Yemen Haraaz Sharqi Red won first place at 97 points!
Lyrically sweet, stunningly deep, engagingly complex. Dried black cherry, black sage, wild honey sandalwood, honeysuckle in aroma and cup. Juicy-bright structure with malic (green-apple-like) acidity; luscious, satiny mouthfeel. Integrated, multi-layered, flavor-saturated finish. A gorgeous stunner of a classic Yemen cup: fruit-laden, floral and sweetly herbaceous — a heady coffee, both aromatically and on the palate.
This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 1 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2022. Produced by smallholding farmers from cherries that were brought to the Al Mashtal ul Barhani Drying Station. It is from the Region of the Haraaz Mountains, an ancient coffee growing region in the isolated northwest highlands. Coffee is grown at very high altitudes and beans have a particularly hard density. Altitude of the agricultural land in the region ranges from 4500 feet to an astounding 9000 feet. Flavor is intense and characteristic of the very best Mocha coffee Yemen has to offer. This Haraaz coffee is marked superior to other coffees from Yemen that we have recently cupped.
While many grades and sizes are produced, this particular one is the very highest. Haraaz Red is the result of painstaking care at every stage of the post harvesting process. The coffee is inspected, sorted and paid for the level of quality. There is full traceability in the process. This attention to detail produces a distinct difference in flavor and clarity. On the farm it begins by harvesting only fully ripe, mature coffee cherries, then separating the largest cherries and drying them in a specially designed pyramid to promote airflow while slowly drying. This sorting and drying method produces unique ripe coffee flavors. It is processed by the natural method (dried in the whole fruit). Considering all of the turmoil in Yemen it is amazing that any coffee gets exported at all at the moment; to organize this effort is a particular achievement at this time.
