Yemen Ibb Natural - Sanani Mocha Hiwari

Heavy body, dried blueberry, chocolate malt
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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2020/21
Status Spot
Lot Number P607500-4
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About This Coffee

This coffee was curated from 131 producers by Fatoum Muslot, daughter of long time Yemeni exporter Ali Hebah Muslot. Fatoum opened her own coffee export business in 2015 and her long term goals are to improve the standard of living for her coffee growing community while restoring Yemeni coffee cultivation to a standard close to the old days. Coffee production has plummeted from 65,000 tons in the 1950’s to roughly 9,000 tons currently; from being on top of the coffee producing world as the oldest commercial coffee producer in the world in the mid-20th century to being close to the bottom now. The farmers who produced this coffee grow above 1900 meters. The coffees are natural processed, dried on the roofs of the smallholder’s homes.

Country of Origin Yemen
Harvest Season 2020/21
Coffee Grade YEM CA NAT SAN
Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species Arabica
Processing Natural/Dry Processed
Cup Score 82.5
Variety Mocha
Region Ibb
Farm Name Sanani

History of Coffee in Yemen

We know that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee as a plant, but if you want to talk about the first intensification of commercial cultivation and exportation of coffee, we are talking about Yemen. The birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia, and the birthplace of the coffee industry is almost certainly Yemen. No place on earth has been cultivating coffee for international trade at scale as long as Yemen. For hundreds of years Yemen maintained a monopoly on growing and exporting green coffee. While coffee drinking expanded across the globe, coffee growing did not until the 17th century, and that only happened with assistance from a generation of determined smugglers and adventurers.

Growing Coffee in Yemen

Yemen coffee is grown on mountainsides so steep that farms must be terraced, creating steps on which coffee can be planted, a practice now hundreds of years old. In recent years, however, the challenge for coffee farmers has been accessing international markets due to conflicts within the country. It is extremely difficult to export coffee from Yemen under current conditions, which contributes to the prices being admittedly very high. But the 90,000 Yemen coffee farmers are known to be as resilient as their coffee (which has been studied by World Coffee Research for its hardiness). For most farmers, the practices around producing coffee have not changed for generations. Virtually all Yemen coffee is naturally processed, drying on mats or raised beds or rooftops, and is sometimes called the “mother of all natural processed coffee.”

  • Cup Score 82.5
  • Region Ibb
  • Farm Name Sanani
  • Producer Type Cooperative
  • Processing Natural/Dry Processed
  • Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
  • Plant Species Arabica
  • Variety Mocha
  • On Sale No
  • Top Lot No
  • Status Spot
  • Coffee Grade YEM CA NAT SAN
  • CTRM Contract Number P607500-4
  • Country of Origin Yemen
  • Warehouse Continental NJ

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