Mocha

Traditions recorded in 1763 connect the heyday of the city of Moha with the name of Sheikh Shaddi and say that it was under him that a massive expansion of the planting of coffee trees was realized. Soon, in Mokh they began to successfully trade in new goods, and a small village grew into a prosperous large trading city. In Europe, its name became known as Mocha and they also named the sort of coffee. As a result of the final status of the “Coffee” province, even the mountains around Moha, completely covered by coffee plantations located on the terraces on the slopes, were called “coffee”.

When Sheikh Shaddi died, a mosque was erected over his grave, and the name was remembered in the morning prayers as the name of the patron of the city, the patron of Arab coffee houses, instructing the human race to drink coffee and buy coffee beans.

In 1633 , after the anti-Ottoman uprising, an independent Yemeni state (imamat) was created. There came a short period of relative calm and more active economic development. Yemen has established direct trade relations with some countries in Europe , where it began to supply its Mocha coffee. It was during this period that the port flourished as the main coffee shopping center.

Until the middle of the XVII century, Turkish and Egyptian merchants came to Yemen and received the best grains. They bought the crop directly on the trees, ensured its collection and seed treatment. Coffee was prepared by the dry method, that is, dried in the sun.

The prosperity of the Yemeni coffee trade was largely due to the monopoly production of goods, whose popularity in Europe was growing rapidly. Coffee repeated the fate of most tropical spices , best known for their rich flavoring qualities.

The Arabs were extremely proud of the new drink and kept the secret of its preparation secret. They prohibited the export of grains from the country if they were not dried. This measure was aimed at ensuring that not a single grain capable of sprouting fell into the hands of foreigners who were forbidden to visit coffee plantations.

Around 1650, a Muslim pilgrim named Baba Budan managed to get seven green coffee beans and smuggled them to the Chikmagalhur region in southern India . From these seeds, excellent coffee trees grew, which laid the foundation for the production of coffee in this country.

Around 1690, the Dutch acquired seeds in India and established coffee plantations on the islands of Java and Sumatra by the end of the century. A few years later they became the main supplier of coffee to Europe, primarily due to the efforts of the Dutch East India Company, and the port of Amsterdam became one of the most important centers of world coffee trade.

From this moment begins the rapid decline of the Yemeni coffee trade, the supply for which has always been carried out by two routes: the northern caravan-sea and the southern sea. In the first case, the coffee purchased on the market in Beth-al-Fakih was delivered by camel on the Red Sea coast and through it to Jeddah , and then to Suez , from where it was again returned to Egypt by camel. The sea route went south to the port of Mokha, and from it - around Africa to Europe.

In addition, the root word Mokkachino refers to a method of making cappuccino coffee, in which one part is espresso and two-thirds is boiled milk with the addition of cocoa powder or hot chocolate.

Jules Verne mentions mocha in 12 ch. Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863).

Voltaire in the book “ Candide, or Optimism ” (1758) in the last 30th chapter mentions Mokka coffee : “Having said this, he invited the strangers to enter his house; his two daughters and two sons brought them several varieties of homemade sorbet, kaymak, seasoned with lemon peel, boiled in sugar, oranges, lemons, pineapples, dates, pistachios, Mokka coffee , which was not mixed with bad coffee from Batavia and from the American Isles. Then the daughters of this good Muslim scented Candida, Panglos and Marten beards. ”