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Yemeni Village Micro-Lot Coffees
Past Online Exclusive Special Offering
Yemen is one of the most mysterious of all coffee-growing regions, hidden behind the veils of time and distance, steeped in the beauty of its own unchanging traditions. Although Ethiopia, a mere dhow’s sail across the Red Sea, may be the botanical origin of coffee, the ancient Yemeni port of al-Makha (or Mocha) was first to export coffee to the rest of the world.
This autumn, Shirin Moayyad, our coffee buyer, visited Yemen to meet with suppliers and learn about this remote origin. Although we've been buying great Yemeni coffee for many years, our buyers had never actually visited there, so Shirin’s trip was a landmark, an out of the ordinary adventure for a female coffee buyer to undertake. For more on Shirin's impressions, see her blog, Tales of a traveling Peetnik.
Yemen is a country of medieval architecture, 1001 Arabian Night's charm, and spectacular villages perched on dizzyingly high rocky mountain ridges. Coffee is a cash crop here, grown by small holders on narrow terraces stretching up the mountainside around individual villages or in household garden plots of just a few trees. Water is scarce, and a terrace may hold just a single coffee plant, surviving on tiny amounts of rain and extraordinary care.
View more photos from Yemen
Watch a coffee hulling video from Yemen
On this trip, Shirin found these incredible, tiny lots ("micro-lots") of coffee from three individual village regions. Each lot showcases some of the characteristics that we so love in this naturally processed Arabian coffee: winy, pungent, wild. Yet each is distinctive, vibrant, and worthy of roasting alone. We have an extremely limited supply of each special village lot, every one available for the first time as a stand-alone in the US.
Meqa'ab Village Lot: Complex and layered, with deep notes of currants, brandy and spice and dried plum in the aroma and the cup.
Hufash Village Lot: Bright and fragrant with raisin and dark wine flavors.
Anes Village Lot: Incense, wood and rich Arabian character. Superb as a single-origin espresso.
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