed in, creating an uneven appearance. Raw beans are often mixed with small branches, small stones, and even dried insects (which are screened out during roasting). It also possesses the world's most unique, rich, and fascinating complex aromas: "red wine fragrance, wild flavor, dried fruit taste, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, and even chocolate..." You can see all kinds of adjectives used to describe Yemen Mocha!

Because they are dried with the fruit pulp still attached, the coffee cherry flavors have the opportunity to "seep into" the coffee beans. When coffee fruits fall on the dry soil of the African plateau, they also absorb the flavors of surrounding organic matter, plus the "sun flavor" imparted by the fierce Arabian Peninsula winter sun (you can smell similar aromas on sun-dried quilts), the ripe fruit fermentation flavor from natural fermentation of the pulp, and some earthy notes... The 300,000 coffee farms spread across elevations from 3,000 to 8,000 feet, along with ancient, 100% organic processing methods, create the world's unique Yemen Mocha.

Coffee Characteristics

Variety: 10 special local native Mocha varieties, mainly Jaa'di, Taffahi, Dawairi

Processing System: Red ripe cherries dried on African Beds

Harvest Period: Main crop harvest period October-December, secondary harvest in some regions during April

Aroma/Flavor: Banana, spices, cinnamon, clove, bergamot, maple, longan, chocolate

Acidity: Citrus, plum, cherry, tartaric acid

Complexity and Other: Rose perfume, fresh milk-like texture, rich and mellow, heavy caramel sweetness, persistent fruit wine aftertaste. Yemen Sanani raw beans are full of wine fragrance and acidity, with fewer woody notes, mainly fermented fruit aromas. The deep, close aroma that opens up in the aftertaste is the strength of Yemen coffee.

Confusing Naming

Yemen coffee's naming system still has no universal standard today, nor official grading systems. 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 and Yemen Mocha San'ani use the "origin naming method," indicating production from Bani Matar province and the mountain slopes near the capital San'a respectively; Yemen Mocha Ismaili uses the "variety name naming method," and its production area is located in Hirazi, southwest of Bani Matar.

Notably, Ismaili is both an ancient Yemen tree variety name and a place name, often causing confusion and making it difficult to distinguish. The only way to know whether the Mokha Ismaili you purchased 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 clarity.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommends Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 88°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 4

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g coffee grounds. First infusion with 25g water, 25s bloom. Second infusion to 120g water, then pause. Wait until the water level drops to half, then continue infusion. Slowly pour water until reaching 225g total. Extraction time around 2:00.

Analysis: Using three-stage brewing to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back end flavors of the coffee. Because V60 has many ribs and faster drainage rate, pausing during infusion can extend the extraction time.

Important Notice :

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