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Mokha (Arabic: المُخا, romanized: al-Mukhā), also spelled Mocha, or Mukha, [1] is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until Aden and al Hudaydah eclipsed it in the 19th century, Mokha was the principal port for Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Long known for its coffee trade, the city gave its name to Mocha coffee. [2]
The Mokha Port is located in Mocha city, about 100 km west of Taiz and is 75 km away from Bab-el-Mandeb at the Red Sea coast. [2] The port locates at the latitude 13/19º to the north of the equator and at the longitude 04/43º east of Greenwich line.
The Mocha coffee produced in Taiz was considered some of the finest in the region in the early 20th century. [22] Today, coffee remains a major part of the economy but mango, pomegranate, citrus, banana, papai, vegetables, cereals, onions, and qat are also grown in the surrounding landscapes. [23] Taiz is also known for its cheese.
Here are facts you probably don't know, from coffee's initial chance discovery to its modern ubiquity. Related: Crazy Coffee Products From All Around the World Bartosz Hadyniak/istockphoto
It is harvested from the coffee-plant species Coffea arabica, which is native to Yemen. Mocha coffee beans are very small, hard, have an irregular round shape, and are olive green to pale yellow in color. [1] The name "Mocha" comes from the port of Mocha (al-Mukhā) through which most Yemeni coffee was exported before the 20th century. [2]
According to Captain Haines, who was the colonial administrator of Aden (1839–1854), Mokha historically imported up to two-thirds of its coffee from Berbera-based merchants before the coffee trade of Mokha was captured by British-controlled Aden in the 19th century. After that, much of the Ethiopian coffee was exported to Aden via Berbera.
In the 1600s, Indian monk Baba Budan is fabled to have smuggled seven raw coffee beans back to his homeland from Yemen, laying the foundation for coffee’s global takeover.
When coffee drinking culture spread to Europe, Europeans referred to coffee imports from Arabia as Mochas, even though coffee from Yemen itself was uncommon and frequently mixed with beans from Abyssinia, and later coffee from Malabar or the West Indies were also marketed as Mocha coffee. [5] [6] The coffee drink today called "mocha," however ...