Yemen Mocha Specialty Coffee Beans: Mattari Region Introduction, Cultivation History, and Coffee Varieties

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Yemen Mocha Premium Coffee Beans: Mattari Region's Cultivation History and Flavor

Origin Information

Region: Yemen, Mattari

Geographic Environment: Altitude 1400 meters above

Processing Method: Natural (Sun-dried)

Flavor Characteristics: Abundant acidity, strong and stimulating, more prominent than the fruit flavors, with perfect depth and concentration. As the coffee cools, it reveals hints of fruit aroma and chocolate.

Until the sixth century AD, Yemen was known as Arabia, and coffee trees carried from Yemen to other places were therefore also called Arabian coffee trees. The trees' origin is Ethiopia, and it was the Dutch who spread them worldwide. Dutch merchants traveling east around the Cape of Good Hope had to pass the east coast of Africa to Yemen's Mocha port before beginning their long journey to India. In 1696 the Dutch introduced coffee trees to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and then to Batavia in Java.

Mocha beans are smaller and rounder than most coffee beans, making them look very much like peas - in fact, peaberry beans are sometimes called Mocha beans. Mocha beans resemble Ethiopia's Harrar beans: small, high in acidity, with discernible chocolate notes. That is why adding chocolate to coffee was a natural development.

In Yemen, coffee growers plant poplar trees to shade the coffee trees. As in the past, these trees are planted on steep terraces to make the most of limited rainfall and land. Beyond Typica and Bourbon, more than ten coffee species native to Ethiopia are also cultivated in Yemen.

Even high-quality coffee such as premium Mocha, however, retains dried fruit pulp on the beans after air-drying. Traditional stone mills are still frequently used to remove the hard, dry fruit shells, which leaves the beans irregular in shape and often damages them.

Despite Yemen coffee's superior quality, smooth texture and aromatic profile, there are shortcomings: quality cannot be consistently guaranteed, and the grading system is uncertain. Traditionally, Yemen's best beans come from Mattari, followed by Sharki, then Sanani. All these regions use natural processing, so the beans carry wild flavors. Overall, Yemen coffee has a unique character - wild, complex and stimulating - with a charming wine-like acidity and deep dark chocolate that many people love. These beans are low in caffeine and are exported from December to April of the following year.

A long-standing problem is that coffee produced in the north is mixed with inferior substances before it ships from the southern port of Aden. Only coffee shipped from the port of Hodeida can be confirmed as genuinely produced in the north.

How to Brew Yemen Mocha Coffee

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 Profile: Balanced, chocolate notes, persistent caramel sweetness in the aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Method: Use 15 g of coffee ground on a Fuji Royal ghost-tooth grinder at setting 4, a V60 dripper and water at 88-89°C. First pour 30 g of water for a 25-second bloom, then pour to 104 g and stop. When the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly until you reach 220 g total; avoid the last 5 g. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15, with an extraction time of approximately 2:00, counted from when the bloom pour is completed.

Related Recommendations: What is Mocha coffee? Yemen Mocha-Mattari Natural beans are Yemen's true Mocha coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you love the wild, wine-like acidity of Yemen Mocha, the FrontStreet Coffee Washed Yirgacheffe offers a cleaner take on the same corner of the coffee map. As an entry-level Ethiopian single origin, it delivers a clear jasmine floral note and bright citrus acidity - the character coffee people sum up as Yirgacheffe, a small southern Ethiopian town where thousands of coffee trees thrive in cool, misty, humid conditions. The cup is delicate and elegant with a tea-like body, like a clean, refreshing lemon tea.

For something more cooperative-driven and traceable, the FrontStreet Coffee Gedingding Cooperative Coffee is an excellent choice. Gedingding lies in the Worka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe and began as part of the Worka cooperative under the YCFCU alliance before becoming an independent cooperative of about 300 farmers in 2012. Because the pulp is removed before drying, its inherent aromas come through more clearly - citrus and lemon notes over elegant white florals, bright and refined overall.

And for a natural-process contrast, the FrontStreet Coffee Sun-Dried Huakui comes from the Hambela region of Guji, Sidamo, on a 200-hectare farm. The ripe cherries are dried on raised beds for 21 days with constant turning and periodic hand-sorting, and after a medium-light roast the cup shows a light vinous aroma, florals and citrus, mango, honeyed sweetness and cocoa with spice - a full body and a long finish.