Wadi Mahyad - Community Lot
Impressions: orange, carob, pecan, caramel
Roast degree: 2.5/5
Country: Yemen
Governate: Al Mahwit
Village: Wadi Mahyad
Varietal: Yemenia
Process: Natural
Partner importer: Qima Coffee
This natural lot from the Wadi Mahyad community is showcasing the stellar and immaculate treatment of this beautiful yemenia varietal. (also check out the Women Alchemy lot from the same village!)
Many farmers in Yemen don’t produce enough coffee to export a complete lot, which would, at a minimum, be one full 60kg bag. Community lots ensures that those farmers are paid fairly for the coffee despite producing small a small amount, because otherwise, they would have to sell their production on the local market for far less.
The Mahwit region is quite cut off and it's hard to find Mahwiti coffee. With the right processing, Qima found the coffee can be excellent and they have been working with 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. Volumes per tree are up by 50% this year across the community, a great news for farmers!
Mahwit’s journey from neglect to promise testifies to the perseverance, innovation, and community spirit of the region.
Classic yet complex, this is a coffee you won’t ever have enough of.
The acidity is one you would have recognized in many coffees before as it’s full of citrus, specifically orange when we tasted it the first time.
There are also notes of pecans and caramel, giving the coffee a deep sweetness and pleasant mouthfeel.
There was something in this coffee that was so unique as well, and it took us a while to put our finger on it, until Veronica said ‘’Carob!!’’. Carob, in a nutshell, feels like cacao but sweeter.
Of all our Yemeni offerings, this is the one we liked the best as espresso, and it makes a filter brew you can chug allllllllll day.
For a slightly ''funkier'' lot, check out the Women Alchemy Process from the same village!
| 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: 63CAD/kg
FOB price: 42CAD/kg
Farmgate price: 26CAD/kg - 50% above local average.
The difference between the FOB and farmgate price is quite big compared to other coffee origins. Yemen has been at war with Western imperial interests for more than a decade, and it's Red Sea blockade to put pressure on the genocidal entity of Israel (and other world leaders) is making it hard to move goods within the country and even more challenging (and costly) to export coffee.
Qima Coffee also donates 10% of their annual profits to the Qima Foundation, with the money being used for social development programs.