Natural Process Yirgacheffe Qiu Ying Coffee Bean Origin Story Introduction_Is Natural Process Yirgacheffe Qiu Ying Coffee Delicious?

If it weren't for Yemen, would coffee still be known to the world as it is today, becoming a daily beverage for people? We may never know, but we can certainly explore how the wildly polarizing flavors of Yemeni coffee have been formed throughout history!

Yemen: The Coffee Gateway

Yemen is an Asian country located across the sea from Ethiopia. Its ability to become the birthplace of coffee's global trade is entirely due to its port city - Mocha Port! FrontStreet Coffee often shares that for nearly 300 years starting from the 17th century, almost all coffee trade in the world had to pass through Yemen's Mocha Port. Coffee beans exported through Mocha Port were typically stamped with the word "MOCHA" to certify them as legitimate coffee beans exported from Mocha!

The reason people are so interested in Yemeni coffee isn't just about trade - it's also because the coffee grown in Yemen possesses incredibly unique flavors! It is precisely these distinctive flavors that enabled coffee to open the doors to the world and create the world-famous Yemen Mocha!

Coffee Cultivation in Yemen

Did you know that besides spreading coffee to the world, Yemen was also the first country to cultivate coffee as a crop on a large scale. Initially, Yemenis didn't consume coffee as we know it today. After harvesting coffee cherries, they would boil them whole - including the husk, pulp, and beans - in water, adding cardamom or ginger for flavor. This beverage was called "Qahwa" locally and was extremely popular. It wasn't until 1450 that Yemeni Muslims first properly drank coffee to maintain energy during night prayers, and they were instantly hooked! People discovered the wonders of coffee and began spreading its use. Suddenly, demand for coffee started increasing continuously in Yemen. To meet this demand, Yemenis began large-scale coffee cultivation on their own land.

Yemen's climate is extremely arid, with only a brief rainy season each year. Therefore, the landscape is dominated by gobi and desert, and coffee is basically planted on these gobi slopes! Arabica coffee typically requires 1500-2000mm of annual rainfall, while Yemen's average annual rainfall is only 400-750mm. As we can see, Yemen's water shortage is significant. Consequently, prolonged drought has made it impossible for Yemeni farmers to use washed processing methods that require large amounts of water. It has also prevented coffee cultivation in Yemen from having the favorable growing conditions found in other coffee-producing regions. However, this very factor has enabled Yemen to produce coffee with world-renowned wild flavors!

Rich chocolate, blueberry, red wine aftertaste, and a wild, full-bodied character - this is the typical impression people have of Yemeni coffee. Meanwhile, Harar, one of Ethiopia's three major coffee-producing regions located across the sea from Yemen, produces coffee with similar flavors. Therefore, during the peak popularity of Yemen Mocha, people often questioned whether Yemen's Mocha coffee might be mixed with Harar coffee for resale.

Formation of Wild Flavors - Ancient Natural Processing

Since Yemen belongs to an arid coffee-producing region, farmers here could only use natural processing methods (at that time)! So why does FrontStreet Coffee call it "ancient"? This is because the natural processing method used in Yemen at that time was a relatively "old-fashioned" and very crude version. Typically, natural processing involves harvesting coffee cherries when they mature and then taking them to processing facilities for treatment. But Yemenis did things differently - even when coffee cherries showed the mature deep red color, they wouldn't harvest them. Instead, they let the fruits continue sun-drying until they turned purplish-black and fell from the trees, then collected them from the ground.

This is something many other origins cannot replicate! Without Yemen's extremely dry climate and the prolonged sun-drying time, if other origins tried to imitate this method directly, the coffee cherries would easily rot on the plants. Of course, the crudeness doesn't stop there - when farmers collected the dried coffee cherries, unlike other origins, they didn't spread them on well-ventilated raised beds but directly on any ground surface - it could be flat ground at their doorway or even rooftops! During this time, these dried cherries would come into intimate contact with dust-covered ground, producing all sorts of unexpected flavors.

During the natural drying period, Yemeni farmers would use wooden rakes to turn the fruits so that each cherry could dry more evenly. After about 20 days, the drying process would be complete! At this point, farmers would use simple stone grinding tools to remove the husks and pulp, extracting the coffee beans.至此, the natural processing was complete, and the wild flavors were officially established! Wild flavors: Due to the absorption of various unusual odors by the coffee beans from harvesting to processing, earthy and tobacco notes eventually developed! This is the reason for the polarizing opinions - those who like it really love it, while those who don't really dislike it.

By today's cupping standards, such Yemeni coffee would struggle to achieve specialty grade. However, in the early days when countries were first discovering coffee, this was considered a rare delicacy! Times have changed, and today's Yemeni coffee processing is no longer "ancient" but has become increasingly refined! Yemen is no longer the only coffee-producing country using full natural processing, as many innovative coffee processing methods have emerged in Yemen, such as the recently popular "Alchemist Processing."

However, due to various factors (war, low production, etc.), very few Yemeni coffee beans can enter the Chinese market. But that's okay! There's still plenty of time, and FrontStreet Coffee believes that one day, everyone will be able to taste the deliciousness of Yemeni coffee.

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