Batch 007: Yemen — The Birthplace of Coffee
Brooklyn 2022 — I texted Waell Saturday morning to make sure we were still good to roast coffee. He said “yes, see you there”. I got in my car and drove to Brooklyn. Driving into New York on a brisk Saturday morning, no-one on the road, entering the city as it comes alive — that was a great start to the day.
Yemen 1258 — Omar a Sufi Monk from Mocha, Yemen was known to heal the sick through prayer. For unknown reasons (maybe perceived witchcraft) he was exiled to a desert cave near the Mountain of Ousab.
In exile, he came close to starvation until a bird came down with a branch of coffee cherries.
He tried to eat them raw, but found them bitter. He threw them into a fire but still found them too hard. Finally, he put the roasted beans into boiling water to soften them. Upon drinking, he felt a warming sensation energize his mind, body, and spirit.
He was able to pray and study through the night, the coffee sustained him.
When news got to Mocha that Omar was still alive, his exile was lifted and upon returning, he distributed the beans, the drink and saw that it ‘cured’ many ailments.
Brooklyn 2022 — Waell was kind and warm to me. He struck me as reliable, gracious, and steadfast. There was a stream of customers in and out of the coffee shop. They seemed like regulars, Waell would often refer to them by name and playfully engage with their children.
Waell was patient too. He gave me a chance to get comfortable on the roaster, allowing me to run through a few test batches. He told me all about the family farm in Sana’a and the process of getting coffee out of Yemen. The coffee is handpicked and sun-dried on the Alhasbani family farm, located in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a.
Yemeni Coffee
During the 16th century, Yemen was the only country in the world exporting coffee and they were doing it out of the Port of Mocha on the Red Sea.
Only 3% of Yemen’s land can be farmed because of hills, mountains, and a lack of water. Farms are typically located in the mountains on terraces that have been painstakingly carved out of the steep mountainsides.
Desert-like conditions, along with this difficult system of cultivation results in a low-yield coffee crop relative to other coffee-producing nations. The ongoing political instability has brought even more hardships to the coffee growing community in Yemen.
The Yemeni people are aware of how excellent their coffee is:
75% of coffee produced in Yemen is consumed in Yemen. Of the 25% that Yemen exports, half of that goes to Saudi Arabia. At that point, the coffee that remains is in high demand.
I roasted this coffee medium light. It has layered notes of cherry, honey, walnut and lemongrass.
The combination of Waell’s kindness, the customers enjoying their morning cup, and the recitation of the Quran playing in the shop, created an extraordinary environment to roast this coffee in.
Order batch007 at batchRoasting.com
Use discount code: Omar for 10% off
Eid Mubarak!
Profits from this batch will go towards providing aid to Yemen during an ongoing conflict which has left 70% of the population, including 11.3 million children, in need of humanitarian assistance
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services.
Sourcing:
1. National Coffee Association of U.S.A., Inc.
2. Coffee Merchants J. Martinez & Company
3. The Story of Omar from the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript
