Yemen Coffee Bean Varieties: Udaini Coffee Characteristics, Stories, and Flavors - Yemen Mocha Coffee Flavor Introduction

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Yemen is one of the ancient coffee-producing countries with quite wild flavors. Since the 17th century, Europeans have been fascinated by the wild Yemen Mocha, a fascination that continues to this day. Yemen has an extremely dry climate with annual rainfall of 400-750mm. Fortunately, Yemen's coffee genes come from the drought-resistant Harar variety from Ethiopia, so Yemen's coffee beans have exclusively used natural processing since ancient times. It is also the only coffee-producing country in the world that uses exclusively natural processing. However, in recent years, Yemen's turbulent situation has severely impacted its coffee industry. FrontStreet Coffee was fortunate to obtain coffee beans from Yemen.

The Origin of Yemen Mocha Coffee

Yemen is located at the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, adjacent to Saudi Arabia and Oman, bordering the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea. The western and southern parts of Yemen are continuous mountains and plateaus, with Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb at an altitude of 3,666 meters, the highest point in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula. The northeastern part is a vast plateau region.

When it comes to mocha coffee, many people think of the chocolate-flavored Italian milk coffee found in today's coffee shops or mocha coffee made with a mocha pot. However, the Yemen Mocha Coffee mentioned here refers to the first batch of Yemen coffee sold to Europe in the early 17th century. It was exported through the ancient small port - "Mocha Port," which amazed Europeans. They called the delicious coffee from Mocha Port "Mocha Coffee," which is the origin of the term "Mocha Coffee."

Today, the old Mocha Port has long been abandoned due to sediment deposition (now known as Al Makha), becoming a historical port with only white sand beaches. Exports are now handled by the northwestern Hodeida Port, but people have long been accustomed to the name Mocha, and the name of Mocha resounds throughout the world. The name has been used to this day.

Yemen Coffee Growing Regions

Yemen's specialty coffee growing regions are mainly concentrated in the central plateau regions of Mattari, San'ani, and Ismaili.

Mokha Mattari

From Bani Mattar (another spelling is Bany Mattar) west of Yemen's capital Sana'a, Mattari is the most renowned coffee market name. It is coffee produced at high altitudes, typically with good red wine aroma, dried fruit flavors, rich texture, and often exhibits bittersweet chocolate flavors when dark roasted. Quality Mattari beans are small in size, with a sweet wine-like fragrance and moderate fermented fruit aroma when raw. They often emerge as winners due to their more distinct Yemeni style. Altitude: approximately 2,000-2,400 meters.

Mokha San'ani

A broad market name for coffee from some growing areas west of Yemen's capital Sana'a. It's a blend from tens of thousands of small farms on the slopes near the capital San'a. The growing altitude is slightly lower than Mattari, generally with a thinner body than Mattari and lower acidity, but with good fruity flavors, often exhibiting better ripe fruit and wild flavors than Mattari. Altitude: approximately 1,650 meters.

Mokha Ismaili

One of the traditional ancient varieties, some also describe it as a growing region. It's a market name for a famous coffee from central Yemen, also described as a traditional botanical classification of Yemeni coffee with high beverage quality. Grown at very high altitudes in rugged mountainous areas above 1,981 meters. Characterized by more rounded beans with inconsistent sizes, smaller than Mattari beans, with rich texture and high complexity. Often outperforms Mattari. This is the least produced and most expensive Yemen Mocha (Yemen Mocha is already not inexpensive). Quality Mokha Ismaili is produced in the mountainous areas of the Hirazi region (although as famous as Bani Matar, it's the region with the best local reputation in Yemen), with the highest altitude in Hirazi reaching up to 2,438 meters!

Yemen Coffee Varieties

In recent years, Yemen has mainly cultivated Typica and Bourbon varieties. The Mocha mentioned above is actually the real name of Yemen coffee varieties - Udaini. It is not only an ancient Typica variety but also one of the most common and oldest coffee varieties in Yemen. The beans are very small, some call them "small mocha." Mocha is a flat bean, not a round bean. Small but fragrant and rich.

