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

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Yemen is located on the Arabian Peninsula of the Asian continent, but it is very close to Africa—just across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. However, other Arab countries do not produce coffee, so people have classified Yemen coffee as a member of the North African coffee family. So what exactly is Yemen Mocha?

Mocha is the export port for Yemen coffee. In coffee trade history, it was difficult to name all the tiny sub-regions, even though the coffee produced by these insignificant small regions was truly excellent. Therefore, they used the export location as the name. Early natural processed beans from East Africa were all exported to various parts of the world through Mocha Port. Today, Mocha Port has long been silted and disappeared, and many Ethiopian natural processed beans also name themselves Mocha, such as the well-known Harar Mocha. I think this is because its flavor shares some common characteristics with Yemen coffee.

The most correct spelling for Mocha coffee should be Al-Mahka, which is the Arabic spelling. However, it ultimately appears as Mocca or Mocha on burlap bags. Regardless of naming and spelling trivialities, Yemen coffee is the most unique and expensive coffee in the world. Overall, its style is "wild" or "natural" coffee flavor with high complexity and earthy notes. For some people, it has a pungent spice aroma, but no matter what, you must find time to try it. If you fall deeply in love with it, that will be the beginning of a whole new coffee journey.

Yemen is very likely the first country in the world to use coffee as a cash crop. Legend has it that coffee was introduced to Yemen by Islamic Sufi pilgrims from Ethiopia in the 6th century. Yemen's coffee culture is different from other regions—exporters do not buy directly from farms but purchase from large intermediate channel dealers. The local large channel dealers receive coffee that still contains pods—the entire dried coffee cherries are usually stored in cellars. The special flavor of Yemen coffee that people love may come from their ancient trading methods. Yemen's coffee farmers have not been harmed by trading through large channel dealers, mainly because local coffee cultivation land is limited, coupled with high altitude and limited water resources, making production very scarce. Meanwhile, the demand for Yemen coffee is extremely high, keeping Yemen coffee prices high.

Yemen coffee is not easy to grow and harvest. Most farmland grows khat, a plant said to have mild stimulating effects. This plant absorbs water from underground, thereby destroying the underground aquifer. Coffee cultivation is different—I hope to make some changes so that farmers will 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 tobacco and smoky aftertaste

Matari is the most famous coffee bean from Yemen, located in 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 coffee grounds, Fuji Royal "ghost tooth" burr grinder setting 4, V60 dripper, 88-89°C water temperature. First pour 30g of water for 25s bloom, then pour to 104g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 220g total. Avoid the last 5g. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time around 2:00 (counting starts from after completing the bloom pour).

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