• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Espresso & Coffee Guide
  • Recipes
  • Countries
    • African Coffees
    • South American Coffees
    • Indonesian Coffees
  • Best Coffees
  • About
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Best Coffees
  • Guide
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Best Coffees
    • Guide
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Single Origin Coffee Beans » African Coffees

    Yemen Coffee Beans

    Several fine coffees are grown in Yemen near the Red Sea in the mountainous region on the Arabian peninsula's central through southern regions. Yemen coffees still grow, in greatly reduced quantities from their peak, in the region. The terraces are carved into the hills similar to rice paddies and vineyards in other countries so that they can be easily pruned and harvested, and looking like a vast, beautifully manicured estate.

    Yemen Coffee on a Mountainside - Sprudge

    Summer rains bring all sorts of vegetation out in the mountains, turning the region into a picturesque setting. When summer turns to fall however, the area dries out and only the hardiest plants survive, and the coffee ripens and is harvested. Coffees are processed in the traditional method - dry processed with the fruit still on the beans on rooftops. Not wasting any part of the coffee, the dried coffee cherries at used to make the Yemen "Qishr" - what's become recently popular in North America as a Cascara tea.

    The term Yemen coffee often refers to Yemen Mocha coffee, a full-bodied coffee with a rich, winey acidity (see Yemen Mocha).

    Jump to:
    • Mocha Coffee
    • Yemen Coffees
    • Yemen Ismaili Coffee
    • Mocha Sanani Coffee
    • Mocha Mattari Coffee
    • War and Disease
    • Yemen Coffee and Espresso Brewing Tips
    • Green Coffee Production
    • Green Coffee Exports

    Mocha Coffee

    Mocha coffee is marked as either Mattari (which has chocolate overtones and a heavier body) or Sanani (which is more balanced and with a fruity character).

    Mocha Sanani coffee is known for its complexity and exotic pungency, while Mattari coffee, which is sometimes blended with Yemen Mocha coffee, is distinguished for its winey acidity.

    Along with the Indonesian Java Arabica coffee, Mocha is used to make Mocha Java blend coffee that is a traditional favorite. (See World's Best History of Coffee.) Mocha coffee is one of the first coffees ever cultivated and continues today to be a coffee bean prized by gourmet coffee lovers.

    Yemen Coffees

    Other respected coffees grown in Yemen include Sharki coffee and Ismaili coffee. Ismaili is a market name and also the name of the distinctive coffee plant varietal which produces a pea-like coffee bean and a distinctive and high-quality brewed cup of coffee.

    Not far across the Red Sea lies Ethiopia, and Harrar in particular, which has grown to be world-renown for it's distinctive coffees that are said to be very similar to classic Yemen coffees.

    Yemen Ismaili Coffee

    Grown in central Yemen, Ismaili is a respected Yemen coffee. Ismaili is a market name and also the name of the distinctive coffee plant varietal which produces a pea-like coffee bean and a distinctive and high-quality brewed cup of coffee.

    Mocha Sanani Coffee

    One of the two types of Yemen Mocha coffee along with Mattari, Sanani is a market name that is comprehensive and refers to various coffee-growing regions located to the west of the Yemen capital of Sanaa.

    A good Sanani coffee exhibits a medium body with a lower acidity than the typical Yemen coffee. Sanani coffee is is well-balanced, with a fruity character, and is distinguished for its complexity and exotic pungence. Sanani coffee is also called Mocha Sanani and Arabian Mocha Sanani.

    Mocha Mattari Coffee

    One of the finest coffees grown in Yemen, Mattari coffee exhibits a winey acidity and has a character that is somewhat sharper than the typical Yemen style coffee.

    Arabian Mocha Mattari coffee has a slightly heavier body than Sanani coffee and often displays chocolate overtones.

    Mattari is grown in Bani Mattar, which is located west of the Yemen capital of Sanaa.

    War and Disease

    While Yemen hasn't produced much coffee in decades (it actually peaked in the 17th century), recently the region has undergone civil war and a massive outbreak of diseases such as Cholera.

