Zamarrud - Yémen

Yemeni coffee is grown and produced under difficult conditions. Firstly, annual rainfall, combined with poor irrigation, is a recurring problem. Secondly, competition with Khat, a plant with stimulating properties that offers better financial returns than coffee, motivates farmers to choose this crop. Finally, difficult transportation and political instability have also always shaped Yemeni coffee. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, coffee production and exports were monopolized at the port of Mocha, on Yemen's Red Sea coast.