Yemen
Gurmah Village, Haraz Mountain Microlot - Yemen
250g
*Competition Series*
Haraz Mountain Microlot
QUALITY SCORE: 93.50
Cup Notes
Chamomile / Cloves / Blueberry / Violet
Suggested for espresso and filter
when we roast
We freshly roast to order all coffees on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding national holidays), and ship the same day! Cut-off time is 11:59pm (UTC+1) of the day before the roast day. *We only ship whole beans*
Details
- Quality Score
- 93.50
- Producer
- Several Small Farmers
- Country
- Yemen
- Terroir
- Manakha
- Altitude
- 1850 – 2300 mt
- Process
- Classic Natural
- Arabica cultivar
- Typica, Heirlooms
- Picked in
- March 2019
- Arrived in
- December 2019
- Shipped in
- Box + Vacuum pack
- Roast profile by
- Rubens Gardelli
- Roasted on
- Customised solid-drum roaster
THE STORY BEHIND
“Yemen is in crisis. Mired in a civil war, its infrastructure and economy have been destroyed, and the violence is taking a desperate toll on most of the population, with famine and no medical help in the worst-hit regions.” But Yemen, even if it is now war ravaged, witnessing a devastating hunger crisis and an approaching water shortage, is also the cradle of coffee, where it has been grown for at least 700 years. And what is the aim of Specialty Coffee if not trying to save the origins and help small farmers improve their life conditions while also selecting a brilliant coffee?
This lot came from Gurmah Village located in the rugged Haraz Mountain in the northwest Highlands of Yemen, thanks to the work of several small farmers who are helping Yemen economy grow again.
Yemeni coffee has a distinct and unusual taste. What makes it so special are varieties cultivated, traditional terraced farming at high altitudes, processing and trade. Yemeni Haraaz coffee comes exclusively from the Haraz Mountains, an ancient coffee growing region in the isolated northwestern highlands. Coffee is grown at very high altitudes, making the beans particularly dense and hard. This lot is noteworthy because it comes from some of the first farms where the coffee plants replaced Qat trees. The leaves of the trees, containing stimulants, are used for chewing and cause addiction.
That is why replacing Qat trees with coffee plants is a welcome move, helping not only to tackle the addiction problem, but also bring income and prosperity to the local population.
THE VARIETY
HEIRLOOM
Ethiopian Heirloom, why the generic name? It's estimated that there are somewhere in-between six and ten thousand coffee varietals in Ethiopia. And due to this colossal figure, there hasn’t been the genetic testing to allow buyers to distinguish the varietal. With the cross pollination that naturally happens in the wild, the name ‘Ethiopian Heirloom’ exists as a catch-all phrase to describe this happenstance. However, that really makes Ethiopian quite a mystery – and an interesting mystery as each village or town could potentially have a different varietal which could carry very unique properties.
TYPICA
Typica originated from Yemeni stock, taken first to Malabar, India, and later to Indonesia by the Dutch. It later made its way to the West Indies, to the French colony at Martinique. Typica has genetically evolved to produce new characteristics, often considered new varietals: Criollo (South America), Arabigo (Americas), Kona (Hawaii), Pluma Hidalgo (Mexico), Garundang (Sumatra), Blue Mountain (Jamaica, Papua New Guinea), San Bernardo & San Ramon (Brazil), Kents & Chickumalgu (India)
THE FERMENTATION PROCESS
Dry process seems simple: pick the fruit, lay it out in the sun until it turns from red to brown to near-black, and then hull off the thick, dried outer layer in one step to reveal the green bean. It is a method suited to arid regions, where the sun and heat can dry the seed inside the intact fruit skin.
It's often referred to as "natural coffee" because of its simplicity, and because the fruit remains intact and undisturbed, a bit like drying grapes into raisins. Since it requires minimal investment, the dry process method is a default to create cheap commodity-grade coffee in areas that have the right climate capable of drying the fruit and seed.
But it’s a fail in humid or wet regions. If the drying isn't progressing fast enough, the fruit degrades, rots or gets covered with mould.
