The Bay Area coffee juggernaut looks to continue that storytelling with a coffee tasting event featuring Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a Bay Area based, Yemeni-American coffee entrepreneur who was the subject of The Monk of Mokha, best-selling author Dave Eggers’ latest book, which came out in 2018.
The event, set for Saturday, May 18, 10:30am-12pm at the private Equator training lab in San Anselmo, features an exclusive tasting of two Port of Mokha lots with Alkanshali, founder Port of Mokha, and Ted Stachura, director of coffee at Equator. The cost for the tasting is $50 and includes a bag of coffee to take home. All proceeds from the event go to Mercy Corps, to continue to fund their humanitarian work in Yemen.
“Join us for an intimate tasting and in-depth look at the culture of Yemeni Coffee,” Russell says, noting that attendees will taste two distinct lots of Yemeni coffee roasted by Equator, as well as a sample direct from the Port of Mokha vault. “Learn from two coffee masters about the birthplace of coffee cultivation.”
Eggers’ book charts Alkhanshali’s journey to reawaken his ancestral homeland to its coffee legacy, using that story to dive into a “history of coffee and its origins, growth, and development as a mass commodity and then as a niche product,” as well as “an adventure story of civil war in a foreign country; and a most improbable and uplifting success story,” according to a recent review of the book by Kirkus.
Coffee from Yemen is some of the most prized in the world. For example, it sells for $14 a cup in Equator’s cafes.
The 411: Equator Coffees hosts coffee tasting event featuring Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a Bay Area based, Yemeni-American coffee entrepreneur on Saturday, May 18, 10:30am-12pm at the private Equator training lab at 275 Greenfield Ave. in San Anselmo. The cost for the tasting is $150 and includes a bag of coffee to take home. All proceeds from the event go to Mercy Corps, to continue to fund their humanitarian work in Yemen. MORE INFO & BUY TIX.