Facts about Yemen Coffee that you never knew

Dripping with the history and brewed with the years of legacy, the Yemen coffee industry has grown from nothingness to being the world’s most prominent industry.

The roots of the Haraaz coffee culture go deep into the highlands of Haraaz, making Yemen one of the largest coffee growing and exporting nations in the world.

Even after being the birthplace of coffee, the availability of Haraaz coffee remains scarce in the world. The coffee also happens to be one of the most expensive coffee that one can ever sip on too. Before you go on hunting the one of its kind coffee in the market, let us take you through some of the must-know facts about the world-famous Yemen coffee:

– History:

There are many myths about the first discovery of coffee beans in the country. The Yemeni coffee beans were first discovered by a Sheikh from Mocha who was sent to exile. After days of starvation, he noticed a few birds flying with unusual energy and located a few of them feeding on the bright red colored berries. Sheikh tried the berries himself but they were too bitter for his taste. He put the berries on fire to change the taste, but they ended up being roasted and too hard to bite. He transferred the roasted berries into a pot of boiling water to soften them. The strong aroma of the brewed berries made him drink the concoction instead of the berries and immediately gave him a jolt of energy. The story of the magic berries went out and his exile was lifted. He was brought back to Mocha with the berries. Mocha later became the first prominent exporting port for berries.

– Cultivation:

Haraaz coffee is grown in the higher altitudes of Haraaz Mountains in the age-old traditional methods. The farmers carry out the entire process of sowing the seeds, picking the berries, sorting them out, hulling, and transporting them to the export docks manually.

The climate in the terraced mountainsides is not always favorable for the cultivation of coffee beans. The farmers also go through a lot of hardships to get the best lot of beans. A huge amount of coffee beans are separated in the quality check, leaving only a few best quality beans to go ahead with the export. The coffee beans are usually harvested between November and December and are sun-dried naturally on rooftops of the farmers’ houses. The dry and hot climate of Yemen and the rich soil of the mountain is the main reason for the exquisite taste of the coffee.

– Hardships

Yemen coffee beans have faced tons of hardships since the past. Be it the climatic conditions, the lack of resources, insufficient funds with farmers, modern farming equipment, political unrest, diseases, and even civil war.

Coffee that became a global phenomenon in the 17th century now faces many dangers to survive the global market. Even though the large part of the economy of Yemen depends on coffee cultivation, the hardship of epidemic and internal war and disturbance in the country always impacts the coffee industry directly.

– Organic

Even with the growing global demand of the coffee, Yemen coffee beans are grown traditionally without any usage of the chemicals and fertilizers to accelerate the growth. The bright coffee cherries are dry-processed and even left on the rooftops to be dried under the natural sunlight. The natural processing of the beans, give them natural, winey acidity and earthy tones.

The coffee beans intake a sweet chocolaty flavor because of the dry weather in the region and the soil quality. The supply of the coffee beans is not able to meet the demands because of the absence of any adulteration possibility. The extensive scrutiny process done personally by the farmers removes the possibility of any bad coffee beans.