Yemeni Coffee, Taste and Quality [Archives:2002/32/Last Page]

PREPARED FOR PUBLISHING
BY ISMAIL AL-GHABIRI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
The Yemeni coffee is one of the best in the world .Yemen is famous for its coffee, which used to be exported to different parts of the world. Yemeni coffee with its unique flavor had been and still the favorite for both locals and foreigners. Coffee tree can be clearly seen grown in the northern, central , southern, and eastern parts of Yemen from Saada in the north to Yafeaa in the south. The coffee tree also grows on the slopes of mountains valleys at the height of 100m-200m over sea level.
The total area planted with coffee trees represents 2.5% of the total arable land, thats around 33.000 acres spread over 12 governorates. Yemeni coffee is considered the best in terms of purity, low caffeine and side effects pesticides. And in spite of the long history of the Yemeni coffee dating back to centuries, it is not yet scientifically classified. A researchers has classified the Yemeni coffee into main three categories, Al Ayni, Al Tofahi , Al Dawaery. But recently the names came to be known by the areas producing it, for example, Al Audini, Al Hamadani, Al Ismaeli, Al Matari and others.
There are several ways for making the Yemeni coffee and the most popular one is the Arabian way in which coffee is to be mixed with spices till it boil.
Till the 40s of the last century, Yemeni coffee had been in its golden days and fame, but in the in the second half of the twentieth, the growing of the coffee tree decreased dramatically. Top of the main reasons behind such decrease is the non-stop of Qat growing nationwide, which threatens the existence of coffee tree. Nowadays, calls to take care of coffee tree rose again at both people and official levels to regain the highly considered position of Yemeni coffee among other categories in the world. Development programs on how to cultivate the coffee tree have been set up to expand the area planted with coffee tree and investment opportunities in the this field. Hence, coffee trade has flourished and Yemen exported around 3199 tones of coffee during the year 2000, a matter that encourages farmers and the government to consider plans in this vital issue in order to restore the fame of Yemeni coffee locally and at the international level.


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