Yemen Mocca Sanani and Why do the angels drink it?

There are about 100 lbs. of Yemen Mocca Sanani left in my holy green bean room. I'm beginning to miss it like you miss a dear friend who is about to leave town for 4 months. Before we say our farewells, I'd like to share some information about one of my favorite coffees that causes me to claim, "The angels drink Yemen Mocca Sanani."

Mocca (you say Mokha and I say Moka) was the main port for San'a, the capital of Yemen. Mokha was a famous port for coffee from the 15th to 17th centuries. Mocca Sanani also means from San'ai but originally was the name of the special arabica beans found in Yemen. Our Yemen Mocca Sanani has strong notes of chocolate which reminds us why many Americans order Cafe Mochas or Moccachino. These are often a combination of espresso, hot chocolate, and milk. Mocha used to be the port city of San'a, but they moved the city because of some sand bar issues. You should also know that there are some Ethiopian beans that are called Mocca Harrar because of their similar shape to the Mocca beans found in Yemen. It is believed that the Yemen coffee was brought over from Ethiopia Harrar region during the 6th century or earlier. Chocolate was never imported or exported in Mocha.

If you pay attention to what is happening in the world, Yemen and especially San'a are experiencing painful growing pains and the people are revolting in the city of San'a and elsewhere.



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A New Obsession-Turkish Coffee

Chazzano Coffee has gone to the dark side, but in a good way. We now serve Turkish coffee. We brew coffee at Chazzano Coffee Roasters in French Presses, Vacuum Syphon, Pourover, Espresso, Iced Pourover, and Toddy Cold Brew. We analyze the flavor profile when we brew coffee with the French Press- what is an ideal brew time? 2, 3, or 4 minutes? Well, it depends on the coffee and the notes that you wish to extract. Do you stir the coffee when it's brewing in the Vacuum Syphon brewer? It depends on whom you ask. We stir the coffee when it's brewing and when it's cooling down to fully extract the coffee flavor. We carefully cup every single coffee roasted at Chazzano Coffee to make sure that the particular brewing method brings out the best flavor profile.

However, Turkish coffee brewing is completely different from all of the other methods. I've been reluctant to tread on that path of Turkish coffee because there are so many different traditions of brewing Turkish coffee and they all reside in Detroit. For the Yemenite, Israeli, Chaldean, Albanian, and Greek and dozens more, the Turkish way is the only way. In addition, each tradition has different methods of brewing the coffee-sugar, cardamom, rose water, or pistachio grains. Some cultures boil the coffee 4 times, other 3 times. To stir or not to stir, that is also the question. I have finally found the courage to learn the art of Turkish coffee, despite the many acceptable ways to brew it.

I purchased an Ibrik (traditional Turkish coffee pot) and a butane burner. In all of the discussions about Turkish coffee, one question remains: What kind of coffee works best as Turkish? I have 40 different coffees and they're all fantastic, but what will work best as a slow boil, and quick boil 3 times? My first choice was Ethiopia Yirgacheffe because it has sweet notes of citrus and chocolate. You know my motto: Put sugar or cream in my freshly roasted coffee-what happens? G-d cries and an angel loses its wings. I was worried that black Turkish coffee wouldn't taste authentic. On the first try, it was the best cup of Turkish coffee, ever-smooth, with the usual grittiness, a fantastic aroma of citrus and chocolate. If you want an awesome cup of coffee, start with crazy fresh roasted coffee.