YEMEN MOCHA COFFEE

Yemeni coffee at its best has a very rare and wild character, with a heavy body, chocolate-like flavour and exotic wine-like aroma. Although coffee's birthplace was Ethiopia, it was first cultivated in Yemen. This proud tradition has more recently been disrupted by civil war and turmoil and has reduced quality production almost to a standstill. One glimmer of hope is the Rayyan Mill. The team there established their sourcing, processing and exporting operation to combat this very problem. They believe that Yemen has a unique place in the history of coffee and has a lot to offer both the speciality coffee market and the people of Yemen. Each year the mill offers Zamarrud Al-Yemen (The Emeralds of Yemen). It is composed of the best-tasting coffees from several growing regions in Yemen and offers the true 'Mocha' character. The mill pays the grower directly 400% over the Fair Trade minimum to cover the costs of doing business in Yemen as well as the additional quality improvement measures. This careful selection is the reason that a batch earned Coffee Review's highest score ever of 97. Aromatic and flavour notes reveal this coffee's complexity: Cocoa, muscatel grape, mango, dried berries, candied fruit, tangerine, peach, strawberry jam, plum wine, cherry, and honeysuckle. The uniqueness of Yemen coffee can be attributed to the uniqueness of Yemen itself. Yemen coffee developed through the centuries isolated from the offspring of those smuggled beans that gave birth to coffee in the rest of the world. In Yemen coffee is traditionally grown at high elevations in harsh environments receiving little rainfall. As a result, the varietals that developed in Yemen had to survive a harsh climate. They are the result of centuries of adaptation to these unique conditions - thus the varietals themselves are unique to Yemen. In addition, the added stress of these conditions on the plants increases the number of nutrients and sugars pushed to the cherries which ultimately increases cup complexity. Due to the lack of rainfall, Yemen coffee has always been sun-dried (natural) further increasing the sweetness of the cup. Ultimately Yemen coffee and its history are much like Yemen itself: mysterious, intriguing and complex. Unfortunately, coffee production in Yemen has declined significantly over the last few decades. The foundational problem in recent years is a lack of understanding between the coffee people of Yemen and the speciality coffee market. The team at Rayyan Coffee Mill established their sourcing, processing and exporting operation to combat this very problem. They believe that Yemen has a unique place in the history of coffee and has a lot to offer both the speciality coffee market and the people of Yemen. In the words of general manager and co-founder Andrew Nicholson, "We want to make Yemen coffee famous again. By focusing on cup quality everyone wins. Customers get an amazing coffee, farmers (and everyone else in the supply chain) earn more and maybe, just maybe more coffee will be planted and that could have a tremendous effect on Yemen's economy!"� Their commitment to cup quality, farm-level interventions, good processing methods and relentless quality control coupled with their relationships with farmers (and many others in the supply chain) in Yemen make Rayyan a strong bridge between the Yemen coffee people and the speciality coffee market. This Matari lot is sourced from the famed Bani Matar district of Sana'a. Is it comprised of many lots mostly grown by small hold farms. Yemen coffee varietals are often classified simply as "heirloom"� but the primary varietals represented in this regional lot are varietals know locally as "Udainy"� and "Dawi'ry."� The elevation is 1,775-1,950 metres and the selection process for this coffee is based exclusively on cup quality. Since Yemen is in the middle of a war right now this coffee has quite a story. The mill team tells us that the mill itself shakes from bomb blasts on a regular basis and that prior to export these bags were even moved to a few different locations (always in GrainPro) depending on what area of town the air strikes were focused on! To top it all off the usual port of export was closed leaving the only available option on the other side of the front lines of the war.