Returning to Sana’a we evaluated the samples we picked up traveling to the various coffee growing regions.
We returned to Sana’a to do some coffee cupperOne who cups, or tastes and evaluates, coffee.: A cupper is a person who performs the somewhat formal analysis of coffee quality, called cupping. See the definition of... ...more training. We had picked up samples on the trip to evaluate, but we also wanted to share our method of quality evaluation, which was not widely used in the country.
Cupping
Cupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest.... ...more wasn’t the way coffee was traded or valued – it was exclusively by looking at the physical aspects of the coffee: green coffee
Green coffee refers to the processed seed of the coffee tree fruit. Coffee is a flowering shrub that produces fruit. The seeds of the fruit are processed, roasted,... ...more<coffee gradingThe evaluation and scoring of physical coffee defects in green coffee.: Coffee grading is the technical skill of evaluating and scoring of physical coffee defects in green coffee.... ...more of sorts.
We also looked forward to a nighttime stroll around the old city. Basically we needed to buy tchotchkes and such.
I couldn’t fiure out why there were so many Jambirs for sale, if they weren’t just for tourists. Real Jambirs are handed down for generations and cost upward of $2000. One sold for $100k recently. I think the ones on the street average twenty bucks. Yemen 
In old Sana’a they use camels to mill oil (seseme oil I believe. This shop was right inside the old gate to the walled city, and at first this looked so “Disney-esque” I thought it must be something they do for tourists. But I was wrong, as the adjacent area had quaite a few of these camel-driven mills in the byways and alleys. Yemen 
Who decides where windows go? The City of Sana’a Code Enforcement Unit? I don’t think so. Yemen 
In conclusion of my report entitled “Yemen, Magical Wonders of the Ancient Land”, I have proved my thesis that Yemen is facinating to naive rubes of the West, like myself, and you don’t have to leave Sana’a to be amazed by the built environs, the food, the people, the hospitality, the proliferation of the Jambir trade, and such things. Be advised, beer costs $8 at the Sheraton, perhaps due to some tax paid to the local mosque for transgressions, and everyone is completely obsessed with qat, which is very mild, but makes you feel like a goat chewing on someone’s hedges. Despite 30 the 30 hour travel penalty, I would return at the drop of a pin, a hat, or a hatpin. The end! Yemen 
That evening, we walked around the market. With sections like this, all Jambir vendors, you might think it’s a big tourist trap. Well, there aren’t that many tourists in Yemen (definitely not many Americans – I saw none) and on this evening stroll I did not see any foreigners. Yemen 
Oh, enough with the Jambirs already. My joke was, since they are all basically the same size, and are kinda, well, oddly placed, what if some tourist dude showed up wearing a jaqmbir that was comically huge. I think it would get a good laugh from the locals. Yemen 
Everything is divided into sections here, tinware, hardware, those damn jambirs, textiles, and here we have spice row. The food is so amazingly spiced here, and since Yemen always played a role in the spice trade, it’s no wonder they are experts at this. Yemen 
Duane took the lead. They had just given us our owm Jambir knives to take home, so we wore them just to look ridiculous. Since the whole thing seemed like a demo for an amazing blender, or ginzu knives, I added some smart-ass commentary to the bulletin board. Yemen 
These were all roasted with a popcorn popper. I am not sure anyone in Yemen has ever even seen a real multi-barrel sample roaster. Yemen 
Back in Sana’a, we arranged with the Sowaids to have a cupping. If you can believe it, nobody in Yemen cups coffee. They look at green coffee, they look at dry cherry, they are experts at looking at coffee. But there is no cupping. Sowaid wants to change that. Yemen 
George M. George and myself at the impromptu “cupping table” Yemen
