Where Is Mocha Coffee From and Why the Name Split in Two

Mocha coffee takes its name from Yemen's Port of Mocha, a Red Sea trading hub active from the 15th century. Coffee grown in Yemen's central highlands was shipped through that port, so European buyers called it Mocha. Today the term covers two different drinks: single-origin Yemeni Mocha and the café espresso drink with chocolate.

The port itself no longer exports coffee; silting moved that trade to Hodeida, and years of conflict in Yemen limit how much coffee leaves the country. The bean's coffee beans origin is Yemen's highlands, yet most Mocha sold now is an espresso beverage, which is why the two are so often confused.

When people mention Mocha coffee, most first think of the chocolate-syrup-laced espresso milk coffee served in cafés, but few know that the true Mocha coffee actually originated from an ancient port in Yemen. In this article, Front Street Coffee will comprehensively sort out the essential differences between single-origin Yemen Mocha and espresso Mocha, from historical origins, bean characteristics, roasting methods, to brewing techniques. It will also introduce how Front Street Coffee roasts and brews the Yemen Mocha Mattari bean, as well as the key points of making modern espresso Mocha, helping coffee enthusiasts clarify these two coffees that share a name but are entirely different.

When it comes to Mocha coffee, most people picture the espresso milk coffee with chocolate sauce added that is common in cafés today. However, a small minority think of the Mocha coffee from Yemen. In this article, Front Street Coffee will discuss the differences between Mocha in the espresso coffee system and Mocha in the single-origin coffee category!

What exactly does single-origin Mocha coffee refer to?

Since the 15th century, Yemen's Port of Mocha was, for over three hundred years, a pivotal port on the Red Sea outlet, comparable in importance to today's Port of Shanghai. The vast majority of global maritime trade goods had to pass through here. The area around Mocha did not actually produce coffee; the local coffee mainly came from the high-altitude regions of central Yemen's mountainous areas. These coffees were transshipped through the Port of Mocha and, upon reaching European countries, were widely acclaimed. Because people at the time only knew that these coffees were shipped from the Port of Mocha, they called them "Mocha coffee (beans)." Thereafter, any coffee exported through the Port of Mocha was sold under the name "Mocha coffee."

Today, the old Port of Mocha has long been abandoned due to siltation (now called Al Makha), with only a stretch of white sand beach left to tell of its past glory. Its export function has shifted to the Port of Hodeida to the northwest. However, people have long been accustomed to the name Mocha, and the name Mocha still resounds throughout the world and has been carried on.

Why is Yemen Mocha coffee hard to find on the market today?

In recent years, Yemen's situation has remained turbulent, and coffee cultivation has suffered severe blows. Each year, only a very small amount of Yemeni coffee can make its way out through the flames of war. A few years ago, Front Street Coffee was fortunate to obtain a bag of Mokha Mattari coffee, which is produced in Yemen's Bani Matar region and is named after it. Unlike the rough burlap bags of other producing regions, Yemen's coffee packaging uses a material woven from fine-porous cloth similar to flour sacks.

FrontStreet Coffee — Yemen Mocha Coffee Beans

Origin: Yemen Mattari

Altitude: 1,300–1,900m

Variety: Typica, Bourbon

Processing Method: Natural (sun-dried) processing

How does FrontStreet Coffee roast Yemen Mocha coffee?

Yemeni farmers' natural processing method is more extensive than Ethiopia's. After the coffee cherries turn red, they are in no hurry to pick them; instead, they wait until the cherries naturally dry on the branch, turn purple-black, and fall to the ground before collecting them. This is completely different from the meticulous natural processing of Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, where red cherries are picked and spread on "raised mesh beds." This is also the fundamental reason why Yemeni coffee's wild flavor is particularly prominent. However, because farmers store sun-dried beans for varying lengths of time, almost every batch of green beans has a flavor that is very much "its own idea." After Front Street Coffee received the Yemen Mocha coffee beans, it noticed that the beans had an obvious cacao fruity acidity. In order to showcase the full-bodied texture of Yemen Mocha, Front Street Coffee's roaster adopted a medium roast for this bean to highlight the bean's own cacao aroma characteristics and the coffee's full-bodied feel.

