Yemen Coffee Sharqi Haraz
Price range: $49.00 through $539.00
We tasted Purple Grape, Banana Bread, Chocolate, & Honey.
Coffee from Yemen is brimming with tradition. This coffee is a history lesson and a one-of-a-kind experience.
About the Producers
Legacy farmers of Yemen coffee beans often come together to create regional lots. The farmers that grew this coffee are located in the high elevations of Yemen’s Ṣanaʿa Governorate. This is a high intervention anaerobic natural coffee from Haraz, Yemen produced by smallholder members of the Sharqi Haraz Cooperative. They work hard to grow the economic viability of the region while manifesting healthy, efficient farms through the sharing of best practices.
The flavor profile is sophisticated and uniquely spiced, with unexpected fruit and pastry-like flavors. We taste lots grape and berries on the pour over. Furthermore, we taste banana bread, rosemary, toffee, and cocoa nib on top of more esoteric notes like frangipane and fenugreek.
Like Rigby Roastery, Pearl of Tehama is a family business. Founded in 1970, it is the exporter of this exceptional coffee. For decades, they would export all their coffee under the name of the founder, Ali Hiba Muslot. After his death, his three sons continued using the family name. In 2012, the business split. Ms. Fatoum Muslot, the late Muslot’s daughter, still owns the coffee export business. Further, Fatoum’s eldest son, Yasser Al-Khaderi, became the company’s general manager.
About Yemen Coffee Beans
Yemen was the first place on earth where coffee was commercially grown. The scientific name “Coffea Arabica” refers to the Arabian coffee supply that originated the global coffee market when the first exports from coffee’s native lands were sold to Western countries in Europe. High elevation climates that are as dry as Yemen’s are a challenging place to grow crops.
Agriculture that takes place on the mountains in Ṣanaʿa requires tried and true methods that are passed down and refined from one generation to the next. Coffee farms here are terraced at unbelievable angles along desertous slopes. Farmers manually drill holes in the rock to provide water to the trees in the parched climate. They space coffee trees widely apart here, about 400 per acre (compared to 2000 per acre as is common place in Central and South America). This is necessary because of the steep slopes, but also helps control irrigation and erosion. Farmers season their young coffee trees like a bladesmith folds and forges a sword, readying them for a lifetime of little water and harsh climate.
Unique Flavor
When brewed, we liked pour-overs at a range of different specifications, finding the coffee versatile and enjoyable. Our favorite was an updosed V60 with a moderate grind and high TDS. This Yemen coffee has all the hallmarks of that nostalgic moment when chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, or a batch of blueberry muffins comes fresh out of the oven. We taste more fresh berry and botanicals in our V60 pour over and more fudge and toffee in the Stagg. In conclusion, we can’t wait for you to try these yemen coffee beans!
