Yemen has been known throughout the Arab World as the “Land of Origins.” Over the centuries, coffee drinking has become embedded within diverse cultural customs and concepts of hospitality of countries and peoples globally. However, drinking coffee made from authentic beans from Yemen has become a rare opportunity. 

1. One of the most renowned and revered items to have originated in Yemen is the coffee bean. 

2. Mystical Sufi communities first consumed coffee in Yemen in 1450 by the country’s who drank coffee to keep them awake during all-night prayers and meditations, coffee is referred to as “the nectar of Sufism.”

3. Throughout history, Yemen has been used as a bridge linking trade from East to West, to transport goods and spices including coffee to vast locations.

4. Istanbul is home to the first coffeehouses. Yemeni pilgrims spread coffee to the rest of the world through their regular pilgrimages to Mecca, eventually reaching Ottoman Istanbul.

5. Dutch East Indies Company used Mokka, the ancient port located along the Red Sea, as a bridge connecting their operations between Ethiopia and India. They are known to have strongly influenced coffee cultivation in Indonesia by their usage of beans originally from Yemen. 

Exporting coffee from Yemen has always been challenging due to the harvest location in high mountain terrain, but also from economic and political unrest across the country for decades. Various bans on trade, dangerous transportation routes, tariffs, and border procedures further exacerbate challenges to export the beans directly from Yemen.

We are featuring coffee beans from Yemen in our gift box. It was sourced by one of our community members who owns coffee bean farms in Yemen, is passionate about sharing Yemen coffee with the world and chose us to sample the coffee with US consumers. We’d love your feedback.