Lot #9 - Yemen Coffee Auction
INTERNATIONAL JURY CUPPING SCORE
88.9
Cheery liqueur, kiwi fruit & bubblegum.
Farmer Group: Mutawasat Community
Region : Mutawasat / Haraaz / Sanaa
Country: Yemen
Processing: Natural
Elevation: 1,700 - 2,200m
Varieties: Yemenia
Sourced Through: Upstream Imports & Qima Coffee
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This lot gathers the production of 55 farmers from one of the most remote regions in Yemen. Coffee is their only source of income and they have spent their whole life on the farm. They started at a young age helping their parents on the farm and with time they inherited land and gained enough knowledge and skills to take responsibility for the farm.
What Is Yemenia?
A pure arabica mother population, unique to Yemen, that represents a new ocean of varieties with untapped potential to transform the genetic landscape of Coffea arabica in the world.
Whilst some coffee aficionados are aware of Yemen's rich coffee history, being the birthplace of the coffee drink, few are aware of Yemen's critical role in shaping arabica's genetics across the world.
In fact, over 98% of the world's known cultivated varieties of Coffea arabica, can be traced back to Yemen. The arabica species, which was found wild in the forests of Ethiopia, travelled to Yemen at least 600 years ago, where it was grown as a cultivated crop, likely for the first time in the crop’s history. As it went from the lush forests of Ethiopia to the arid mountains of Yemen, the genetics of the Yemeni trees would change over time to adapt to the new environment through domestication and natural selection. Coffee cultivation continued in Yemen for the next 300 years, during which the genetics of the Yemeni coffee trees gradually changed through domestication and a process known as genetic drift, such that they became distinctly different from their Ethiopian ancestors. These unique trees would go on to become the 'mother' trees of almost all of the cultivated varieties known today.
As part of Qima Coffee's R&D programme with Dr Christophe Montagnon, Qima undertook an ambitious project to investigate and map out Yemen's genetic landscape. After years of work, they conducted the largest genetic survey in Yemen's history, covering an area of over 25,000km2.
The results unveiled one of the most significant findings in coffee history.
About Qima Coffee
Established in 2016, initially sourcing from 30 farmers in one small community, today Qima works with over 2,600 farmers across 53 communities throughout Yemen’s coffee lands.
Operating directly at farm-level and working exclusively with fresh cherries, Qima Coffee is Yemen’s only fully integrated specialty coffee operator and the country’s largest specialty exporter.
They are re-introducing the world to one of the rarest and finest specialty coffees. In doing so, they aim to restore Yemen to its former glory as a globally renowned source of exquisite coffee.
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