Port of Mohka: Visionaries of Yemeni Coffee

Remember the Yemeni coffee post I made about the journey a man took to bring Yemeni coffee? Well, we're coming full circle to receiving a bag of their light roast.

Port of Mohka was founded by Yemeni-American Mohktar Alkhanshali back in 2016 when Mohktar, struggling to find his own purpose in life, decides to take a journey back to Yemen and visit the roots and heritage of coffee. To avoid repetition, check out this video by Vice News for a brief, informative background of Port of Mohka.

Mohktar became one of my main inspirations for improving Yemeni coffee and realigning with the pride and heritage of coffee. My family immigrated from Iraq to Ohio before I was born (due to the war and reign of Saddam Hussein) and coffee was always a crucial part of my society's culture. Even amongst the Arabic community, much knowledge on the origin and basis of coffee has been lost. Coffee is such a commodity in the Middle East, due to their restrictive religious laws against alcohol, and because of that, a lot of the genuine interest towards the origin stories of many different kinds of beans has been lost. In the book, The Monk of Mohka, he states that even his family was shocked at the discovery of coffee being originated in Yemen; let alone seeing him brew a pour-over in front of them for the first time.

I wish to educate others on the wonders that Yemeni has to offer and the way it needs other coffee roasters, lovers, and enthusiasts alike to step-up and spread the message. Because of Mohktar, I find myself alongside the same path he once fought to get through - and I want to make my heritage and community proud for it.

Yemeni farmers practice a lot of traditional, natural coffee processing methods - sometimes at extremely high altitudes (2,500-5,000m above sea level and higher!) which results in distinctive and unique flavors that make Yemeni coffee flourish being roasted from lighter to darker roasts.

A lot of what is unknown to most coffee roasters and lovers are the varietals that grow particular to Yemen. As stated in Agronomy's "Vernacular Names and Genetics of Cultivated Coffee (Coffea arabica) in Yemen", article:

"The names are often in reference to either the supposed geographical origin of the planting material or to some specific morphological features. Hence, without a comprehensive genetic study of these different coffee types, the given names can be considered to be vernacular names (=local names) rather than varietal names reflecting genetic identity."

"Deciphering the relationship between vernacular names and genetic identity is extremely important for the coffee seed sector in Yemen. It enables farmers to benefit from reliable, stable, improved planting material and enables the coffee community to benefit from the genetic diversity potential of Yemen".

Without proper labs and reports, we are left to assume Yemeni coffees to be the vernacular names such as Udaini, Dawairi, Buna, Ja'adi, and Tufahi.

Let's proceed with the results!

• Color: dark brown hue

• Aftertaste: not much of an aftertaste, starts off powerful and calms down, slight caramel/toasted cracker finish when oxidizes

• Mouthfeel/body: tea-like, light syrupy body (hot) rounder medium body (cooled) subtle lingering film, mouthwatering acidity

• Aroma: melon, cherry, floral, jam

• Flavors: bold/complex, strong citrus, crisp, dried fruit (date/raisin)

I will say, out of all the Yemeni coffee I've tasted (which has been a few experimental samples I've roasted from different buyers), this has been the best so far. It's an easy to drink coffee and I found myself constantly wanting to discover more of the flavors that were hidden underneath the complexities of the roast.

#coffeereview #yemen #portofmohka #california