Why Yemen Coffee Beans are Called Mocha Coffee and the Relationship Between Yemen Mocha and Mocha Coffee

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

The flavor characteristics of Yemen Mocha are quite distinctive, with noticeable acidity and easily discernible cocoa flavors. The intensity of the cocoa aroma increases with the concentration of the coffee. Consequently, when preparing coffee, people add hot cocoa to it, creating a fancy mocha coffee that better showcases the unique characteristics of mocha.

Mocha originated in Yemen, the world's first country to grow coffee on a large scale. To this day, Yemeni coffee farmers still preserve the methods of planting and processing coffee that their ancestors used 500 years ago. Although most Central and South American countries have switched to using machinery to process coffee beans with considerable efficiency, Yemeni people continue to use ancient methods, processing coffee beans with camel or donkey-driven stone mills. They are truly living fossils of coffee processing history that exist nowhere else in the world. Therefore, unlike Blue Mountain coffee, the mocha coffee we can taste today is virtually identical to the mocha coffee consumed by European aristocrats and commoners hundreds of years ago.

Although Yemen is famous for producing mocha, mocha is not native to Yemen. The ancestors of mocha originally grew in Ethiopia. In 575 AD, these coffee beans crossed the Red Sea to Yemen on the opposite shore, where they took root and subsequently became world-renowned. In the early 17th century, Yemeni coffee was first exported to Europe via the ancient port of Mocha. People named this coffee after its export port, calling it "Mocha coffee."

Yemeni mocha holds an important position in the spread of coffee. It is the birthplace of coffee trade, selling coffee to various parts of the world through various channels. Mocha coffee has another name—Arabian coffee—which is the new name given to mocha by European Catholic countries. Since then, for at least 150 years, Yemeni mocha coffee was the only coffee variety exported to Europe. In fact, when mocha first entered Europe, locals were confused by it because the taste of mocha coffee was simply too wonderful. The Vatican's religious authorities never resisted coffee; they included it among Catholic beverages and blessed those who drank coffee. Since then, coffee began to be accepted by Europeans.

Although Ethiopia was the first country in the world to have coffee, it was Yemen that brought these small beans to the world and made them known to people of all nations. Therefore, coffee is an important pillar industry in Yemen and a spiritual symbol for the Yemeni people. On Yemen's national emblem, there is a coffee tree.

Today, mocha coffee is world-famous and known to all, but who would have known about the wonderful connection between the busy port with its many ships before the 18th century and today's mocha coffee.

Yemeni Mocha Coffee

Yemen is located by the Red Sea and is an ancient Arab country. From ancient times to the present, Yemeni coffee has relied entirely on manual labor for the entire process from planting, cultivation to processing. Coffee beans are naturally dried by exposure to sunlight, resulting in small, hard beans. Originating from the city of Muke in Yemen, Yemeni coffee is therefore called mocha coffee. Yemeni coffee is traditional premium coffee with a special, clear flavor, carrying hints of fermented wine taste and natural acidity.

Coffee Origin Information

Origin: Mattari region, Bany Matar province, northern Yemen (Yemen is a country in Southwest Asia)

Altitude: 1,000 – 3,000 meters

Green Bean Information: The bean variety originates from Ethiopia. Dry-processed, sun-dried method, manually husked

Acidity: ★★★★★

Sweetness: ★★★

Bitterness: ★

Body: ★★★★

Aroma: ★★★★

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. Online shop services are also available. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Related Recommendations: What is Mocha coffee? Yemeni Mocha-Mattari sun-dried beans are the true mocha coffee beans from Yemen.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473