Yemen Mocha Mattari

01 | Region Introduction

The History of Yemen

Yemen is famous for its frankincense and spice trade, and it was the first region in the world to cultivate Mocha coffee.

Tracing back to ancient times, this is also the land where, according to the Bible, Noah built the ark.

Legend has it that 3,000 years ago the Queen of Sheba led a grand delegation bearing gold and spices to Jerusalem to seek out King Solomon, and bore a son — rumored to be the first king of Ethiopia.

Whatever the truth of these stories, history runs deep here, and the people of this land are said to carry a strong sense of pride and fierce independence.

Yemen has preserved a way of life dating back thousands of years, and there are reportedly many areas where the central government's authority barely reaches. Across the sea, Ethiopia also exported coffee through the port of Mocha — which is why Ethiopian sun-dried coffee is often called Mocha (as in Ethiopia Harar Mokka). Yemeni Mocha was the pioneer of the world coffee trade. Yemen's contribution to spreading coffee around the globe is undeniable, and the coffee was known as "Arabia Coffee," from which the name of the Arabica species ultimately derives.

It is said that in the 17th century, Europeans first imported coffee — and spread it to the world — from the largest coffee port of its day, the Port of Mocha.

Today the "Port of Mocha" no longer enjoys its former prosperity; it has become a historical port of little more than white sandy beaches.

Even so, its name still "travels far and wide" under the banner of coffee.

Ethiopia may have discovered coffee first, but Yemen was the first country to produce it as a crop on a large scale. In the early 17th century, the first shipments of Yemeni coffee reached Europe through the small ancient port of Mocha, and European drinkers were amazed. Because every exported sack had to be stamped "MOCHA" to prove it had shipped from the port, Europeans came to call the delicious coffee from Mocha "Mocha coffee" — and for a time, Mocha was simply a synonym for coffee itself.

Yemeni coffee grows on steep terrain with little rainfall, poor soil, and insufficient sunlight. These difficult, seemingly unfavorable conditions have shaped the irreplaceable Yemen Mocha. The main producing regions are Sanani, Mattari, and Ismaili.

The Mattari region lies in the highlands west of the capital, at an altitude of 2,000–2,400 meters. It is the highest producing area in Yemen, and also the most remote, with poor transport links — farmers often have to wait some time after harvest before the crop can be moved out.

02 | Mocha Coffee Processing Method

Ancient Natural Sun-Drying Method

Yemen is the classic example of ancient natural flavors and the only country in the world producing exclusively sun-dried coffee. The traditional, water-free processing method has remained essentially unchanged since the 17th century, when Europeans first fell for wild Mocha — a fact tied to Yemen's extremely dry climate. Coffee is grown mainly in the central highlands, where average annual rainfall is only 400–750 millimeters, far below the 1,500–2,000 millimeters ideal for Arabica.

Because water is scarce, farmers have never been able to introduce washed processing. The wild character here surpasses even Harar coffee, making Yemen the best place to taste coffee's ancient roots.

The central highlands are a landscape of rolling mountains and rugged terrain. Small farmers plant in a scattered fashion — a few trees on steep slopes, dozens on terraces or cliff edges — each plot with its own soil and microclimate, and thus its own aromatic profile.

Yemen's natural sun-drying is rougher than Ethiopia's. Cherries are not picked when they turn red; instead they are left to dry on the branches until purplish-black, then gathered after falling to the ground. This differs from the refined sun-drying of Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, where red cherries are picked and spread on raised African beds — and it is the main reason Yemeni coffee tastes so wild.

The Yemeni method does involve hand-harvesting fully ripe cherries, which are then laid out fresh in dedicated drying fields or compacted earthen courtyards. During the drying period — much like sun-drying grain — the cherries are turned with wooden rakes so each one dries evenly. After roughly twenty days, the dried pulp and skin are milled away to extract the beans. Yemeni coffee is rich, complex, wild, and mellow, with pronounced fermentation notes and lower acidity. It also carries an unpredictable variable — the timing of seasonal rains — which makes it no exaggeration to call Yemen Mocha one of the most distinctive coffees in the world.

