The Mocha coffee bean is a variety of coffee bean originally from Yemen. It is harvested from the coffee-plant species Coffea arabica, which is native to Yemen. Mocha coffee beans are very small, hard, have an irregular round shape, and are olive green to pale yellow in color.[1]
The name "Mocha" comes from the port of Mocha (al-Mukhā) through which most Yemeni coffee was exported before the 20th century.[2] As of 1911[update], the export market had mostly moved to Aden and Hodeida.[3] The current central market for Yemeni coffee is at Bayt al-Faqih, about 140 km north of Mocha.[4] This coffee is grown in the mountain districts of Jabal Haraz, al-Udayn (sometimes written Uden), and Ta'izz, to the east.[3]
- ^ Ukers, William (2009) [1935]. All About Coffee. Library of Alexandria. ISBN 978-1849028707.
- ^ Mark Pendergrast, Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, 2010, ISBN 0465024041, p. 7
- ^ a b Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, 1911, s.v. Mokha
- ^ International Bureau of the American Republics, Coffee: Extensive Information and Statistics, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1902, p. 46