Best of Yemen Lot #17 Al Oqabi Women Farmers - Yemenia Natural - Yemen

This is our first year participating in the BOY Auction and we intentionally entered it because this is the first year women were put at the forefront of the auction. Of the best 36 coffees, 13 were produced by women, including the #1 Lot! When we decided to enter the auction we purchased the sample set to cup all 36 coffees and honestly, they were all so good, that we would be happy with whichever coffee we ended up with. Our goal and mission was to purchase a women-produced lot and that we did. After 7:30 hours of going back and forth and the highest record prices for all the coffees, we landed on Lot #17. Little Waves Coffee was the only U.S. company to purchase a lot this year. We're incredibly proud to source this coffee, pay a PREMIUM price that directly goes to the producers, and share this coffee with you all! The value is worth it when we are talking about quality and the livelihoods of this community.

 

In Bait Sel, a village in Hayma Dakhiliya, the women of the Al Oqabi tribe carry the weight of their community’s agricultural heritage. Among 35 houses, families like Bait Al-Oqabi and Bait Al-Asadi live by the cycle of planting and harvesting. What sets Bait Sel apart is its high number of educated residents, a rarity in rural Yemen.

For these women, farming is more than labor; it is a link to the past and a promise to the future. In every harvest, they preserve a legacy of resilience, their quiet strength flowing as steadily as the spring that sustains them.

About the Region:

Bait Sel

Bait Sel, located in the rugged terrain of Hayma Dakhiliya, is a small village of about 35 families. The village's economy is rooted in agriculture, with coffee as its main crop, yielding 6 to 7 tons of cherries each season. Corn and bananas also thrive in the fertile soil. Livestock is modest, with a few sheep, cattle, and bees for honey production. The village relies entirely on the Ghail Al-Hijrah spring, situated at the top of the valley, for irrigation and daily water needs, making it a vital lifeline for the community.

Hayma Dakhiliya
Hayma Dakhiliya is a coffee growing region located in the west of the Sana’a governorate, it is one of the governorate’s most well-known regions. The region has 11 mountainous villages located 50km west of the capital city of Sana’a. Some of the villages in Hayma Dakhiliya include Al Yaer, Bait Yaseen, Al Mezab and Bait Al Kabsh. However, due to the rough terrain and rugged roads, the villages are hard to reach and remain isolated from the city. Due to the location of the villages in this region, access to education and healthcare is limited. 

However, coffee trees have been struggling with diseases impacting the region’s outturn of coffee cherries and overall yield. Low yield is a problem affecting the Yemeni coffee industry; however, Hayma Dakhiliya is particularly struggling with this issue and as result, the region has the lowest yield in Yemen. 

Sanaa
The governorate of Sana’a not only has the biggest share of specialty coffee production, in both quality and quantity in Yemen but also has one of the longest continuous coffee cultures in the world. Much of the coffee consumed in Sana’a is prepared using the traditional Ibrik method, brewing coffee in a copper or silver pot over hot charcoals.