    Yemen Cholera Outbreaks - source NYTimes

    The infamous port of Mocha is at very South-West tip of Yemen, surrounded by a sea of red where a lack of infrastructure thanks to war has led to Cholera outbreaks that have crippled the country. As many as 452,000 cases have been reported up to late 2017, leading the UN to declare it the world's largest humanitarian crisis. More information can be found in this NYTimes article.

    Yemen Coffee and Espresso Brewing Tips

    For tips on brewing the perfect cup of Yemen coffee see the Espresso Coffee Guides section on coffee brewing.

    For the history of espresso and coffee see World's Best History of Coffee, and for a complete list of coffee terminology with detailed definitions see the Espresso Coffee Guides Coffee Terms.


    Green Coffee Production

    Year60kg bagsCoffee grown
    2016125,000 bags16,500,000 pounds
    2015138,357 bags18,263,084 pounds
    2014150,076 bags19,809,992 pounds
    2013185,056 bags24,427,379 pounds
    2012187,525 bags24,753,313 pounds

    Green Coffee Exports

    Year60kg bagsCoffee exported
    201600 pounds
    20158,3601,103,520 pounds
    201420,0802,650,560 pounds
    201355,0607,267,920 pounds
    201257,5307,593,960 pounds

    Data may not be available for the most recent year.
    Source: ICO


    Why do you want to sponsor this page?
    Loading
    FacebookTweetPinShares43

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Single Origin Coffee Beans

    • African Coffees
      • Angola Coffee Beans
      • Benin Coffee Beans
      • Burundi Coffee Beans
      • Cameroon Coffee
      • Central African Republic Coffee
      • Equatorial Guinea Coffee Beans
      • Congo Coffee Beans
      • Ethiopian Coffee Beans
      • Gabon Coffee
      • Ghana Coffee
      • Ivory Coast Coffee - Cote D'Ivoire Coffee
      • Kenya Coffee Beans
      • Liberian Coffee - Coffees of Liberia
      • Madagascar Coffee Beans
      • Malawai Coffee Beans
      • Nigerian Coffee Beans
      • Rwanda Coffee Beans
      • Sierra Leone Coffee Beans
      • Tanzania Coffee Beans
      • Togo Coffee Beans
      • Uganda Coffee Beans
      • Zaire Coffee Beans
      • Yemen Coffee Beans
        • Yemen Mocha Coffee Beans
      • Zambia Coffee Beans
      • Zimbabwe Coffee Beans
    • Indonesian Coffees
    • South American Coffees

    Search

    Guide to the Top Coffees

    • Kenya Coffee Beans
    • Sulawesi Coffee Beans
    • Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans
    • Sumatra Coffee Beans
    • Harrar Coffee Beans
    • Costa Rican Coffee Beans
    • Brazilian Coffee Beans
    • Mocha Java Coffee Beans
    • Tanzania Coffee Beans
    • Guatemala Coffee Beans
    • Ethiopian Coffee Beans
    • Colombian Coffee Beans
    • Honduran Coffee Beans
    • Hawaiian Kona Coffee Beans
    • Geisha Coffee Beans
    • Espresso Beans
    • Best Coffee Beans

    Footer

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    ABOUT ESPRESSOCOFFEEGUIDE.COM

    Find out more About us and what we're doing.

    Information is pulled from a number of locations including official sources ICO, SCA, as well as proprietary third party databases. Beginning circa 2006, we've compiled data and written about coffee and continue to revise and add as new sources come to light. If you have any recommendations or suggested revisions please contact us!

    Information on single origins is updated over time and only reflects the data we have at the time of writing on current crops. All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. EspressoCoffeeGuide.com reserves the right to all its own content.

    COLLABORATE WITH US

    We're always looking to team up with individuals and companies doing awesome things in the coffee industry. If you'd like to contribute please reach out to us with a proposal!

    Contact us

    Privacy Policy

    Disclosure: We may earn commission at no cost to you from some links on this website. However, the content, opinions and analysis are 100% objective and editorial objectivity is our priority.

    Copyright © 2023 EspressoCoffeeGuide