Yemen coffee and its history are much like Yemen itself: mysterious, intriguing and complex.

The uniqueness of Yemen coffee can be attributed to the uniqueness of Yemen itself. It developed through being isolated from the original strain of coffee smuggled in from
Ethiopia around the 15th Century which gave birth to coffee in the rest of the world. For the role the Yemenis have played intoducing coffee to the world, take a wee swatch here

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 amount 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.

Our “old” customers will remember a couple of Christmases ago we had a couple of sacks of Yemen coffee. Sadly, the situation in Yemen has deteriorated since and its even more difficult to get products out of the country. The mill team in the country told one of our suppliers that they actually feel the mill shaking from bomb blasts on a regular basis and the beans regularly change location depending on the air strikes.

To find out how the conflict in Yemen has affected the coffee industry have a look at this short report