After decades of stagnation, the Yemeni coffee industry is being revitalized from the ground up — showing the world the uniqueness and exceptional quality of its coffee. Photo credit: Mocha Hunters
Yemen’s coffee legacy has deep roots. Known as the world’s first major coffee producer and exporter, the country’s esteemed coffee heritage seemed lost to the annals of history. However, despite civil war, fractured governments, and an almost incomprehensible value chain, the last decade has witnessed a massive resurgence in quality and appreciation for Yemeni coffee. Driven by a return to ancient cultivation practices and investment in specialty coffee production techniques that yield uniquely complex flavors, Yemen is finally reclaiming its rightful place on the global coffee stage.
Navigating Yemen’s Coffee Labyrinth
To achieve global recognition and success in premium markets such as the US and Japan, exporters must first traverse Yemen’s exceedingly complex coffee value chain. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the International Finance Corporation released a research report titled Coffee value chain in Yemen in May, which describes the almost medieval system that Yemeni coffee professionals tackle daily.
According to the report, governance of the coffee value chain is fragmented across the mandates of various government organizations, resulting in bureaucratic complexity and limited government support for the sector. Governance of coffee production falls under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, while matters related to trading and exporting fall under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The civil conflict that began in 2014 has divided the country into two warring parties and governments. Yemen’s severely impacted and weakened institutional setup forces coffee value chain stakeholders to contend with two governments and two taxation systems, with regulations and policies that frequently conflict.
For nearly two centuries, the port of Al Mokha was a major hub for the global coffee trade and gave its name to the famous high altitude “mocha” beans from the region.
The civil war has severely increased the cost structure for all players along the coffee value chain, making Yemeni coffee less competitive. Pioneer of the Japanese export market and CEO of Mocha Hunters, Inc., Hussein Ahmed, said in an interview with STiR Coffee and Tea, “First and foremost is the challenge of extremely high production costs. In coffee-growing areas, if you have a drying station and want to buy fresh cherries, prices range between $3 and $5 per kilo. And it takes 10 kilos of fresh cherries to produce just one kilo of green coffee for export.”
Yemen’s coffee sector is modest and built on the efforts of small-scale farmers, with average landholdings of around 0.3 hectares (or 394 coffee trees) and an average production of 114 kilos of coffee per farmer. On average, farmers spend 41-45% of their total coffee revenue on production costs, while processors spend 70%, domestic retailers 90%, and exporters 60%.
Further, coffee producers pay a significant share of the gross value of their production in a variety of taxes, ranging from 8-11%, as part of the enabling environment support. This includes, on average, 5% for auctioneering services, 2% for the cooperatives, and 3% for marketing services, charged to the government. Another 40% of the gross value goes to pay labor. Hence, a daily profit of around 5-8% for coffee growers.
However, some companies, such as Pearl of Tehama, have developed systems for paying quality-based price premiums directly to producers, something previously uncommon in Yemen’s coffee industry. The impact has been dramatic, with some Yemeni coffee farmers earning between 30% and 60% of the final selling price, compared with up to 10% in previous years.
Downstream vs. Upstream Inequalities
Resource accumulation along the coffee value chain is uneven, leading to unequal wealth distribution and inequality within the value chain. Being a labor-intensive endeavor, the value chain depends on low wages and low returns for farmers. Financial profit is accumulated downstream, mostly by exporters. This is due to two primary reasons.
The first is the class of traders, producers, and exporters that control pricing, supply orientation (domestic vs. export), and networks (both domestic and in importing countries). The second is the inability of upstream stakeholders to add value to their products, while simultaneously enduring asymmetries in market information and demand, which makes it hard for the majority of coffee farmers to move beyond subsistence mode.
Although exporters gain the most profit, they also face hardships. Nowadays, governments in both the north and the south recognize the economic importance of the coffee sector and its potential to generate income for the public and private sectors, as well as for allies with connections to both governments. Today’s policies are geared less toward developing and supporting value chain stakeholders and more toward extracting rent for coffee exports.
Inherently Specialty
Arabica is the dominant species in Yemen, with two main varieties being planted: Typica and Bourbon. The varieties grown in Yemen tend toward deeper chocolate tones, while natural coffee processing adds a dynamic, winey characteristic that distinguishes Yemeni coffee from more commercial robusta producers.
There are three differentiated coffee products in the country: commercial and specialty coffee green beans, qishr (the Arabic word for husks or peels), and the special beverage made from qishr, known locally as “Yemeni Coffee.”
The average Yemeni typically drinks qishr, a type of tea made from the spent coffee husks and peels. Photo credit: Mocha Hunters
“We roast a wide variety of Yemeni coffees,” said Ahmed. “Most of them come from a single village or valley, and sometimes even from a single farm. Recently, we even roasted a sample from a single coffee tree. This level of precision is possible because we are a local roastery based in Sana’a with direct access to farmers.”
