Al Hayma Regional Natural

Al-Hayma is a region located on the outskirts of the Governorate of Sana’a. This region is far from green and verdant, being primarily arid with a harsh climate and an immensely high average altitude of 2250 meters above sea level. The harvest season in this remote mountainous region is always the last in Yemen, as the cherries require significant time to reach optimal ripeness.

Although famed for its quality, coffee production in Al-Hayma is modest in scale. Many villages' total harvest is no more than 15 tons of coffee Cherries: yielding only a precious 1.5 tons of coffee beans per year. However, yield is not everything. In the right hands, Al-Hayma's quality is supreme. 

During the harvest, producers begin by selectively handpicking only the reddest cherries. A single farmer may pass a tree several times during each harvest, making sure cherries are only picked when they are at their most ripe. Once picked, the cherries are transported to one of Sheba’s regional processing hubs. The cherries are next placed into baths of cool, clean water, cleaning and sorting the quality cherries from any floaters or debris. 

Once clean, the cherries are placed onto raised beds for an average of two to three weeks to dry. Here, the cherries are turned daily, making sure they are dried evenly. Once a moisture level of between 11-12% is recorded, the beans are removed from their beds and placed into airtight bags, helping protect them from oxidization or contamination from foreign matter or air pollution. 

Next, the coffee is transported to Sheba’s processing centre. Here, the dried cherries are rested for between 1 and 2 months; before being hulled of their cherry. Once hulled, the beans are passed through a gravity sorter, sieved by screen size and hand-sorted, removing any remaining defects. Once complete, the coffees are graded and bagged, ready for export.