What is mocha coffee? Is mocha coffee chocolate fancy coffee?

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What is mocha coffee? Is mocha coffee chocolate fancy coffee?

The hometown of mocha coffee-- Yemen

When it comes to Yemen coffee, "mocha" must be mentioned. Everyone has heard of "mocha coffee". What exactly is "mocha"?

There are many answers to this question. Some people say that mocha is a certain place of origin, and some people remember that mocha is sweet chocolate coffee. As a matter of fact, authentic "mocha" is only produced in the Republic of Yemen in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula and grows on steep hillsides at elevations of 3,000 to 8,000 feet. It is also the oldest coffee in the world.

As early as more than 500 years ago, Yemen produced coffee in an ancient way. In the early 17th century, the first batch of Yemen coffee sold to Europe was exported through the ancient port of Mocha, which amazed Europeans. The delicious coffee shipped from the port of Mocha was called "mocha coffee", which is the origin of the name "mocha coffee".

Neighboring Ethiopia across the Red Sea also sells coffee through the port of Mocha, so Ethiopian sun-treated coffee is often called mocha. (such as Mocha-Hara Ethiopia Harrar) now the old port of Mocha has long been abandoned due to sediment deposition (today's place name Al Makha) and is exported by the northwestern port of Hudaida (Hodeida). However, people have long been accustomed to the name of Mocha, which is famous to the sky.

Deep-roasted Yemen coffee often shows the sweet flavor of chocolate caramel, so when you see the word "mocha coffee", it may refer to purebred Yemen coffee, or neighboring Ethiopian coffee, or simply. In any case, for picky coffee gluttons, only the real Yemen coffee is qualified to be called "mocha coffee."

The word "mocha" has a variety of spellings: Moka, Moca and Mocca are all common spellings. There are as many as four local spellings in the sacks and documents of Yemen Coffee: "Mokha", "Makha", "Morkha" and "Mukha", which all have the same meaning.

Yemenmoka is the originator of the world coffee trade and has played an important role in promoting delicious coffee all over the world. In the 17th century, it was called "Arabica coffee" (Arabia) (this is the origin of the name "Arabica" later! Yemenmoka traveled across the ocean to Italy and other European Catholic countries, and for more than 150 years, Yemen coffee has been the only coffee producer sold to Europe.

In ancient times, in conservative Catholic countries, extraordinarily good things were often considered evil, and coffee was once burdened with inexplicable evil. It was not until the Vatican Pope, who also loved coffee, declared that coffee was a Catholic drink and blessed coffee drinkers that coffee began to spread widely in Europe. Although Ethiopia was the first country in the world to discover coffee, it was Yemen who carried it forward.

The only surviving ancient fish in the coffee world.

Today, coffee farmers in Yemen still produce coffee in the same way as they did 500 years ago.

Coffee berries grow naturally on trees, do not use any artificial fertilizers or pesticides, receive a small amount of rain and fog on the hillside in summer, blossom and bear fruit, and in dry winter, ripe coffee berries are allowed to hang on the trees to dry naturally-a very unique and rare practice, because the extremely dry climate and intense sun in Arabia allow this to be done in other coffee producing areas. The same practice may cause coffee berries to rot on the trees.

Ripe or dried coffee berries fall naturally from the tree, or are shaken and picked. Coffee farmers, who have a total population of nearly 1/4 in Yemen, bask their berries on their roofs, low sheds in front of their doors, or even spread them directly on the dirt floor to be exposed to the intense and dry winter sun. After drying the peel and pulp, grind off the dried hard shell and pulp with an old-fashioned stone mill (two stone mills stacked on top of each other). This is how the coffee beans are treated!

Up to now, a small number of coffee farmers in Yemen still use animals (such as camels and donkeys) as the power source of stone grinding. Compared with the Central and South American countries that use advanced machinery and equipment to deal with coffee beans in large quantities, and even neighboring Kenya, which has a short history of coffee, Yemenmoka is the only living jungle left in the coffee world! Do you know? The Yemen coffee you drink today is basically not much different from the "Arabian coffee" enjoyed by aristocratic European businessmen hundreds of years ago in the oldest coffee shop in Europe in the Piazza San Marco in Venice.

In contrast to the washing method used in most coffee producing areas in the world, Yemen coffee is completely treated in the natural sun, and the process of stone grinding (crushing with two stone mills) makes chopped beans mixed, resulting in an irregular appearance. Raw beans are often mixed with twigs, small stones and even sun-dried insects (which are screened out during baking). It also has the most unique, rich and fascinating complex smell in the world: "Red wine, wild game, dried fruit, blueberries, grapes, cinnamon, tobacco, sweet spices, logs and even chocolate." "you can see all kinds of adjectives used to describe Yemenmoka!

