History of Coffee Mocha

The term “mocha” originally referred to coffee that was grown in the Arabian Peninsula and shipped from the Yemeni port of Mocha (Al-Makha). Coffee from Al-Makha began to be referred to simply as Mocha coffee. Until Aden and Hodeida eclipsed it in the 19th century, Al-Makha was the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a.

When chocolate first appeared from Western Hemisphere, they found it reminiscent of, or confused it with, the wild and fruity flavors of Yemeni coffee.

In the early 1600's the Dutch were the first Europeans to open a company in the port city of Mocha in Yemen. As sixteenth century sailing ships carried goods from the Arabian Peninsula across the Mediterranean the Italian port of Venice became coffee’s gateway to European markets.

Merchants in Venice and Turin opened the earliest coffee houses, and when Spanish drinking chocolate was first introduced to Turin, it was mixed with coffee and cream into a stimulating novelty called bavareisa.

In Italy, confectioners from the “Sweet Piemonte” region develop the art of combining these culinary treasures, culminating with bicerin (meaning small glass). Outside Italy, caffé latte has become the basis for a drink of one third espresso and two thirds steamed milk.

The ubiquitous caffé mocha, a latte with the addition of chocolate powder or chocolate syrup, only hints at the possibilities of more complex combinations.

Caffé mocha is made by mixing chocolate (either sweetened, ground chocolate or chocolate syrup) with espresso. Steamed milk is then added to the mixture.
History of Coffee Mocha

Mocha, Yemen and coffee

The port of city of Mocha on the Red coast of Yemen, from which a distinctive style of coffee takes name – was the port from which most of Yemen’s coffee was exported between the 61th and 18th centuries.

It is in Mocha the port of Yemen that coffee became famous and began to shape the lives of men. Mocha was long famous as Arabia’s chief coffee exporting centre.

The first coffeehouses were opened in Mocha during the 15th century. They were known as Kahveh Kanes, and were places where the men gathered to enjoy each others company.

Coffeehouses later spread throughout the Islamic world. More and more people began to spend more and more time at the coffeehouses.

The coffee trade, which began in the 16th century, was originally based on Yemeni coffee. At the beginning of the 17th century, port of Mocha became an important trading center. European vessels competed for its use, and their ships, specializing in the trade of Yemeni coffee docked there in great number.

Even after other sources of coffee were found, mocha beans continued to be prized. Mocha’s importance to the coffee trade declined with opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Americans began adding chocolate to mocha coffee as a flavoring, but it wasn’t until recently when boutique coffee shops coined the term that mocha coffee took on the meaning of ‘chocolate-flavored’.
Mocha, Yemen and coffee