Yemen: Coffee's True Origin and the Ancient Architecture That Will Not Fall
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Coffee originated in the Ethiopian highlands, but it was Yemen that turned it into a global commodity. The port city of Mocha — now spelled Mokha — was the world's first great coffee trading port, exporting Yemeni beans to Egypt, Turkey, Persia, and eventually Europe beginning in the 15th century. The word mocha in coffee refers to the port. The taste profile associated with Yemeni coffee — chocolate notes, wine-like acidity, earthy depth — comes from beans grown on ancient terraced mountain farms at altitudes above 1,500 metres and processed by dry methods unchanged in centuries.
The old city of Sana'a — inhabited for over 2,500 years — is among the world's most visually extraordinary urban environments. The tower houses of the old city, built from stone, brick, and alabaster windows that glow from within at night like stained glass, rise seven to nine storeys in a architectural style unique on earth. UNESCO listed the old city as World Heritage in 1986. The buildings are maintained by a building tradition passed down through Yemeni craftsmen, using materials and techniques developed over centuries.
Yemeni honey — particularly sidr honey, produced from the sidr tree in the Hadramawt and Marib regions — is considered among the finest in the world and commands prices that reflect its quality and scarcity. Yemeni beekeeping has a continuous history of thousands of years. The combination of Yemen's extraordinary botanical diversity — the island of Socotra has been called the Galápagos of the Indian Ocean for its endemic species — and ancient beekeeping practice produces flavours that have no equivalent.