Yemen Mocha belongs to green beans with relatively low moisture content, and in addition, the bean sizes are uneven. For green beans with low moisture content, the drop temperature should not be too high, and at the same time, the early dehydration needs to be accelerated to retain moisture to support flavor development and mouthfeel formation during first crack. Preheat for 30 seconds, open the air vent to 3, until the green beans turn light green or white, open the air vent to 4, and after first crack open it to 5 (maximum).

When the drum temperature rises to 170°C, charge the beans, set the air vent to 3, and after 1 minute adjust the heat to 140°C while keeping the air vent unchanged. Roast until 5'00'', when the temperature reaches 147.2°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, and dehydration is complete. Adjust the heat to 110°C and change the air vent to 4; at the 8'00'' minute, the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toasted bread smell clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, you need to listen clearly to the sound of the first crack. At 8'23'' first crack begins. Reduce the heat to 60°C and open the air vent fully (adjusting the heat must be done very carefully; it must not be so low that there is no cracking sound). Drop the beans at 197.9°C.

How does FrontStreet Coffee brew Yemen Mocha coffee?

When brewing medium-roast coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses the Kono Meimon dripper. The dripper's shorter ribs design can extend the coffee's extraction time, thereby enhancing the coffee's full-bodied texture.

Grind: Medium-coarse grind (70% passing a No. 20 standard sieve)

Water temperature: 90°C

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Dose: 15 grams

Front Street Coffee's staged brewing method: Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time is 2'06".

Yemen Mocha brewing flavor:

The layering is complex, with a slight grape acidity appearing at the changing tips in the mouth, a long spicy finish, and a salivating, rounded sweetness with a Middle Eastern milk tea sensation that lingers for quite a while. A malt sweetness remains at the bottom of the cup.

Is the espresso Mocha coffee commonly seen in cafés today related to Yemen Mocha coffee?

Espresso Mocha coffee is made from a combination of chocolate, milk, and espresso. The coffee and cocoa blend together and are deeply loved by the public. This seems to have no connection with Mocha. But espresso Mocha coffee can be traced back to 18th-century Italy. Although there is currently no more authoritative historical material to substantiate the origin of the name Mocha coffee, it is worth making a bold conjecture. In the 18th-century coffee world landscape, the Netherlands brought coffee to Southeast Asia, France brought coffee to South America, and Mocha had already lost its monopoly position in coffee. Coupled with the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-to-late period, Mocha coffee's market share also gradually shrank.

Less and less Mocha coffee flowed into Europe. At that time, Mocha coffee beans held a status in people's minds akin to today's Geisha coffee beans. In order to drink coffee with a similar flavor, the emergence of espresso Mocha coffee very likely was an attempt to imitate the scarce Mocha coffee beans by adding unsweetened dark cocoa to espresso, so that the coffee's flavor would express the sensation of Yemen Mocha coffee.

How is today's espresso Mocha coffee made?

When making espresso, Front Street uses the Warm Sun espresso blend of naturally processed Yirgacheffe and Honduras Sherry barrel-fermented beans. The coffee extracted from this blend has a faint whiskey aroma, the sweetness of vanilla cream, and a nutty cocoa finish. Modern Mocha coffee is always made with milk and sweetened chocolate. Front Street uses sweetened chocolate sauce and fresh milk with high lactose content.

First add 30g of chocolate sauce and a double espresso and stir well, then heat and steam the milk to about 55–60°C (because the chocolate sauce dilutes the espresso's crema layer, making it easy for latte art to spread apart, the milk foam can be a little thicker than that of a latte, about 1.5cm, but not as thick as cappuccino foam). After that, fully incorporate it and then create the pattern.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.