Wadi Mahyad

$29
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Impressions: water melon, goji berries, brown sugar, baking spices
Roast degree: 2/5

Country: Yemen
Governate: Al Mahwit
Village: Wadi Mahyad
Varietal: Yemenia
Process: Natural

Partner importer: Qima Coffee

This is a lot from a new community we committed to at the end of 2023. This yemenia varietal, a new mother population identified only in 2020, shows the amazing genetic potential of coffee. It is no surprise that this varietal is only present in Yemen: 98% of all coffee varietals can be traced back to Yemen.

The small hamlet produced a truly stellar community lot. The whole village together made 156kg of coffee, and we bought it all, which makes this our biggest buy ever in Yemen.
This was made possible by divesting money from an importer whose values didn't align with ours anymore, and reinvesting with our long time partner Qima in this small community felt pretty good.

Mahwit region is quite cut off and it's hard to find Mahwiti coffee. Often, the coffee is renamed in the market because of it's rarity. With the right processing, Qima found the coffee can be excellent and they have been helping smallholders from Wadi Mahyad to access the market with more of their coffees, helping them fetch higher prices (see our transparency report).

Less than three years ago, Qima distributed seedlings in the region and have been interviewing farmers to see how these seedlings were performing. They expect volume to be up a lot next year, a great news for farmers!
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Natural processing refers to the traditional drying method used in Yemen for the past 5 centuries. Within a few hours of picking, Qima’s processing team collects coffee cherries from the farm gates. The cherries are transported to exclusive in-house facilities for drying and milling to prevent moulding and unintended fermentations from occurring within the fruit. Once received at the facilities, the cherries are placed on traditional raised. African beds, where they are left to dry anywhere between 15-25 days.

Qima’s excellent quality control and management of the post-harvest natural process ensures that the resultant cup carries clean flavours.

The biggest community lot we have ever bought in Yemen is also a super tasty one.

The coffee is sweet, think pure brow sugar cubes.
It's also full of dried fruits, specifically goji berries and apricots.
The finish reminded us of baking spices.
The is also a fruity acidity that almost feels like watermelon candies.

This lot makes for a great filter or espresso, and can also hold up well with small amount of milk.

Method Dose Ratio Time
Espresso 18 g 2.2:1 26-30 sec
Espresso with milk 18g 2:1 32-36 sec
Americano 18 g 2.3:1 28-32 sec

V60/Origami 

20 g 16:1 3:15-3:45 min

 Chemex & Batch Brew

40-60 g 16:1 4:30-5:30 min

 French Press

18-25 g 15.5:1 3:15 min steep time

Farmers: Collective lot from the Wadi Mahwad village
Importer: Qima Coffee

Price we paid for the landed coffee at our roastery: 55CAD/kg

FOB price: 30CAD/kg (cost of exporting from Yemen to the UK to Canada not included)

Farmgate price: 27CAD/kg (minimum 30% above market price)

This is the biggest lot we have ever bought from Yemen: 156kg. Yemeni coffees, due to the high quality and difficulty to export, are quite pricey. We wanted to have a bigger, more affordable lot to share with you, and Qima graciously gave us a 5CAD/kg discount that will come out of their own profits.

Qima Coffee also donates 10% of their annual profits to the Qima Foundation, with the money being used for social development programs.

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