Mocha coffee bean

Last updated
Mocha coffee tree Moka arabika Pj DSC 1532.jpg
Mocha coffee tree

The Mocha coffee bean is a variety of coffee bean originally from Yemen. It is harvested from the coffee-plant species Coffea arabica , which is native to Yemen. Mocha coffee beans are very small, hard, have an irregular round shape, and are olive green to pale yellow in color. [1]

The name "Mocha" comes from the port of Mocha (al-Mukhā) through which most Yemeni coffee was exported before the 20th century. [2] As of 1911, the export market had mostly moved to Aden and Hodeida. [3] The current central market for Yemeni coffee is at Bayt al-Faqih, about 140 km north of Mocha. [4] This coffee is grown in the mountain districts of Jabal Haraz, al-Udayn (sometimes written Uden), and Ta'izz, to the east. [3]

See also

Emblem-relax.svg Coffeeportal

Related Research Articles

Mocha may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish coffee</span> Coffee brewing method without filters

Turkish coffee is a style of coffee prepared in a cezve using very finely ground coffee beans without filtering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiz</span> City in Janad, Yemen

Taiz is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. As of 2023, the city has an estimated population of approximately 940,600 residents making it the third largest city in Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee</span> Brewed beverage made from coffee beans

Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berbera</span> City in Sahil, Somaliland

Berbera is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It also served as a major port of the Ifat, Adal and Isaaq sultanates from the 13th to 19th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee bean</span> Seed of the coffee plant

A coffee bean is a seed from the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit. This fruit is often referred to as a coffee cherry, and like the cherry, it is a fruit with a pit. Even though the coffee beans are not technically beans, they are referred to as such because of their resemblance to true beans. The fruits most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together. A small percentage of cherries contain a single seed, called a "peaberry". Peaberries make up only around 10% to 15% of all coffee beans. It is a fairly common belief that they have more flavour than normal coffee beans. Like Brazil nuts and white rice, coffee beans consist mostly of endosperm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee bag</span> Container used for shipping and storing coffee

A coffee bag is a container for shipping and storing coffee. Coffee beans are usually transported in large jute sacks, while coffee sold to consumers may be packaged as beans or ground coffee in a small, sealed plastic bag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caffè mocha</span> Chocolate-flavored coffee drink

A caffè mocha, also called mocaccino, is a chocolate-flavoured warm beverage that is a variant of a caffè latte, commonly served in a glass rather than a mug. Other commonly used spellings are mochaccino and also mochachino. The name is derived from the city of Mokha, Taiz Governorate, Yemen, which was one of the centres of early coffee trade. Like latte, the name is commonly shortened to just mocha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mokha</span> City in Taiz Governorate, Yemen

Mokha, also spelled Mocha, or Mukha, is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until Aden and al Hudaydah eclipsed it in the 19th century, Mokha was the principal port for Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Long known for its coffee trade, the city gave its name to Mocha coffee.

Baba Budan was a 17th-century Sufi, whose shrine is at Baba Budangiri, Chikkamagalur, Karnataka, India. He is known to have first introduced the coffee plant to India by bringing seven raw beans from the port of Mocha, Yemen while coming back from hajj in 1670. In those days coffee was exported to other parts of the world in roasted or baked form so that no one could grow their own and were forced to buy from the Yemenis. He brought seven beans because the number 7 is considered sacred in Islam. The coffee plants were then raised at this place that bears his name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Shihr</span> Town in Hadhramaut, Yemen

Al-Shihr, also known as ash-Shir or simply Shihr, is a coastal town in Hadhramaut, eastern Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of coffee</span> Coffee since the 15th century

The history of coffee dates back centuries in Ethiopia and Yemen. It was already known in Mecca in the 15th century. Also, in the 15th century, Sufi monasteries in Yemen employed coffee as an aid to concentration during prayers. Coffee later spread to the Levant in the early 16th century; it caused some controversy on whether it was halal in Ottoman and Mamluk society. Coffee arrived in Italy the second half of the 16th century through commercial Mediterranean trade routes, while Central and Eastern Europeans learned of coffee from the Ottomans. By the mid 17th century, it had reached India and the East Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economics of coffee</span>

