Yemeni Sanani mocha Coffee Bean Story _ Flavor characteristics of Sanani Coffee in Sanaya producing area of Yemen

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Yemen (Yemen)

Yemen, commonly known as Arabia, the birthplace of the Arabica species, was once popular in the name of "mocha coffee", but now it is no longer a grand occasion. But its wine-like flavor, rich and mellow characteristics, is still quite popular with consumers after-dinner coffee. Like Brazil, the coffee produced in Colombia is also chosen as the three swordsmen of blended coffee. The "Matari" produced in Bani Matar and the "Sanani" produced in Sanaya are also quite famous.

The only remaining living monuments in the coffee world

Today, Yemeni coffee farmers 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 trees to dry naturally-a very unique and rare practice because of the extremely dry climate and intense sun exposure in Arabia, which is allowed 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, with 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, exposed to the intense dry winter sun. After drying the peel and pulp, grind off the dried 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!

A small number of coffee farmers in Yemen still use animals (such as camels and donkeys) as a source of stone grinding power. Compared with the Central and South American countries that use advanced machinery and equipment to handle a lot of coffee beans, and even neighboring Kenya, which has a short history of coffee, the Yemeni mocha is the only living monument in the coffee world! Do you know? The Yemeni 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 cafe in Europe in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy.

Compared with the washing method used in most coffee producing areas in the world, Yemeni coffee is completely sun-treated, 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 Yemeni mocha!

Because of the sun-dried pulp, the flavor of the coffee berries has the opportunity 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 the Yemeni mocha unique in the world.

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

Due to the sharp decline in production due to political instability in Yemen in recent years, Mokamadali, the most famous coffee industry, has become a target for water adulteration, sometimes mixed 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 of tens of thousands of small farms on the hillside near the capital San'a (Picture 2). 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 least produced and most expensive Yemeni mocha (Yemeni mocha is no longer cheap). The high-quality Mokayishi Mary is produced in Hirazi (although it is famous as Bani Matar, it is the best-known local reputation in Yemen). The highest elevation in Hirazi is 8000 feet.

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

Mokha Yafeh, produced in the province of Yafeh (also known as Yaffe) in southern Yemen, is an uncommon Yemeni mocha. It is the only "southern flavor" in Yemen, and its production is small. Almost all of it is sold to the neighboring United Arab Emirates, and it is rarely seen in the boutique coffee market.

A coffee expert once said: "the taste of Yemeni mocha is so diverse that it varies not only from different places, different tree species, and different batches, but also from each sack or even every cup." Because of his complexity and variety, how to bake the best flavor of Yemeni mocha is a challenge for coffee roasters. Medium and shallow roasting shows sweet fruit, mild, warm sun-fermented flavor; deep baking shows a strong aroma of red wine, bitter sweet chocolate aftertaste, in the taste again and again, "the aftertaste is lingering for three days." No wonder there are so many coffee gluttons who are so keen on this way, listing the Yemeni mocha as their favorite!

A confusing name

There are no general guidelines for the naming of Yemeni coffee, and there is no official grading system. Local residents have their own classification system, with hundreds of coffee codes and names for internal classification, but it is not applicable to commercial markets (for export). In the commercial market, the Yemeni mocha is usually named in one of two ways: "place name", or "tree species name".

The Yemeni Mokamadali Mokha Mattari and the Yemeni Mokashanani Mokha San'ani are produced in Bani Matar province and the hillside near the capital San'a, respectively, while the Yemeni Mokamadali Mokha Ismaili is produced in Hirazi, southwest of Bani Matar.

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