Introduction to Yemeni Coffee Estates: Ismaili Haraazi Coffee Beans with Red Wine Aroma

Ismaeli, some say, is the oldest coffee variety; others say it is a growing region. In the local Haraazi market in Yemen, vendors of spices, tea, Qat and coffee say their coffee beans are special precisely because they are always mixed together, creating a very distinctive flavor. Ismaeli grows in incredibly steep, rocky terrain, with coffee planted on etched terraces alongside Qat. It has always had a strong, bold character with surprising red wine aromas.

Property Characteristics

Farmer: Smallholders (various small farmers)

Region: Haraazi

Country: Yemen

Farm Size: 2.8 Hectares

Altitude: 1,840 - 2,125 meters

Certification: None

Coffee Characteristics

Variety: Mainly Jaa'di, also Tuffahi, Dawairi and Ismaili

Processing System: Traditional natural (Yemeni traditional rooftop sun-drying)

Appearance: 15-16 screen

Top Jury Descriptions: Cupping roast level: 60 seconds after first crack (Cinnamon roast)

Aroma/Flavor: Strawberry, pineapple, cinnamon, clove, red wine aroma, maple syrup, caramel

Acidity: Tannic acid, tartaric acid

Complexity & Other: Exuberant fruit-wine aroma, velvety mouthfeel, chocolate aftertaste, prominent spice notes; recommended as a pour-over single-origin coffee bean

FrontStreet Coffee Review: Yemeni coffee is my favorite. Ismaeli is not easy to obtain, and its red wine aroma only improves with time.

Yemen sits on the Arabian Peninsula of the Asian continent, but very close to Africa - just across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Other Arab countries do not produce coffee, however, so the world categorizes Yemeni coffee within the North African coffee family. So what is Yemeni Mocha? Mocha is the export port for Yemeni coffee. In coffee trade history it was difficult to name all the tiny sub-regions, even though the coffee from these seemingly insignificant places was truly excellent. So the export location was used as the name, and nearby sun-dried beans from East Africa that were originally shipped around the world from Mocha port were included as well. Today Mocha port has long since silted up and disappeared, and many Ethiopian sun-dried beans also style themselves as Mocha, such as the well-known Harar Mocha. I think this is because their flavors share some common characteristics with Yemeni coffee.

The most correct spelling of Mocha coffee should be Al-Mahka, the Arabic spelling, but it ultimately came to be written as Mocca or Mocha on the burlap sacks. Setting these naming and spelling quibbles aside, Yemeni coffee is the world's most unique and expensive coffee. In overall style it is a wild, natural coffee flavor with earthy notes and extremely high complexity. To some people the spice notes are pungent, but in any case you must find time to try it. Among the several top-quality Yemeni coffees purchased from Direct Coffee, you will surely discover that you particularly like this unique coffee. If you fall deeply in love with it too, that will be the beginning of a brand new coffee journey.

Yemen was very likely the first country in the world to use coffee as a cash crop. Legend has it that coffee was introduced by 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 intermediary distributors. The coffee local distributors receive contains pods - whole sun-dried coffee cherries - usually stored in cellars. The special flavor of Yemeni coffee that the world loves perhaps comes from these ancient trade methods. Yemeni coffee farmers have not been harmed by dealing through large distributors, mainly because local coffee-growing land is limited; combined with high altitude and scarce water resources, production is very small. At the same time, demand for Yemeni coffee is extremely high, which keeps prices elevated.

Yemeni coffee cultivation and harvesting are not easy. Most farmland grows Qat, a plant whose leaves are said to have mild stimulating effects. Qat draws water from underground, damaging the water table. Coffee cultivation is different - we hope to make some changes so that farmers stop growing Qat. But the profit from Qat is dozens of times that of coffee. Coffee beans can only rely on government persuasion to maintain small-scale cultivation alongside Qat. Perhaps this adds even more imaginative space to Yemeni beans.

Yemen Coffee Industry Statistics

Total coffee farms: Approximately 330,000

Harvest time: Main crop October-December, secondary harvest April

People engaged in coffee-related work: 1,530,000

Processing method: Natural drying of Arabica beans

Grading: No management institution, no grading system

Cultivation shading method: Wild cultivation, with shading but no written records; coffee planted on terraces

Organic certification: No certification; all coffee is grown organically following ancient methods, without chemical pesticides or other agents

Main coffee growing regions: Mattari, Hirazi, Haimi, Saihi, Ismaili, Sharasi, Dhamari, Rimy

Production ranking: 10th in Asia, 46th in the world

Coffee varieties: More than 10 special local native Mocha varieties, introduced from Ethiopia

Coffee introduction: Introduced in the 6th century or earlier from Harar, the native home of Arabica in Ethiopia. Yemen was the first coffee-growing country after Ethiopia.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A coffee as complex as Yemeni Ismaeli deserves a brewer that can keep up. The Hario V60 - designed by Hario of Tokyo, the glassmaker founded in 1921 and refined into its familiar form in 2004 - uses a 60-degree cone and a single large hole, so water must travel to the center of the bed and the flow rate is entirely in your hands. That fast, controllable extraction is exactly what lets layered aromatics and lively acidity come through.

For the fruit-and-floral style that suits a V60, FrontStreet Coffee suggests FrontStreet Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gedingding, a washed G1 coffee with white florals, citrus and a green-tea finish, or FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui, a natural-process coffee bursting with strawberry, passion fruit and other ripe tropical notes. Both reward a careful pour and will help you taste the family of flavors that Yemeni coffee shares with Ethiopia's best.