What are the characteristics of Yemen Mocha Haimi? The difference from Mattari coffee

Yemen sits on the Arabian Peninsula of the Asian continent, yet it is very close to Africa — just across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Because other Arab countries do not produce coffee, Yemen's coffee has come to be grouped with the North African coffee family. So what exactly is Yemen Mocha?

Mocha is the export port for Yemeni coffee. In the history of the coffee trade, naming every tiny sub-region was impractical, even though the coffee from those insignificant little places was genuinely excellent — so exporters simply used the port of export as the name. Early natural-processed beans from East Africa all left for the wider world through Mocha Port. Today the port has long since silted up and disappeared, yet many Ethiopian natural beans still call themselves Mocha, such as the well-known Harar Mocha — a nod, presumably, to the flavors they share with Yemeni coffee.

The most correct spelling of Mocha coffee is Al-Mahka, its Arabic form, though it ends up as Mocca or Mocha on the burlap sacks. Setting aside the trivia of names and spellings, Yemeni coffee remains the most distinctive and expensive in the world. Its style is broadly a "wild" or "natural" coffee flavor, high in complexity with earthy notes; to some drinkers it carries a pungent spice aroma. Either way, you owe it to yourself to try it — and if you fall deeply in love with it, that will be the start of an entirely new coffee journey.

Yemen is very likely the first country in the world to treat coffee as a cash crop. Legend holds that coffee reached Yemen by way of Islamic Sufi pilgrims from Ethiopia in the 6th century. Yemen's coffee culture differs from other regions: exporters do not buy directly from farms but from large intermediate dealers. Those local dealers take delivery of coffee still in its pods — whole dried cherries, usually stored in cellars. The special flavor people love in Yemeni coffee may well come from these ancient trading methods. Yemen's farmers have not been harmed by selling through the large dealers, mainly because arable coffee land is limited and the combination of high altitude and scarce water makes production very small. Meanwhile demand for Yemeni coffee is extremely high, which keeps prices high.

Yemeni coffee is not easy to grow or harvest. Most farmland is planted to khat, a plant said to have mild stimulating effects; it draws water from underground and in doing so damages the aquifer. Coffee cultivation is different — the hope is to make changes so that farmers no longer grow khat.

Yemen Mocca Matari

■ Country: Yemen

■ Region: Bani Matar

■ Altitude: 2000-2400 meters

■ Processing method: Natural

■ Variety: Matari

■ Flavor description: Full-bodied, rich texture, woody, wine-like, juicy, berry, dried fruit, longan, and other flavors, with a tobacco and smoky aftertaste

Matari is Yemen's most famous coffee bean, from the Bani Matari highlands west of the capital, Sana'a. It has a strong, rich flavor with distinct berry aromas.

Yemen Mocca Haimi

■ Country: Yemen

■ Region: Al-Haimah

■ Altitude: 1500-2200 meters

■ Processing method: Natural

■ Variety: Haimi

■ Flavor description: Woody, fresh pod and other plant notes, with chocolate and cream flavors, quite clean

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestion Parameters:

1. Dripper: V60

2. Water temperature: 88°C

3. Grind size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 4

4. Roast level: Medium roast

5. Bloom time: 25 seconds

Flavor: Balanced, chocolate, persistent caramel sweetness in the aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee Suggested Method:

15g of grounds, Fuji Royal "ghost tooth" burr grinder setting 4, V60 dripper, 88–89°C water. First pour 30g of water for a 25-second bloom, then pour to 104g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly to 220g total. Avoid the last 5g. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time around 2:00 (timing starts after the bloom pour is finished).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Yemen's wild, natural character shares its roots with Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and FrontStreet's Ethiopian lineup traces that same lineage. The FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the natural place to begin: it delivers the clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity that baristas mean when they speak of Yirgacheffe, a small town in southern Ethiopia that stays spring-like all year, veiled in mist and cool and damp, where thousands of coffee varieties thrive and give the cup its interwoven florals and fruit acidity, light and elegant with a tea-like body — like a clean glass of lemon tea.

For the natural-processing style that Yemen is known for, FrontStreet's naturally processed Ethiopians are the closest match. The FrontStreet Gudingding cooperative sits in the Worka zone at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge, once part of the Woka cooperative under the YCFCU; in 2012 the group — some 300 member farmers — became an independent cooperative, and because the fruit is stripped before drying, its inherent aromas come through clearly as citrus and lemon with elegant white florals. FrontStreet's natural Red Cherry shows peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon, while the FrontStreet Huakui, from the Hambella area of Guji in Sidamo, uses traditional natural processing across a 200-hectare farm, drying ripe cherries on raised beds for 21 days and turning them constantly; roasted light-medium it gives a mild fermented-wine note with florals, citrus, and mango, a thick body, honeyed sweetness, and a cocoa-spice finish.