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Yemen Mocha Mattari

也门摩卡玛塔莉

Yemen Mocha Mattari - Yemen Mocha

• Country: Yemen
• Region: Mattari
• Altitude: 1,300~1,900m
• Varietal: Typica, Bourbon
• Process: Natural / Sundried

01 | Region Introduction

The History of Yemeni Coffee

Yemen, famous for its frankincense and spice trade, is the world's first place where coffee Mocha was cultivated.

If we trace back to ancient times, this was also the place where Noah built the ark in the Bible.

According to legend, 3,000 years ago, the legendary Queen Sheba led a large delegation carrying gold and spices to Jerusalem to meet King Solomon and gave birth to a son. (It is rumored that this son was the first king of Ethiopia)

Regardless, perhaps due to historical reasons since ancient times, it is said that the people of this land still have a strong sense of pride and are extremely independent.

Yemen, which continues the lifestyle preserved thousands of years ago, is said to have many places where the central government's authority cannot reach. Ethiopia, separated from Yemen by the sea, also used the port of Mocha to export coffee, so Ethiopian natural-processed coffee is often called Mocha (such as Ethiopia Harra Mokka). Yemen Mocha is the originator of world coffee trade. Yemen contributed greatly to promoting delicious coffee to the world. It is called "Arabia Coffee," which is also the origin of the later name "Arabica."

It is said that in the 17th century, the first time Europeans imported coffee and spread it to the world was through the world's largest coffee port - the port of Mocha.

Today's "Port of Mocha" has failed to continue its prosperity compared to its former reputation and has become a historic port with only white sandy beaches.

Even so, it still travels far and wide with the name of coffee.

Although Ethiopia is the first country in the world to discover coffee, Yemen was the first country in the world to produce coffee as a crop on a large scale. In the early 17th century, the first batch of Yemeni coffee was exported to Europe through the ancient small port - Mocha Port, which amazed Europeans. Because all exported coffee bags had to be printed with the MOCHA mark to prove they were transported from Mocha Port, Europeans called the delicious coffee from Mocha Port "Mocha Coffee." This is why early Mocha became synonymous with coffee.

Mokhtar Alkhanshali

Thanks to the discovery of an Islamic scholar, Yemeni coffee began to spread throughout the world from the 16th century, and in the subsequent 150 years, Yemen became the only source of world coffee supply.

But with the later large-scale cultivation of coffee worldwide, Yemeni coffee could not escape the so-called "development trend." Today, Yemeni coffee has once again reached the top of specialty coffee, and we have to mention him - Mokhtar Alkhanshali.

A Yemeni American, his "change of perspective" on coffee originated from a single-origin pour-over. It was from that moment that he entered the coffee industry, learned professional coffee knowledge, traveled to major producing areas in Yemen, created the "Motta model" suitable for Yemeni coffee cultivation and management, and continuously pursued a nearly perfect flavor standard.

Just when he thought he could finally share this rare flavor with the world, the Yemeni civil war broke out, and the entire country was shrouded in the flames of war, cutting off all transportation. Due to the sudden war and "accidents," in order not to let the flavor be destroyed, Mokhtar went through twists and turns and finally brought the beans to the United States across the ocean, ranking first in COFFEE REVIEW's annual list of top 30 coffee beans with a score of 97!

02 | Processing Method

Ancient Natural Processing

Yemen is a classic of ancient natural flavor and the world's only fully natural-processed coffee-producing country. The traditional processing method of no water has remained unchanged since the 17th century when Europeans were fascinated by wild Mocha. This is related to Yemen's extremely dry climate. Coffee is mainly cultivated in the central highlands with an average annual rainfall of only 400-750mm, far below the optimal 1,500-2,000mm for Arabica.

Yemeni coffee grows on steep terrain with little rainfall, poor soil, and insufficient sunlight. These unique and difficult conditions that are unfavorable to coffee growth have cultivated the irreplaceable Yemen Mocha in the coffee world. The main coffee-producing areas are Sanani, Mattari, and Ismaili.

The Mattari region is located in the highlands west of the capital, with an altitude of 2000-2400 meters. It is the highest-altitude producing area in Yemen, but the location is most remote and transportation is inconvenient. Farmers often have to wait for some time after harvesting before they can transport it out.

Due to the water-scarce environment, farmers still cannot introduce more advanced washing methods. The wild flavor surpasses Harar coffee, making Yemen the best choice for experiencing ancient flavors.