Because of the sun-dried pulp, the flavor of the coffee berries has a chance to "seep" into the coffee beans, and when the coffee fruit falls on the dry soil of the African plateau, it will also absorb the smell of the surrounding organic matter. In addition, the "sun smell" given by the fierce winter sun in the Arabian Peninsula (you can smell a similar smell on the sunburned quilt), the naturally fermented ripe fruit flavor of the flesh, a little earthy flavor. There are 300,000 coffee plantations ranging from 3000 to 8000 feet above sea level, as well as ancient, 100% organic treatments that make Yemenmoka unique in the world.

In the common Yemen mocha, Mokha Mattari is the most famous. Madali, produced in Bani Matar (also known as Bany Mattar) province, is a coffee produced at high altitude. it usually has a good aroma of red wine, dry fruit, thick taste, deep roasting and often shows the sweetness of chocolate caramel.

Due to the sharp decline in output due to political instability in Yemen in recent years, Mokamadali, the most famous in the coffee industry, has become a target for water adulteration, and it has been heard of mixing with lower-grade, shoddy beans. Nowadays, even if it is marked as Madali, it is not a guarantee of high quality. Good quality Madali beans are small, raw beans have sweet wine aroma and moderate ripe fruit fermentation flavor, excellent Madali performance will never let coffee gluttons down!

Mokha San'ani is a mixed bean from tens of thousands of small farms on the hillside near the capital San'a. Planted at a slightly lower altitude than Madali, generally speaking, it tastes thinner and less acidic, but it has a good fruit flavor and often has better ripe fruit and wild game than Madali. According to experience, the quality of Sanani varies greatly, and sometimes there are inferior products with flat flavor, fishy smell and excessive fermented flavor. Careful cup testing and selection is a must for coffee importers to do their homework and absolutely not to be lazy.

Mocha Yishi Mary (Mokha Ismaili) is one of the traditional ancient tree species, planted at a high altitude, more than 6500 feet, characterized by more round beans, smaller beans than Madali, thick taste, high complexity, in general, often surpass the performance of Madali. This is the lowest production and the most expensive Yemenmoka (Yemenmoka is no longer cheap). The high-quality Mokayishi Mary is produced in the Hirazi district (although it is famous as Bani Matar, it is the most popular producing area in Yemen). The highest elevation in the Hirazi area is as high as 8000 feet!

Mokha Rimi is produced in the Djebel Remi (also known as Raimi, Rayma) area, and its quality is similar to that of Shanani. In my experience, mocha Remi is usually slightly fermented, occasionally showing surprisingly strong sweet smell of raisins. When roasted properly, coffee beans smell like opening a full-bodied bottle of jam.

Mokha Yafeh is produced in Yafeh (also known as Yaffe) province in the south of Yemen. it belongs to the uncommon Yemenmoka. it is the only "southern flavor" in Yemen, and its output is not much. Almost all of them are sold to the neighboring United Arab Duchy, and they are rarely seen in the boutique coffee market.

A coffee expert once said, "the taste of Yemenmoka is so diverse that it varies not only from different places, different tree species, and different batches, but also from each sack or even to each cup." "because of his complexity and variety, how to bake the best flavor of Yemenmoka is a big challenge for coffee roasters! Medium and shallow roasting shows sweet fruit, mild, warm sun-fermented taste, while deep baking shows a strong aroma of red wine and a bitter chocolate aftertaste, which makes people taste again and again, "the aftertaste lingers for three days." It's no wonder that there are so many coffee gluttons who love this way and list Yemenmoka as their favorite!

A confusing name

So far, there are no general guidelines and no official grading system for the naming of Yemen coffee. Local residents have their own classification system, with hundreds of coffee codes and names for internal classification purposes, but they are not suitable for commercial market (export) coffee. In the commercial market, Yemenmoka is usually named in one of two ways: "place name", or "tree species name".

Yemenmoka Mardali Mokha Mattari and Yemenmokasanani Mokha San'ani adopt the "origin nomenclature", which means they are produced in Bani Matar province and in the hillside near the capital San'a, respectively. Yemenmoka Yishi Mary Mokha Ismaili adopts the "tree species nomenclature", which is produced in Hirazi, southwest of Bani Matar.