Can Yemen Mocha Coffee Be Brewed Well with French Press? What Are the Tips for Brewing Mocha Coffee?

Introduction to Yemen Mocha Coffee Growing Regions

Yemen produces Peaberry beans: These coffee beans are smaller and rounder than most coffee beans, resembling peas, and are sometimes called Mocha coffee beans. The appearance of Mocha coffee beans is similar to Ethiopian Harrar coffee beans - they are small-grained, highly acidic, and mixed with a peculiar and indescribable spicy flavor. When tasted carefully, you can also discern a hint of chocolate flavor, making the attempt to add chocolate to coffee a natural development process.

In Yemen, coffee growers plant poplar trees to provide the necessary shade for coffee trees. As in the past, these trees are planted on steep terraces to maximize the use of limited rainfall and land resources. Besides Typica and Bourbon coffee trees, more than ten different coffee tree species native to Ethiopia are also cultivated in Yemen. Authentic "Mocha coffee beans" are only produced in the Republic of Yemen on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula, growing on steep mountain slopes at altitudes of 3,000 to 8,000 feet, making it the world's oldest coffee.

Mokha Mattari

A prestigious coffee market name from Mattari in the Bani Mattar (also spelled Bany Mattar) province west of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. It's high-altitude coffee that typically has excellent red wine aroma, dried fruit flavors, full body, and often displays chocolate bittersweetness when dark roasted. High-quality Mattari beans are small, with raw beans having a fragrant sweet wine aroma and moderate ripe fruit fermentation notes. It always emerges as a winner due to its more distinct Yemeni style.

Mokha San'ani

A broad market name for coffee from 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 (left photo shows Yemen's capital Sana'a). Grown at slightly lower altitudes than Mattari, it generally has a lighter body than Mattari, lower acidity, but good fruit aroma, often with better ripe fruit and wild flavors than Mattari. In my experience, San'ani quality has varied greatly in recent years, with occasional inferior batches that are flat, earthy, or overly fermented. Careful cupping and selection is essential work for coffee merchants - absolutely no cutting corners.

Mokha Ismaili

One of the traditional ancient varieties, a market name for famous coffee from central Yemen, also described as a botanical classification of traditional Yemeni coffee with high beverage quality. Grown at very high altitudes, above 6,500 feet, characterized by rounder bean shapes and smaller than Mattari, with full body and high complexity. Generally, it often outperforms Mattari. This is the least produced and most expensive Yemen Mocha (Yemen Mocha is already not cheap). High-quality Mokha Ismaili is produced in the Hirazi region (though not as famous as Bani Matar, it's the best-regarded growing area locally) on high mountain slopes, with Hirazi's highest altitude reaching 8,000 feet!

Mokha Rimi

Produced in the Djebel Remi (also known as Raimi, Rayma) region, quality similar to San'ani. Mokha Rimi typically has slightly stronger fermentation notes, occasionally showing surprisingly rich raisin sweetness. When properly roasted, the coffee beans smell like opening a bottle of rich fruit jam.

Mokha Yafeh

Produced in Yafeh (also known as Yaffe) province in southern Yemen, this is an uncommon Yemen Mocha and Yemen's only "southern flavor." Production is limited, and most is exported to neighboring United Arab Emirates, rarely seen in the international specialty coffee market.

Arabian Mocha

A single-origin coffee from the mountainous regions of Yemen on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula bordering the Red Sea. Among the world's best cultivated coffees, famous for its high viscosity and special rich wine-like acidity.

Yemen Mocha achieves different schools based on growing regions, much like the chocolate and acidity of MATTARI Mocha, and the wildness and fragrance of SANANI Mocha.

Characteristics of Yemen Coffee

Although Yemen coffee is high-quality, smooth, and aromatic, it has shortcomings - quality cannot be consistently guaranteed, and its coffee bean grading system is also uncertain. Traditionally, Yemen's best coffee beans come from Mattari, followed by Sharki, and then Sanani. These coffee beans have low caffeine content. Dark-roasted Yemen coffee often displays chocolate-like bittersweet notes, influencing today's chocolate-flavored specialty coffees to also be labeled "Mocha."

Yemen coffee possesses the world's most unique, rich, and fascinating complex aromas: red wine fragrance, wildness, dried fruit, blueberry, grape, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, woody notes, and even chocolate. You can see various adjectives used to describe Yemen Mocha. Just as Mocha has many meanings, its English spelling also varies: Moka, Moca, Mocca are common spellings. On Yemeni coffee bags and documents, there are as many as four local spellings: "Mokha," "Makha," "Morkha," "Mukha" - all representing the same meaning.

Yemen Mocha has complex and varied flavors. For coffee roasters, how to bring out the best flavors of Yemen Mocha is a major challenge! Light-medium roast reveals fruity sweet aromas, mild, warm sun-dried fermentation notes; dark roast reveals rich red wine fragrance and bittersweet chocolate aftertaste.

Flavor: Exotic, slightly wine-like, spicy and stimulating, unique and not to be missed

Recommended Roasting Method: Medium Roast

★★★: Excellent

Yemen Coffee Market

Yemen's coffee is exported from December to April of the following year. A long-standing problem has been that coffee produced in the north is adulterated with inferior substances before being shipped from the southern port of Aden. Only coffee shipped from the port of Hodeida can be confirmed as truly northern-produced. Most of Yemen's coffee grows under natural conditions, mainly due to growers' lack of funds.

Yemen Mocha Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

Yemen Mocha coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer excellent value-for-money - each 227-gram package costs only about 85 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often reach dozens of yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services.

https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473