Variety: Jaadi
Process: Anaerobic Natural
Producer: Hasan Tayeb
Farm: 12 Smallholder farms in Obaraat village
Elevation: 2148 MASL
Region: East HarazCountry: Yemen
Notes: Hibiscus, Fennel, Red Wine, Bourbon
This lot is produced by Hasan Tayeb in the village of Obaraat, which includes 12 smallholder family farms, situated in East Haraz. In the region, producers commonly inherited their farms from ancestors who grew fruits, vegetables, and coffee. When Khat, or Qat, became culturally popular in 1970s, most of the farmers quit growing the original crops to produce Khat. Khat is a stimulant plant widely chewed in Yemen, producing brief feelings of alertness and euphoria. Over time, however, it became damaging to daily life: families often spent a large share of their income on it, long chewing sessions reduced productivity, and its heavy water demands worsened Yemen’s already severe water shortages. Combined, these effects created significant social and economic strain on communities and limited opportunities for long-term development.
Since 2010s, community members were educated about the negative impact of Khat on the economic and social lives of habitats and farmers, they stood together to remove these trees from Eastern Haraz to grow Coffee instead. The beautiful part of the region with elevations between 1800 - 2500MASL is now fully cleared of all Khat trees, and produces high quality Yemeni Coffee.
Hasan Tayeb leads the community by planting coffee trees beginning 2018, educating smallholder growers on farming techniques, investing in equipment and building infrastructure to process coffee for the region to high standards. The coffee goes through a dry anaerobic process where the ripe cherries were float sorted, then placed into sealed containers for a low oxygen environment for 4 days. The cherries were then dried evenly on raised beds until an ideal moisture level of 10.5% to 11% level was achieved.
This coffee is amongst the top lots we have ever tasted from Yemen, with depth, complexity, and unique flavour character. This is the result of farmers who care and take pride in their work, who believe in the hope and future for their community.