Divisive Coffee Flavors

The wild flavors of Yemen coffee cause polarized evaluations among coffee connoisseurs. Those who like this wild taste consider it a wild fragrance brought by fermentation, while those who dislike it think it smells like durian. Such flavor evaluations repeatedly stimulated FrontStreet Coffee's curiosity, so they obtained Yemen Mocha to roast at home, experiencing this wild feeling through cupping and brewing. FrontStreet Coffee believes that although Yemen Mocha's flavor is full of wildness, spicy aromas, and lacks cleanliness, there is always a hint of surprise behind the wildness.

FrontStreet Coffee Yemen Mocha Coffee

• Country: Yemen
• Region: Mattari
• Altitude: 1,300-1,900m
• Varieties: Typica, Bourbon
• Processing: Natural processing

Yemen Natural Processing Method

Yemeni farmers' natural processing method is rougher than Ethiopia's. Coffee cherries are not picked when they turn red, but left to naturally dry on the branches until they turn purplish-black and fall to the ground before being collected. This differs 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 for Yemen's particularly wild flavors. However, because farmers store naturally processed beans for different durations, almost every batch of raw beans has its own "distinct personality."

Yemen's natural processing method involves manually harvesting fully ripe coffee beans and then placing the freshly harvested beans directly in dedicated coffee drying fields or their own compacted earthen courtyards to sun-dry. During the drying period, similar to drying rice in Taiwan, wooden rakes are used to turn the beans to ensure even drying. After about twenty days when the coffee is completely dry, the outer pulp and skin are removed to extract the coffee beans. Yemen coffee is rich, complex, wild, mellow, with strong fermentation flavors and lower acidity characteristics. Combined with an uncertain factor in Yemen coffee (the timing of seasonal rainfall), it's unpredictable. Calling it the world's most special coffee would not be an exaggeration.

FrontStreet Coffee's Raw Bean Analysis

When lightly roasted, this Yemen Mocha bean has relatively bright fruit acidity with fruity sweet aromas, spice, and chocolate flavors; when medium roasted, it has red berry, vanilla, cream, caramel, and chocolate flavors; while when dark roasted, it exhibits distinct chocolate, nut, and spice flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster chose medium roast for the degree. Yemen Mocha belongs to raw beans with relatively low moisture content. Considering the inconsistent bean sizes, the entry temperature for raw beans with low moisture content should not be too high. Additionally, early dehydration should be accelerated to retain moisture for first crack development of flavor and texture. Preheat for 30 seconds, open the airflow to 3, until the raw beans turn light green or white, open the airflow to 4, and after first crack, open to 5 (maximum).

Heat the roaster to 170°C and load the beans, set airflow to 3. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 140°C, keeping airflow unchanged. Roast until 5'00", temperature reaches 147.2°C, the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 110°C, change airflow to 4.

At 8'00 minutes, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'23" first crack begins, reduce heat to 60°C, fully open airflow (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to avoid silence of cracking sounds), and unload at 197.9°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a Kalita dripper to brew Yemen Mocha coffee. The Kalita trapezoidal dripper design presents a shape that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom when viewed from the side, with a circular shape at the top. This design helps concentrate water flow and allows coffee particles to distribute evenly, reducing stacking conditions. There are many ribs on the cup wall, distributed in straight lines with consistent distances between them, aimed at increasing the speed of exhaust and water flow. Meanwhile, its flow rate is relatively slow, mainly using immersion for extraction, which can present better body.

• Grind: White sugar size/medium-coarse grind (70-75% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve)
• Water temperature: 90°C
• Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
• Coffee amount: 15g

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented brewing method: First, pour in a circular motion with 30g of water to evenly wet the coffee grounds, let bloom for 30s. Then slightly increase the water flow, directly inject with a small central stream to 125g for the first segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue with a small central stream to 225g, then stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. The extraction time from the start of blooming is 2'00.

Brewing flavors: Medium complexity with layers, a hint of grape acidity appearing at the end of changing flavors in the mouth, long spice aftertaste, moistening and sweet return with a round Middle Eastern milk tea feeling that lasts for a long time, with malt sweetness remaining in the cup bottom.

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