introducing the coffee discovery of the century
yemenia
Yemen
a world of coffee genetics
Whilst some coffee aficionados are aware of Yemen's rich coffee history, being the birthplace of the coffee drink, few are aware of Yemen's critical role in shaping arabica's genetics across the world.
In fact, over 98% of the world's known cultivated varieties of Coffea arabica, can be traced back to Yemen. The arabica species, which was found wild in the forests of Ethiopia, travelled to Yemen at least 600 years ago, where it was grown as a cultivated crop, likely for the first time in the crop’s history. As it went from the lush forests of Ethiopia to the arid mountains of Yemen, the genetics of the Yemeni trees would change over time to adapt to the new environment through domestication and natural selection. Coffee cultivation continued in Yemen for the next 300 years, during which the genetics of the Yemeni coffee trees gradually changed through domestication and a process known as genetic drift, such that they became distinctly different from their Ethiopian ancestors. These unique trees would go on to become the 'mother' trees of almost all of the cultivated varieties known today.
Coffee Genetics 101
Mother Populations and Varieties
Within the species of arabica, there exist dozens of varieties which fall under several groups termed mother populations.
The four known Mother Populations in Coffea arabica are: Ethiopian accessions, Typica Bourbon, SL-34, and SL-17.
The Qima Coffee Genetic Project
As part of Qima Coffee's R&D programme with Dr Christophe Montagnon, we undertook an ambitious project to investigate and map out Yemen's genetic landscape. After years of work, Qima conducted the largest genetic survey in Yemen's history, covering an area of over 25,000km2.
The results unveiled one of the most significant findings in coffee history.
On August 14th 2020, Qima Coffee announced the discovery of an entirely new mother population that was previously unknown to the coffee world.
YEMENIA
the future of arabica
What is Yemenia?
Yemenia is a new mother population within the species of Coffea arabica that is found exclusively in Yemen, and represents an ocean of unexplored genetics and future varieties that have the potential to reshape the world of arabica for centuries to come.
The Cup Quality of Yemenia
To assess the cup quality of Yemen, Qima Coffee, in collaboration with the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, put together an independent jury panel of 35 cuppers from 24 leading global coffee companies across 14 countries. The cup quality was found to be exceptional and the coffees were ranked as amongst the highest in the world.
Yemenia
Bigger than Gesha
A discussion with James Hoffmann
Introducing The Qima-RD2 Coffea arabica Map 2020
What’s next?
This finding only marks the beginning of our work into Yemen's genetics. Qima Coffee will continue to research and share its findings on Yemen's fascinating genetic landscape.
Within all of our R&D work, we have the farmer impact ultimately in mind, and everything we do should serve that purpose. We believe Yemen’s coffee represents a source knowledge, hope and inspiration not only for Yemen’s farmers, but for the 25+ million smallholder coffee farmers across the world. In what we do, we are determined to bring that hope to life.
Watch this space for updates.