Corby Kummer: Making the Mocha Connection

Westford-based group Mocha Connection is partnering with farmers in Yemen to bring back the country’s status as a significant global supplier of coffee beans. Yemen, which has been engaged in a civil war for nearly a decade, is known for its distinct, chocolatey coffee beans that grow well in the country’s rich soil.

In fact, mocha gets its name from Yemen’s port city Mocha, which is widely regarded as the birthplace of the coffee trade.

“Four locally-based Yemeni natives are managing to get [coffee beans] out of Yemen, and are exporting coffee right here,” award-winning food writer Corby Kummer told Boston Public Radio. “I am so excited about it — I'm immediately going to mail order it.”

Kummer is executive director of the food and society policy program at the Aspen Institute, a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.