Mocha Hunters is incredibly fortunate to trace every lot directly to its source. The company encourages farmers to revisit and revive the traditional methods passed down from their ancestors. Preserving these heritage practices — while remaining environmentally conscious — is the top priority.
Mocha Hunters have three professional cuppers. In the past 12 months, they’ve tasted nearly 2,000 samples — only seven scored below 80 points. The rest scored above 80, and the majority were around 87, clearly demonstrating that Yemeni coffee is inherently a specialty coffee. All they need now is to improve postharvest processing for some lots.
Until 2014, there were no Arab or Yemeni-certified Q Graders. Now, cupping and scoring are standard practices for training producers and demonstrating the quality of Yemeni beans. Photo credit: Mocha Hunters
“Fortunately, many traders have recently invested in state-of-the-art hulling and sorting facilities, significantly improving the quality of coffee, especially for export,” Ahmed emphasized. “However, what concerns me deeply is the growing trend among some producers to ferment Yemeni coffee using anaerobic processing. This, in my opinion, is a mistake — Yemeni coffee is naturally beautiful and doesn’t need fermentation. While fermentation might work well for coffees from other regions, I believe Yemeni coffee is best in its natural form.”
Flavor engineering can often ruin the experience for true coffee lovers. These practices have emerged due to skyrocketing demand, especially from neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, where this flavor profile is currently popular. Ahmed hopes this is just a passing trend.
Growing International and Domestic Markets
Moving coffee from remote villages to international markets is costly and complex. The beans must endure long, arduous journeys through military checkpoints and combat zones, across deserts and seas, almost akin to smuggling contraband.
Yemeni farmers were some of the first to cultivate coffee commercially, using a unique terracing method that takes advantage of the country’s mountainous terrain. Photo credit: Mocha Hunters
On average, around 60% of Yemeni coffee green beans (including commercial, specialty, and qishr) are destined for export, leaving around 40% for the domestic market. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Yemen exported $20.2 million worth of coffee in 2023. The main destinations were Saudi Arabia ($12.5 million), the US ($2.52 million), Japan ($1.64 million), Oman ($866,000), and the UAE ($740,000).
“A major export challenge is financial transfers,” Ahmed noted. “Many coffee-producing areas are under banking restrictions, which means we often have to rely on financial intermediaries or even cryptocurrencies to bring money into Yemen — it feels as if we’re moving forbidden funds because of the high fees and regulations.”
Specialty coffee shops and cafés across the country introduce domestic consumers to the rich, complex flavors of single-origin Yemeni coffee. Photo credit: Mocha Hunters
Thanks to Yemenis living abroad, demand for Yemeni coffee, both domestic and international, is growing. “In Sana’a alone,” Ahmed explained, “there are around 20 specialty cafés. Across Yemen, the number may be 100 or slightly more. But what’s truly astonishing is that Yemenis in the US have opened hundreds of specialty cafés, all serving Yemeni coffee — and that number continues to grow rapidly,” he added.
The Monk of Mokha
Mokhtar Alkhanshali is the person responsible for introducing specialty Yemeni coffee to the US café market through his brand, Port of Mokha. His work has been described as the spark that ignited the Yemeni coffee revolution. Alkhanshali is also the hero of The Monk of Mokha, a 2018 nonfiction bestseller by Dave Eggers, which follows Alkhanshali’s epic quest to bring single-origin Yemeni coffee to the US. This year, Al-Khanshali Estate coffee just sold for $400 per kilo at the Dubai Coffee Auction, setting a new benchmark for Yemeni coffee.
Other significant export drivers are the Yemeni Coffee Auction and Sana’a International Coffee Exhibition. The Best of Yemen Auction returned for its seventh edition on September 18, 2025, in collaboration with the Alliance for Coffee Excellence — when 33 exceptional batches of the most distinctive, high-impact coffees were showcased.
Yemeni farmers and exporters used to store and ship green coffee beans in porous burlap sacks, which caused mold and spoilage, but now use hermetically sealed bags to preserve quality, aroma, and flavor. Photo credit: Mocha Hunters
Resilience in the Face of Adversity
Yemen’s coffee renaissance is a testament to resilience in the face of extraordinary adversity. Despite enduring ongoing civil conflict, navigating a fragmented governance system, bearing high taxation burdens, and facing steep production costs, Yemeni coffee stakeholders have carved out a place in premium global markets.
This movement is reshaping the entire value chain. While the challenges remain formidable — from banking restrictions to the trend toward flavor engineering that threatens Yemeni coffee’s naturally distinctive character — the numbers tell a compelling story: Yemen’s ancient coffee legacy is undergoing a revival — not despite the obstacles, but in defiance of them.