03 | Mocha Coffee Bean Analysis

Mocha grades are divided into Sanani and Mattari, among others.

Yemen's annual coffee production is low, and only about 35% of it is Mocha Sanani and Mocha Mattari — generally the better-quality Yemeni coffees.

Coffee from the Mattari region has an "unattractive" appearance: uneven sizes, marked color differences, and lots that look like a jumble of small peaberry and hollow defective beans.

Green Bean Information:

Yemen Mocha Mattari - Yemen Mocha

Country: Yemen

Region: Mattari

Altitude: 2,000–2,400m

Varietal: Typica, Bourbon

Process: Natural / Sundried

Because the beans are very small, some people call it "small Mocha." Mocha is a flat bean, not a round one — small, but intensely fragrant and rich.

04 | Mocha Coffee Roasting Analysis

Yemen Mocha is a relatively low-moisture green coffee. Given the uneven bean sizes, the drop temperature for low-moisture beans shouldn't be set too high. Simmer for 30 seconds, open the airflow to 3, and once the beans turn light green or whitish, raise the airflow to 4; after first crack, open it fully to 5.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends recording good data before roasting: the beans' moisture content and density, origin, processing method, and the ambient temperature and humidity of the roasting room — then planning your roast curve. Logging the chemical and physical changes during the roast will help you understand the final result and steadily improve the curve.

Roasting machine: Yangjia 800N, charged with 550g of green beans

Roasting Profile:

Preheat the roaster to 170°C with airflow at 3. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 140°C, keeping airflow unchanged. Roast until 5'00", when temperature reaches 147.2°C, the bean surface turns yellow, and the grassy smell fully disappears — dehydration complete. Lower the heat to 110°C and raise airflow to 4.

At 8'00", wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface and the bready smell clearly turns to coffee aroma — the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for it. At 8'23" the first crack begins; reduce heat to 60°C and open the airflow fully (adjust the heat carefully — too small a flame can stall the crack), then drop the beans at 197.9°C.

Cupping Report:

Medium roast, City (caramel aroma): Before grinding, the beans smell of peanut; after grinding, of caramel. On sipping, the cup is layered and complex, with a slight grape acidity appearing toward the end of the flavor arc. The spicy aftertaste is long, the mouthfeel sweet and smooth, with a Middle Eastern milk-tea sensation that lingers. The bottom of the cup carries malt sweetness. Medium-roasted Yemen Mocha continues to evolve — it's best brewed 7–14 days after roasting, when the complex wild fermented flavors peak.

04 | Brewing Analysis

The condition of the coffee bed in pour-over brewing must not be overlooked. The bed plays a subtle but vital role: it provides resistance, keeping hot water in contact with the grounds long enough for sufficient extraction. For a medium roast, the bed also needs enough structure to perform that "blocking" function. To preserve it, you must control the strength of the water stream, the pouring position, and a steady circular motion — together forming a complete pouring technique.

1. Filter: V60

2. Water temperature: 88°C

3. Grind size: Small Fuji grinder setting 4

4. Roast degree: Medium roast

5. Bloom time: 25 seconds

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

FrontStreet Coffee's recommended technique: 15g of coffee, Small Fuji ghost-tooth burr at setting 4, V60 filter, 88–89°C water. First pour 30g of water for a 25-second bloom, then pour to 104g and stop. Once the water level in the bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly up to 220g total — leave the last 5g in the kettle. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time about 2:00 (counting from the end of the bloom pour).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Yemen's ancient sun-dried character fascinates you, Ethiopia — coffee's birthplace — offers a more polished take on the natural process. FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Rose Valley (Red Cherry Project) natural coffee is built on fully ripe cherries sun-dried on raised beds, delivering peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon with a remarkable cleanliness that rare wild naturals can't guarantee.

For a bolder tropical fruit profile, FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed Sidamo Huakui is sun-dried for 21 days on raised beds, showing mango, citrus, gentle winey fermentation, and a thick, honeyed body — a vivid contrast to Yemen's wild, low-acid style.