Coffee is a popular beverage and an important commodity. Tens of millions of small producers in developing countries make their living growing coffee. Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world daily. Over 90 percent of coffee production takes place in developing countries — mainly South America — while consumption happens primarily in industrialized economies. There are 25 million small producers who rely on coffee for a living worldwide. In Brazil, where almost a third of the world's coffee is produced, over five million people are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of over three billion coffee plants; it is a more labor-intensive culture than alternative cultures of the same regions, such as sugar cane or cattle, as its cultivation is not automated, requiring frequent human attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayt al-Faqih</span> Place in Al Hudaydah Governorate, Yemen

Bayt al-Faqīh or Beit al-Faqih is a city in Al Hudaydah Governorate in Yemen. It is located on the pilgrimage and trade route across the Tihamah plain between Al Hudaydah and Ta'izz. It is 50 km south of Al Hudaydah and 150 km southwest of the Yemeni capital of San‘a’ and lies at an altitude of 122 m. Its population was 28,773 in the 1994 census and was estimated at 41,652 in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabal Haraz</span>

Jabal Haraz is a mountainous region of Yemen, between Sanaa and Al-Hudaydah, which is considered to be within the Sarat range. In the 11th century, it was the stronghold of the Sulaihid dynasty, many of whose buildings still survive today. It includes Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb, the highest mountain in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee production in Ethiopia</span> Aspect of agriculture

Coffee production in Ethiopia is a longstanding tradition which dates back dozens of centuries. Ethiopia is where Coffea arabica, the coffee plant, originates. The plant is now grown in various parts of the world; Ethiopia itself accounts for around 17% of the global coffee market. Coffee is important to the economy of Ethiopia; around 30-35% of foreign income comes from coffee, with an estimated 15 million of the population relying on some aspect of coffee production for their livelihood. In 2013, coffee exports brought in $300 million, equivalent to 24% of that year's total exports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yemen Eyalet</span> Ottoman province in Arabia (1517–1636, 1849–1872)

The Yemen Eyalet was an eyalet (province) of the Ottoman Empire. Although formally an integral part of the empire, the far-flung province was notoriously difficult to administer, and was often lawless. During the early 17th century, the Eyalet was entirely lost to the Zaidi-ruled Qasimid State, only to be recovered by the Ottomans two centuries later. The Yemen Eyalet was reorganized in 1849, upon Ottoman takeover of much of Greater Yemen territories. In 1872, most of it became Yemen Vilayet after a land reform in the empire.

At Turbah is a town near the coast of the Red Sea in Taiz Governorate, Yemen. It lies about 75 km from Taiz and is about 1,800 metres above sea level. Its population in 2004 was 10,505.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qasimid State</span> 1597–1849 state in southwest Arabia

The Qasimid State, also known as the Zaidi Imamate, was a Zaidi-ruled independent state in the Greater Yemen region, which was founded by Imam al-Mansur al-Qasim in 1597 and absorbed much of the Ottoman-ruled Yemen Eyalet by 1628 and completely expelled the Ottomans from Yemen by 1638. The Qasimid State continued to exist into 18th and 19th century, but gradually fractured into separate small states. The most notable of those states was the Sultanate of Lahej; most of those states were submitted by the Ottomans and incorporated into the restored Ottoman province of Yemen Eyalet in 1849.

The Port of Mokha is among ancient and key ports of Yemen. It is located at the west of Taiz City.

References

  1. Ukers, William (2009) [1935]. All About Coffee. Library of Alexandria. ISBN   978-1849028707.
  2. Mark Pendergrast, Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, 2010, ISBN   0465024041, p. 7
  3. 1 2 Encyclopedia Britannica , 11th edition, 1911, s.v. Mokha
  4. International Bureau of the American Republics, Coffee: Extensive Information and Statistics, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1902, p. 46