The UK’s Only Coffee Roaster To Offer a Lot from the Best of Yemen Auction
The Saints of Mokha Story
Coffee’s global story begins in Yemen. In the mountains, where 15th-century Sufi saints brewed it to stay awake in night prayer. From there, the world’s first coffee culture was born, transforming Yemen into the global centre of coffee production. By the 17th and 18th centuries, coffee had become the backbone of Yemen’s economy, exported via the port of Mokha. For over 100 years, Yemen supplied all of the world’s coffee.
However, as European colonial powers established vast plantations throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas, Yemens dominance faded. With no market differentiation and rising competition, Yemen collapsed from a monopoly to less than 0.1% of the world's production today. Low prices, economic strain, and the recent civil war has left the once-thriving industry neglected. Yemen’s coffee heritage now sits at a precarious crossroads, and we are proud to stand with the farmers who remain, helping revive a tradition that shaped coffee as we know it.
Qima - Reviving Yemen's Legacy
Founded in 2016 amid Yemen’s ongoing civil war, Qima Coffee emerged with a mission to support the country’s embattled coffee farmers. What began as a partnership with just 30 growers in a single community has expanded into a nationwide network of nearly 3,000 smallholder farmers across 55 coffee-growing regions. Today, Qima is Yemen’s largest speciality coffee exporter and one of its most influential social enterprises, channelling resources into economic stability and long-term opportunities for rural communities.
Qima established the Best of Yemen auction to showcase the finest coffees produced by Yemen’s farmers, and to celebrate the country's storied history through its exceptional coffee. The auction not only rewards high-quality production but also creates economic opportunity for some of the world’s most underrepresented farmers in a country where coffee farming has faced decades of hardship.
We entered this year's auction as a celebration of not only the quality of Yemeni coffee but also to be part of its legacy and future. Our own story is deeply rooted in the history of coffee, championing Qimas' vision and aiming to bring the spotlight back to Yemen. We are incredibly proud to have won lot 28, a naturally processed SL-28, grown by Amal & Ishraq Al-Ofairi. As the most expensive lot we have ever purchased, this coffee represents an investment into the dedication of craft and love by Yemeni farmers to continue their legacy despite insurmountable hardship and challenges.
Amal & Ishraq Al-Ofairi
High in Yemen’s central highlands, the village of Bani Ofair has cultivated coffee for centuries across its rugged terraces, carved into the mountain at 1,800 metres above sea level. Around fifty farming families work these steep slopes, relying on clean water brought up the mountains by hand, to sustain their crops in an increasingly arid climate. Among them are Amal and Ishraq Al-Ofairi, who manage roughly 300 SL28 trees across 25 matrah of land. Amal learned to farm alongside her father and grandfather, while Ishraq now shares the daily labour of pruning, harvesting, and drying. Their work continues a lineage of cultivation that has endured through drought, conflict, and isolation. Amal and Ishraq serve as a living record of Yemen’s coffee heritage.
Bani Ofair is one of the focus communities in Qima Coffee’s sustainability programme, which provides verified seedlings adapted to Yemen’s challenging terrain and supports the construction of reservoirs and irrigation networks. These initiatives have secured water access for more than 300 residents, helping stabilise local farming livelihoods. For Amal and Ishraq, coffee remains more than an agricultural pursuit - it is an inheritance, a connection to land and community, and their contribution to Yemen’s enduring reputation for producing some of the world’s most spectacular coffees.
Brewing Guide
Ratio - 18g Coffee : 300g Water
Pour 1 - 50g Bloom for 30 seconds
Pour 2 - 70g Spiral Pour, 10 second Pause
Pour 3 - 90g Circular Pour, 10 Second Pause
Pour 4 - 90g Circular Pour, Drain
Total Brew Time - 3:00