Yemen Matarri

Yemen coffees are wild and amazing, rich, heavy, chocolaty cups that keep you going back for more and more. Most Yemen is sold generically from the Sanani region and may consist of coffee from various farms, varietals, and even crop years all mixed together! This one is a traceable lot from a newly founded co-op in Yemen. The co-op operates in the Fair trade model, and is socially responsible -- which is almost unheard of for Yemen coffee.

So the price on this coffee is way out there and deserves an explanation. First, the taste of Yemeni coffee is distinct. Wonderful Malty quality (think guinness beer) -- grains and wheat that only a great Yemen will have. Besides this, there is chocolate, spices, and plum with a little bit of berry. So this coffee tastes like bread with chocolate chips. SECOND, Yemen is exporting very little coffee. So supply-demand is at play. THIRD, Yemen is a very expensive country to deal with. The anarchy, terrorism, and violence creates high risk in business dealings.

Not all home roasting systems can handle Yemen. In general, Yemeni coffee beans are very small, but since they are not sorted by size, there are also large beans mixed in. The coffee produces large amounts of chaff. It is a natural processed coffee and should not be roasted too darkly. We roast it exactly like a natural processed Ethiopia. If you want less bitterness and more snappy acidity, pull it out after just a few snaps of the 2nd cracks, and its an exotic complex cup that emphasizes more of the sweeter tones and less of the bitter ones. If you like espresso, take it about 20 seconds into the slow second cracks. At that point, you have the most amazing cocoa-tasting espresso I’ve ever tasted (if only I could afford to give my coffeeshop customers 100% Yemen for their espresso, I surely would).

US Arrival August 2022