The central highlands of Yemen have rolling mountains and rugged terrain. Small farmers mostly adopt a scattered planting method, with a few plants on steep slopes and dozens on terraces or cliffs. Each has different soil and microclimate, so the aromatic components are also different.

Yemeni farmers' natural processing method is rougher than Ethiopia's - they directly spread it on rooftops to dry! This is different from the refined natural processing of Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, where red cherries are picked and spread on "raised African beds." This is the main reason why Yemen's wild flavor is particularly strong.

Yemen's ancient natural processing method involves manually harvesting fully ripe coffee beans and then directly placing the freshly harvested coffee beans in a dedicated coffee drying field or their own compacted earthen front yard to receive sunlight. During the drying period, the beans are generally turned with a wooden rake to ensure even drying of each bean. After about twenty days, when the coffee drying is complete, the outer pulp and skin are removed to extract the coffee beans.

Yemeni coffee has rich, complex, wild, and mellow flavors, with strong fermentation characteristics and lower acidity. In addition, Yemeni coffee often contains an uncertain factor (the timing of seasonal rainfall) that makes it unpredictable. Calling it the world's most special coffee is no exaggeration.

Refined Natural Processing

Mokhtar Alkhanshali also enhances the beans from Yemen's Mocha port with more refined natural processing, and the beans from Yemen's Mocha port speak for themselves with their flavor.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

The grades of Mocha are divided into: Sanani

Coffee from the Mattari region has the characteristic of "unattractive" appearance, with uneven sizes and considerable color differences, looking like it's composed of small pea beans and empty defective beans.

Because the bean shape is very small, some people also call it small Mocha. Mocha is a flat bean, not a round bean. The beans are small but fragrant and rich.

04 | Roasting Analysis

Yemen Mocha belongs to green beans with relatively low moisture content. Considering the uneven size of the beans, the dropping temperature for green beans with low moisture content should not be too high. Steamed for 30 seconds, damper opened to 3, until the color of the green beans turns light green or white, damper opened to 4, and after first crack opened to 5 (maximum).

FrontStreet Coffee suggests keeping good data records before roasting: the moisture content and density of coffee beans, origin, processing method, roasting environment temperature and humidity in the roastery, etc., and planning your roasting curve. Record relevant chemical and physical changes during the roasting process, which will help you better understand the final roasting results and improve the roasting curve.

Roaster: Yangjia 800N, charge 550g green beans

Roasting curve:

Preheat the roaster to 170°C, damper set to 3. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 140°C, damper unchanged. Roast until 5'00", temperature reaches 147.2°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration completed, heat adjusted to 110°C, damper changed to 4;

At the 8'00 minute, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast smell obviously turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, you need to listen carefully to the sound of first crack. First crack starts at 8'23", adjust heat to 60°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop crackling sounds), drop at 197.9°C.

Cupping Report:

Medium roast City (caramel aroma): Before the coffee beans are ground, there is a peanut aroma. After grinding, there is a caramel fragrance. During slurping, the layers are complex, with a hint of grape acidity appearing at the end of mouth changes. The spice aftertaste is long, sweet and juicy with a rounded Middle Eastern milk tea feeling that lasts for a long time. The cup bottom has malt sweetness. Medium-roasted Yemen Mocha will continue to change. It is recommended to brew 7-14 days after roasting when the complex wild fermentation flavor is at its best.

04 | Brewing Analysis

The condition of the coffee bed in pour-over cannot be ignored, this must be emphasized! The coffee bed plays a subtle role, one of which is to provide resistance, allowing hot water to stay in the filter cup long enough to ensure sufficient flavor components are extracted.

Medium roast coffee beds must also have a certain supporting force to exert the "blocking" function. To prevent the weakening of the coffee bed's support, you must master the "strength of the water stream," "position of water pouring," and add "stable circular pouring technique" to form a complete set of "water pouring techniques."

1. Filter: V60
2. Water temperature: 88°C
3. Grind size: Fuji grinder setting 4
4. Roast level: Medium roast
5. Steaming time: 25 seconds

Flavor: Balanced, chocolate, persistent caramel sweetness in aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee suggests technique: 15g coffee, Fuji grinder setting 4, V60 filter, 88-89°C water temperature, first pour 30g water for 25s steaming, pour to 104g then pause, wait until the coffee bed water drops to half before continuing to pour, slowly pour until 220g water, avoid the last 5g, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time about 2:00 (counting from steaming completion after pouring water)

Related recommendations: Description of Yemen coffee flavor and taste characteristics. Is Yemen Mocha coffee good to drink?

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