Yemeni Coffee-the vanishing Arab Wild

Ethiopia may be the birthplace of arabica, but the first coffee consumed by europeans in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries came from yemen. At that time, African or Arabic coffee was exported from Mocha Port, and Mocha became synonymous with coffee, and Harar, the "City of Walls", became a supporting role instead. However, 300 years later, Yemen coffee is no longer in its former glory. Coffee production has decreased year by year. At present, the annual production is only 12,000 ~ 8,000 tons, which seems to have disappeared from the coffee map. With the current global coffee production of 7 million tons, Yemen accounts for only about 0.17%, which is already insignificant. Yemeni mocha, which used to dominate the world, has become a marginal producing country. Can it not make coffee fans feel distressed?

A trip to Yemen is bound to raise the question: "Was this once a coffee country?" As far as I could see, there was hardly anyone drinking coffee, and the streets were full of people chewing Carter grass to refresh themselves. Yemen's coffee culture, once proud, has changed its tune. There is a Yemeni ballad about coffee that goes like this: "Yemeni coffee, like gems and wealth in the treetops..." This line obviously doesn't fit today's situation.

For the past five years, Yemen's cash crop rankings, coffee has been the last, but khat grass has been dominant. In 2004, Yemen's production of catgrass reached 11 million tons, while coffee fell to 1. 150,000 tons. Yemenis seem to forget coffee exists. Yemenis are accustomed to drinking coffee before breakfast in the morning, and after breakfast or at noon they drink coffee brewed by dried coffee pulp; this kind of fruit-like tea is far more popular than coffee drinkers, and there are far more street vendors selling dried coffee pulp than coffee beans. But looking back at Yemen's coffee history, coffee fans need not give too much blame. After all, Yemenis have a longer history of drinking coffee than drinking coffee. As mentioned in chapter 1 of this book, two far-reaching elders, Shadili, the patron saint of Mocha Port and Dabani, the godfather of coffee in Aden Port, drank coffee in the fifteenth century to refresh themselves. Later, they were lucky enough to be the first to advocate coffee bean drinks with better refreshing effects. From then on, coffee romance began. Yemenis occupy an indelible position in the history of coffee evolution, and now the coffee culture is declining year by year. Yemen's Ministry of Agriculture is also very anxious to hire foreign experts to find out the crux and seek solutions to prevent Yemen's famous fine coffees-Matari, Ismaili, Sharqi, Sanani-from disappearing from the world.