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Yemen Mocha Mattari

01 | Regional Introduction

The History of Yemen

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

Traced far enough back, this is also where Noah is said to have built the ark in the Bible.

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

Whatever the truth, perhaps for reasons going back to ancient times, it is said that the people of this land still have strong self-esteem and are extremely independent.

Yemen, which still follows a lifestyle preserved for thousands of years, has many places the central government's authority cannot reach. Ethiopia, separated from Yemen by a sea, also exported coffee through the port of Mocha, so Ethiopian sun-processed coffee was often called Mocha (such as Ethiopia Harra Mokka). Yemen Mocha is the originator of the world coffee trade. Yemen contributed greatly to bringing delicious coffee to the world and was called "Arabian Coffee (Arabia)," which is also the origin of the later name "Arabica original species."

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

Today's "Port of Mocha" has failed to continue its former prosperity, becoming a historic port with only white sandy beaches.

Even so, it still "spreads far and wide" in the name of coffee.

Although Ethiopia is the first country in the world to discover coffee, Yemen was the first country to produce coffee on a large scale as a crop. In the early 17th century, the first batch of Yemeni coffee was exported to Europe through the ancient small port of Mocha, astonishing Europeans. Because every exported coffee bag had to be printed with the MOCHA mark to prove it had been shipped from the port of Mocha, Europeans called the delicious coffee from Mocha "Mocha coffee." This is why early Mocha became synonymous with coffee.

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

The Mattari producing area is located on the high ground west of the capital, at an altitude of 2000-2400 meters. It is the highest-altitude producing area in Yemen, but also the most remote, with inconvenient transport. Farmers often have to wait some time after harvest before the coffee can be transported out.

02 | Processing Method

Ancient Natural Sun-Drying Method

Yemen is a classic of ancient natural sun-dried flavor and the world's only fully natural coffee-producing country. The traditional processing method, without washing, has remained unchanged since the 17th century, when Europeans first became fascinated with wild Mocha. This is tied to Yemen's extremely dry climate. Coffee is mainly planted in the central highlands, with an average annual rainfall of only 400-750 mm, far below the 1,500-2,000 mm that is optimal for Arabica.

Because of that water-scarce environment, farmers have never been able to introduce more advanced washing methods. The wild flavor surpasses Harar coffee, which makes Yemen the best choice for experiencing ancient flavors.

The central highlands of Yemen have rolling mountains and rugged terrain, and smallholders mostly use a fragmented planting pattern. A few plants go on steep slopes, dozens on terraces or cliffs, each with different soil, water and microclimate, producing different aromatic components.

Yemeni farmers' natural sun-drying is rougher than Ethiopia's. Coffee cherries are not picked when they turn red; instead they are left to dry on the branches until they turn purplish-black and fall to the ground, and only then collected. This differs from the refined sun-drying of Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, where red cherries are picked and spread on raised beds. It is the main reason Yemen's wild flavor is so strong.

Yemen's natural sun-drying involves hand-harvesting fully ripe coffee and then placing the freshly picked fruit directly in dedicated coffee drying fields or the household's own compacted mud front yard to take the sun. During the sun-drying period, as with drying rice, wooden rakes are used to turn the fruit so every bean dries evenly. After about twenty days of drying, the outer pulp and skin are removed to extract the coffee beans. Yemeni coffee has rich, complex, wild and mellow flavors, with strong fermentation notes and lower acidity. Yemeni coffee also carries an uncertain factor - the timing of the seasonal rains - that makes it unpredictable, so it is no exaggeration to call it the world's most unusual coffee.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

The grades of Mocha are divided into: Sanani.

Because Yemen's annual coffee production is low, only about 35% is Mocha Sanani and Mocha Mattari, which can be considered the better quality among Yemeni coffees.

Coffee from the Mattari producing area has an "unattractive" appearance, inconsistent size and considerable color variation, looking like a mix of small pea-shaped beans and empty-shell defective beans.

Green Bean Information:

Yemen Mocha Mattari

Country: Yemen

Region: Mattari

Altitude: 1,300~1,900m

Varietal: Typica, Bourbon

Process: Natural / Sundried

Because the bean shape is very small, some people also call it small Mocha. Mocha is a flat bean, not a round bean - small but fragrant.

