Yemen Al Kawlah Special Reserve Natural

Details

Coffee Review: 95 points

Blind Assessment

Richly fruit-toned, chocolaty. Dark chocolate, red currant, tangerine zest, oak, honey in aroma and cup. Winy acidity; plush, creamy mouthfeel. Chocolaty, citrus-driven finish, invitingly bittersweet.

Notes

Produced by smallholding farmers, entirely of the Yemenia variety of Arabica, and processed by the natural method (dried in the whole fruit). This coffee benefited from a post-harvest processing initiative that Qima coffee launched in 2021 to support farmers in improving their drying infrastructure and practices. RamsHead Coffee Roasters is a family-owned company founded by Bozeman, Montana natives Caleb and Laura Walker that specializes in direct trade microlot coffees. For more information, visit www.ramsheadcoffee.com.

Bottom Line

A flavor-saturated Yemen with focused fruit on both the nose and palate; juicy, wine-like acidity and nectar-like mouthfeel.

BIO:

Al Kawlah was the culmination of a post harvest processing initiative that Qima coffee launched in 2021 to support farmers in improving their drying infrastructure and practices. Whilst Qima coffee normally carries out the drying in its own facilities, the drying project aims to strike a balance between high quality processing and farmer engagement and ownership. 

 THE REGION HAYMA KHARIJIYA

Hayma Kharijiya is a coffee growing region located in the west of the Sana’a governorate. The governorate has the biggest share of specialty coffee production, in both quality and quantity in Yemen - you will see its name on many premium coffees stemming from Yemen. 

The region sees rainy summers and dry, cold winters making it suitable for the growing of many crops such as potatoes, corn, peanuts as well as coffee. Coffee culture is rooted in the region’s heritage and history. Farmers believe that the coffee trees are blessed and that the coffee tree itself originated from the region.

Yemenia: Over 98% of the world’s known cultivated varieties of Coffea arabica, can be traced back to Yemen. The arabica species, which was found wild in the forests of Ethiopia, travelled to Yemen at least 600 years ago, where it was grown as a cultivated crop, likely for the first time in the crop’s history. As it went from the lush forests of Ethiopia to the arid mountains of Yemen, the genetics of the Yemeni trees would change over time to adapt to the new environment through domestication and natural selection. Coffee cultivation continued in Yemen for the next 300 years, during which the genetics of the Yemeni coffee trees gradually changed through domestication and a process known as genetic drift, such that they became distinctly different from their Ethiopian ancestors. These unique trees would go on to become the ‘mother’ trees of almost all of the cultivated varieties known today.