Our Story
More Than a Beverage.
Moka & Co was born from the shared passion of a diverse group of friends who believed coffee could be a cultural experience, rooted in heritage, design & community.
Our Coffee
Terrace Grown, Above the Clouds.
Heirloom varietals, high altitude & natural sun drying give Yemeni coffee a flavour found nowhere else: dried fruit, chocolate & warm spice.
Picked One by One
Farmers select only the ripest red cherries from heirloom trees that have grown for centuries.
Sorted on Woven Trays
Every basket is tipped out & gone through by hand, four passes, before the coffee leaves the village.
Dried on Rooftops
Cherries dry naturally in the mountain sun, the original natural process the world now imitates.
Where Coffee Began
Terraces of Stacked Stone.
Yemen's coffee grows between 1,800 & 2,300 metres on hand-built terraces, too steep & too small for machinery. Every cherry is carried down by hand.
History
It All Started in Yemen.
Coffee as a beverage originated in Yemen, and up until the early 1700s Yemen was the world's sole exporter of coffee.
The First Cup
Coffee is first consumed as a beverage in western Yemen by spiritual ascetics who drank it to stay awake in worship.
Coffee Reaches Europe
Coffee becomes popular in Europe, spawning the beginning of coffee shop & café businesses.
The World Drinks Yemen
Yemen prospers as coffee makes its way around the world, supplied through the port of Al-Mokha, which gave "mocha" its name.
A Yemeni Restaurant in Michigan
Guests at a beloved Yemeni restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan are introduced to authentic Yemeni coffee traditions. The idea takes hold there.
The Pandemic Stops the Concept
The original concept is put on hold. The vision returns stronger than ever: a modern lifestyle brand centred around the world’s oldest coffee culture.
Moka & Co Launches
The café concept opens its doors, honouring coffee’s origins in rooms designed for people to gather in.
Brewing in Beirut
The family grows to Lebanon, a new majlis for a city that has always loved its coffee.
The original coffee plant, coffea arabica, originated in the Great Kingdom of Sheba, at a time when Yemen & Ethiopia were united as one. Islamic mystics were the first to popularise the brew, & for two centuries every cup the world drank was grown, roasted & shipped from Yemen. By the mid-1500s the first qahwas (coffee houses) had spread across the Ottoman Empire, creating a new idea entirely: the third space, where strangers of every background met to debate & exchange stories.
Europe met clarity of mind when Yemen's coffee arrived, and found the rooms to use it in; the drink went on to catalyse the Enlightenment & the Industrial Revolution. History changed coffee too: seized & mass-produced in colonial plantations, a more bittercoffea robusta became the coffee most people know. Today Moka & Co operates cafés across the United States (New York, Michigan, Arizona, California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania & Virginia) and now a new room in Beirut.
The & in Our Name
The Co. Is the People.
The "& Co." reflects the relationships & partnerships that make the brand possible, from fair-trade collaborations with coffee farmers in Yemen to the communities that gather in our cafés.
True to the Source
Traditional Yemeni brewing methods alongside modern speciality drinks. Every cup celebrates where coffee began.
Exceptional Coffee
Organic, terrace grown, hand picked & sun dried, then roasted & served with the care the beans deserve.
Fair Trade at Origin
Direct collaborations with the farmers in Yemen who grow our coffee, built to last rather than to extract.
Rooms Worth Sitting In
Thoughtfully designed spaces where people connect, learn & stay a while. A café is more than a place to grab coffee.
In many ways, the true meaning of the "Co." in Moka & Co is the people who gather around the table & become part of our story.
Yemeni coffee is so special, we wanted to share it. With you, we're creating a new chapter for Yemen, linking the past to a brighter future.
Now in Lebanon
The Next Room in the Same House.
Same beans, same welcome, a city that has always loved its coffee.