114 ARABIAN COFFEE. 



are classified as Yemen and Tehama, but are known to 

 trade almost universally as "Mocha" coffee, from being 

 at one time all shipped from that port; but since the 

 opening of the Suez Canal, the bulk of the crop is now 

 shipped from the ports of Aden and Hodeida. 



Yemen Mocha Is grown on the mountain slopes 

 surrounding the towns of Bulgosa, Sanaar and the 

 valley of the Oudien, and constitutes the true Mocha 

 coffee, which is rarely if ever exported, being consumed 

 chiefly within the limits of Arabia itself; very little, so 

 little, indeed, of this variety finds its way west of Con- 

 stantinople that it is almost inappreciable. Nor, indeed, 

 do the latter always get the best or purest, Arabia, Syria, 

 Persia and Egypt consuming over two-thirds of the 

 limited product of the Yemen hills, the remainder being 

 reserved for the Turkish and Armenian seosophagi, from 

 which fact it is sometimes termed the "Aristocrat of 

 Coffees." 



The true " Mocha " or Yemen bean is exceedingly 

 small, hard, round, and symmetrical in form, regular 

 and uniform in general appearance, of a translucent, 

 olive-green color when new, but assuming a rich semi- 

 transparent yellowish hue with age. It is perfectly clean, 

 being entirely free from stems, stones, chaff and all other 

 extraneous matter. When fresh roasted it exhales a 

 pleasing if not delicious odor, not even approached by 

 that of any other variety grown or known ; the liquor is 

 heavier in body than that of Java, but creamy and rich, 

 and the flavor fragrant and aromatic to an eminent degree. 

 The superior excellence attributed to this particular vari- 

 ety of Mocha coffee is said to be due to two causes, 

 first to the extreme dryness of the climate, hard granitic 

 nature of the soil, and second to the fact that the berries 



