Yemeni mocha Udaini coffee beans how to drink Yemeni mocha Udaini brewing method taste flavor

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Coffee from Yemen:

Yemeni coffee varieties are mainly Udine, then Yemen these four varieties belong to which category of coffee? In Arabica gene research, scholars successfully found Yemeni coffee (Anthony, F., Combes, M., Astorga, C. et al. Theor Appl Genet, 2002), in fact the main coffee varieties in Yemen are derived from ancient iron pickup varieties. A variety of data show that Yemen mocha is only a long-standing general term, Yemen coffee real varieties are actually Udaini (Udaini) and other four varieties.

It is precisely because of this general name or place name naming method, conceal the coffee variety behind it. In 1993, scholar Ali did a report on the research and classification of Yemeni coffee. In the report, he collected and organized the coffee varieties in Yemen. At present, there are four main coffee varieties in Yemen, namely Udaini, Dawairi, Tufahi and Burra 'i.

God's blessings.

Yemeni coffee was first discovered by an Islamic Sufi scholar who, when boiling water, added seeds of a local wild fruit, and the water turned brown. After drinking this liquid, he will not only become energetic, but also energetic to pray or study at night.

So the Mocha missionary shared his surprise discovery with his family, and as more and more people promoted it, the drink was seen as a gift by the Yemeni people. They began growing coffee in the mountains and valleys and shared it with pilgrims and traders who came to Yemen.

It was also from the 16th century, and for the next 150 years, Yemen became the sole source of the world's coffee supply, and all coffee was exported across the Red Sea through the port of Mocha.

Yemeni coffee awakens this sleepy port, and Yemen's unique microclimate and extreme altitude (suitable only for extremely drought-tolerant coffee varieties) also bring complex spices and high-sweetness chocolate flavor to coffee.

As for why Yemeni coffee is often identified with mocha coffee, Mokhtar explains that Yemeni coffee got its name from the port of mocha. The real Yemeni coffee is called Udaini. It is not only an ancient variety of iron pickups, but also one of the most common and oldest coffee varieties in Yemen.

A single drink,

Change the course of his life

Everything in the world has its ups and downs, and Yemeni coffee has not escaped the vicissitudes of history. Even though it monopolized the world coffee market hundreds of years ago, the coffee empire went into decline as coffee cultivation globalized. Yemeni coffee is now once again at the forefront of fine coffee, and we have to start with him.

Mokhtar, who was born in San Francisco, has always been less interested in coffee because of the stereotype of coffee as "burnt bitter." Even as a child, he often returned to Yemen with his parents to visit relatives. Every time he returned, his grandmother would take him to the mountains to pick coffee and red cherries.

His change in coffee began one day in 2013, when he went to a boutique cafe in San Francisco and drank his first cup of single-serve coffee. He took a sip, and the alluring flavor that followed struck him like lightning. At that moment, the past and future of his life seemed to collide, which not only ignited his curiosity about his hometown and coffee in Yemen, but also showed him a life-changing path.

In order to learn more about coffee, Mokhtar started reading, tasting and learning everything about coffee like crazy. But no matter which cafe he went to, he couldn't find any Yemeni coffee. That's because yemeni coffee has declined sharply over the past century, and former yemeni farmers believe it's more profitable to grow kat, the plant known as satan's magic box (the east african poppy, legal in yemen but illegal elsewhere). It is estimated that in Yemen, where water is extremely scarce, 40% of their water consumption is used to grow kat.

With Mokhtar's continued research into coffee and his love for his homeland, he was determined to revive Yemeni coffee and share its precious wealth with the world. He began to receive systematic learning, cup testing, tasting, distinguishing and grading raw and cooked beans, and later became a Q-grader. So he packed his bags and set off for Yemen.

Motta/Mokhtar mode:

Bringing Yemeni Coffee Back to Top of the World

To revive Yemeni coffee, one must have a thorough understanding of the ancient coffee country, and Mokhtar traveled in Yemen for three years, visiting 30 coffee-growing areas. Sometimes because of poor traffic and the remote location of the estate, he had to hike in the mountains for three days, and his footprints thus spread all over Yemen's coffee-growing land.

At the coffee estate, he listened to the legends of his ancestors and felt the coffee context of this ancient country; in the mountains, he slept in the mountains to observe coffee cultivation and measure rainfall. Mokhtar's approach is simple: if he can persuade farmers to upgrade their coffee beans, they will earn more than they would from growing carters, and farmers will be willing to return to coffee.

Although Yemeni farmers are said to have been among the first in the world to start growing coffee, their standards have been falling because of years of isolation from international markets. "They picked and handled coffee cherries in a very casual way," Mokhtar says."So I had to slow down and help them myself, like helping them set up tanning beds and introducing their first moisture tester."

From using organic fertilizer to harvesting only the most mature coffee cherries, to drying and processing methods, Mokhtar has helped Yemeni coffee farmers establish a completely new farming system. He also organized farmers into cooperatives, requiring boards to be 50 percent female, and subsidized farmers one-third more than market prices when they adopted new farming methods.

At the same time, in order to protect everyone from usury, he provided interest-free loans to farmers. Just like in his first year, he paid for six weddings for Cannon Gate, and the Cannons repaid the loan with coffee cherries.

Mocha Harbor Coffee:

Through war and artillery

In order to enhance the flavor of Yemeni coffee, Mokhtar and the farmers worked diligently on the estate every day. After many days and nights of dedication and countless efforts, in March 2015, he finally shared his achievements with the world, but Yemeni coffee failed to escape the dramatic historical fate.

When he was ready to bring samples of green beans from different plots, he wanted to bring them to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), where they were evaluated at the world's largest coffee forum in Seattle. Civil war broke out in Yemen, the night before he left.

Both civilian airports were destroyed and all air routes ceased operations. Neighboring countries such as India, Somalia and Pakistan are trying to help their citizens evacuate Yemen. However, the US government has not taken any action and Mokhtar is trapped in Yemen.

In an instant, this ancient country was engulfed by war. The ground was covered with shells and the air was filled with panic. He could not let this rare flavor go to waste. His only way out was to leave this place first! So Mokhtar went back to Mocha Harbor and hired a small fishing boat for fishermen to take him to the other side of the Red Sea.

Carrying a simple bag and two boxes of coffee, two people and a boat sailed for seven hours on the unnavigated, endless sea and arrived at Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa. And from there, days later, Mokhtar finally landed on American soil. His "escape experience" and the pursuit of top coffee in the war have been widely reported by many media; among them, Dave Eggers, a well-known American writer, also wrote the novel "THE MONK OF MOKHA" based on his story, which has been sold all over the world.

in the war

The amazing flavor of Nirvana

Although Mokhtar's twists and turns with Yemen's Mocha Port coffee have the ups and downs of the movie plot, they also fulfill the folk saying "good things take time to grind."

This Yemen Mocha Port coffee, which has experienced the baptism of war and gunfire, finally topped the COFFEE REVIEW's annual list of the top 30 coffee beans with 97 points. Mokhtar also said,"It's a miracle that this coffee is here."

The beans from Yemen Mocha Port, which were nirvana in the war, not only won the strong recommendation of a large number of big coffee in that cup test; now they also began to show their talents in the World Barista Competition, just like the beans from Yemen Mocha Port, which won the French division champion, Turkish division champion and American division runner-up in the recently won World Coffee Brewing Competition.

Related: What is Mocha Coffee? Yemeni mocha matali sun-baked beans are the real mocha coffee beans of Yemen