Name: Saudi Arabia, Tallan Mountain
Brand: Sea Island Coffee
SKU: SAUDI125BAGWB
Price: 42.00 GBP
Availability: InStock

New Arrival

New Arrival

Roast Medium
Varietal Arabica Typica
Process Anaerobic Natural
Flavour Profile Fruity/Sweet

Taste Profile

Caramel
Guava
Chocolate

Seven-day anaerobic fermentation gives this coffee its distinctly sweet and fruity profile. On the nose it is tropical: guava and papaya, with banana and strawberry behind them. The cup is rich, with notes of caramel and honey carried on a smooth, balanced body, with red apple, melon, and raspberry lifting the mid-palate. Dried fruit, chocolate, and a gentle nuttiness in the finish.

Information

Country: Saudi Arabia

Region: Jazan, Tallan Mountain

Varietal: Arabica Typica (regionally known as Khawlani)

Processing Method: Anaerobic Natural

Drying Method: Sun-dried

Elevation: 1650 - 1950 masl

Roast Level: Medium

Saudi Arabia

The History of Jazan Coffee

Jazan lies in the far south-west of Saudi Arabia, where the mountains rise from the Red Sea coast towards the Yemeni border. Coffee has been cultivated on its stone terraces for over 300 years by the Khawlani tribes, who take their name from a common ancestor, Khawlan bin Amir. The terraces are built to hold water and soil on the steep slopes. Seedlings are raised in the shade for three to four months before planting out, cherries are picked by hand and laid out to dry, and the dried fruit is hulled on a flat stone mill so the beans are not cracked.

Coffee here is a measure of hospitality. Serving guests coffee harvested from one’s own farm is a sign of honour, and the skills of growing and processing it pass from one generation to the next. In 2022 UNESCO recognised these practices as intangible cultural heritage, and the Kingdom named it the Year of Saudi Coffee.

Anaerobic Natural Processing

Tallan Mountain Coffee

This coffee comes from a single 100-hectare farm on Tallan Mountain in the Jazan highlands, which has grown Arabica on its terraces for two decades. The Typica planted here is known locally as Khawlani, and the cherries are picked by hand between October and January. Our lot is the farm’s highest sorting grade, the largest and cleanest beans set aside after the harvest is sorted.

What sets it apart is how it is processed. Where a conventional natural simply lays the whole cherry out to dry, here the freshly picked cherries are first sealed in tanks with the oxygen excluded. Carbon dioxide builds up inside, and for seven days the fruit ferments slowly under its own weight, driven by yeasts and lactic bacteria that only work without air. The cherries are then spread out and slow-dried in the sun, the bean still inside the fruit, so the sugars of the pulp continue to migrate into the seed as it dries.

The effect in the cup is pronounced. The long, cool fermentation builds a dense, tropical fruit character, strawberry and guava rather than the drier fruit of a standard natural, and the lactic fermentation rounds the acidity into something softer and more wine-like. Sweetness is heavier, caramel and honey rather than sugar, and the body is noticeably smooth. It is a coffee where the processing is as much a part of the flavour as the terroir, and the result is unlike anything else we roast.

Saudi coffee has rarely travelled beyond the country. 2026 marks its first shipment to the UK, among the earliest lots of Saudi coffee to be exported, and we are pleased to be the first to bring it to customers here.