04 | Roasting Analysis

Yemen Mocha is a green bean with relatively low moisture content. Considering the inconsistent bean size, the drop temperature for low-moisture green beans should not be too high. Steam for 30 seconds, open the air damper to 3, until the green beans turn light green or white, open the air damper to 4, and after first crack, open to 5 (maximum).

FrontStreet Coffee suggests keeping data records before roasting - including bean moisture content, density, origin, processing method and the temperature and humidity of the roasting room - and planning your roast curve. Recording the relevant chemical and physical changes during roasting will help you understand the final result and improve your curve.

Roaster: Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans input

Roasting Curve:

Heat the drum to 170°C, air damper at 3. After 1 minute, adjust the heat to 140°C, air damper unchanged. Roast to 5'00", temperature 147.2°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell disappears completely, dehydration is complete. Adjust the heat to 110°C, air damper to 4.

At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, the toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for first crack. At 8'23" first crack begins; adjust the heat to 60°C, air damper fully open (adjust the heat very carefully, not so low that no cracking sound remains). Drop at 197.9°C.

Cupping Report:

Medium Roast City (Caramel Aroma): Before grinding, the beans have a peanut aroma. After grinding, there is a caramel fragrance. On the palate the layers are complex, with a hint of grape acidity appearing at the end. The spicy aftertaste is long, with a smooth sweetness and saliva production, keeping a Middle Eastern milk-tea feeling for a long time. The bottom of the cup has malt sweetness. Medium-roasted Yemen Mocha keeps changing. It is recommended to brew 7-14 days after roasting, when the complex wild fermentation flavor is at its best.

05 | Brewing Analysis

The condition of the coffee bed in pour-over brewing cannot be ignored - this must be emphasized. The coffee bed plays a subtle role: one of its jobs is to provide resistance, letting the hot water stay in the dripper long enough to extract sufficient flavor compounds. For a medium roast, the coffee bed must also have certain support to perform its "blocking" function. To keep the bed's support from weakening, you have to master water-column intensity and pouring position, plus a stable circular pouring technique, to form a complete pouring method.

1. Filter: V60

2. Water temperature: 88°C

3. Grind size: Fuji grinder setting 4

4. Roast degree: Medium roast

5. Bloom time: 25 seconds

Flavor: Balanced, chocolate, with a persistent caramel sweetness in the aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee's recommended technique: 15g of coffee, Fuji grinder with ghost teeth setting 4, V60 dripper, 88-89°C water. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 25s. Pour to 104g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before pouring again. Slowly pour to 220g, and don't use the last 5g. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time about 2:00 (counted from the end of the bloom pour).

Related reading: the flavor and taste characteristics of Yemeni coffee, and whether Yemen Mocha is delicious.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the wild, fermented character of Yemen Mocha appeals to you, the same ancient terroir can also be tasted in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and today many wild coffee plants still grow in the original forests for farmers to harvest. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe is the classic place to start, with clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity, light and elegant with a tea-like body that tastes like a clean glass of lemon tea.

To explore the cooperative side and the natural side of Ethiopia, FrontStreet Coffee's Gediding Cooperative comes from the Worka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe and, because it strips the fruit before drying, shows citrus, lemon and elegant white florals with a bright, delicate profile. FrontStreet Coffee's natural Red Cherry, dried in the fruit, brings a richer cup with peach, cocoa, honey and lemon. For bolder floral and tropical fruit, FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen comes from the Hambella area of Guji, Sidamo, farmed across 200 hectares with a traditional natural method on raised beds for 21 days, then roasted medium-light for soft fermented wine, florals, citrus and mango with honeyed sweetness and cocoa; FrontStreet Coffee's Hamashu 74158 taps the JARC 74-series varieties for perfume-lemon, strawberry and star-fruit sweetness, and FrontStreet Coffee's Kaffa Forest, grown wild in shade at 1400-2100 meters, finishes with white florals, bright lemon acidity, sweet orange and bergamot and a green-tea note.