Ali Subaih - Hayma - Yemen- Filter Coffee
At the age of 65, Ali Subaih has devoted more than four decades cultivating coffee in Bayt Alal, one of the highest altitude villages in the remote district of Hima Kharijiya at an elevation of 2,300 meters above sea level. He began working in the farm at the age of twenty, inheriting knowledge and responsibility from his father. Along with his brother, Ali gradually expanded the farm to 250 libnah San’ani (approximately 1,100 square meters), making it one of the largest in the village. Today, his sons continue working alongside him to preserve this agricultural legacy.
Ali recalls the turning point when his family shifted from cultivating barley and corn to planting coffee. That decision, made in his youth, reshaped the farm’s future and embedded coffee as the family’s primary livelihood. The terraces he tends are Yemenia, a genetic group verified through Qima Coffee’s research, and represent the deep genetic heritage of Yemeni coffee.
The work is exacting. Scarce water, seasonal frosts, and occasional floods threaten both yield and infrastructure, forcing constant repair and adaptation. Yet Ali remains committed, convinced that coffee holds the strongest future for his community. His current lot, processed naturally, expresses the remarkable clarity and complexity for which Bait Alal is known, carrying notes of jasmine, passionfruit, sweet orange, green apple, vanilla and maple syrup.
For Ali, coffee is more than sustenance. It is a legacy carried forward by his sons, rooted in land his ancestors farmed for centuries, and a testament to the resilience of Bait Alal’s farming families.
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