The Monk of Mokha

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NEXT time you slurp a cup of coffee, spare a thought for the humble bean that produced it. In Dave Eggers' latest socially conscious non-fiction book, a bean's journey involves being trapped in a city pounded by Saudi bombs and twice being taken captive by armed militia, and escaping a war-torn country by fibre boat to make it to a cup. a blended people united not by stasis and cowardice and fear, but by irrational exuberance, by global enterprise on a human scale, by the inherent rightness of pressing forward, always forward, driven by courage unfettered and unyielding. Any given cup of coffee, then, might have been touched by twenty hands, from farm to cup, yet these cups only cost two or three dollars. Even a four-dollar cup was miraculous, given how many people were involved, and how much individual human attention and expertise was lavished on the beans dissolved in that four-dollar cup. So much human attention and expertise, in fact, that even at four dollars a cup, chances were some person—or many people, or hundreds of people—along the line were being taken, underpaid, exploited.’ There are also some contradictions, or paradoxes, that, if explored more, could have given a more detailed idea of Mokhtar's personality. Two examples:

THE MONK OF MOKHA | Kirkus Reviews THE MONK OF MOKHA | Kirkus Reviews

It's a detail in the story of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, an aimless twentysomething from San Francisco's Tenderloin district who decided almost on a whim to become a coffee importer on learning that coffee had first been produced in his family's native Yemen. Knowing almost nothing about the industry (and having only ever drunk the odd cup of coffee to boot), he embarked on a research trip to his ancestral country, persuaded the last remaining farmers in Yemen's floundering coffee industry to sign up to his vision and was in the process of exporting several high-quality Mokhtar Alkhanshali is twenty-four, unable to pay for college, and working as a doorman when he becomes fascinated with the rich history of coffee. He travels to Yemen and visits countless farms, collecting samples, eager to bring improved cultivation methods to the countryside. In 2015 he is on the verge of success when civil war engulfs the country. The US Embassy closes, Saudi bombs rain down, and Mokhtar is trapped in Yemen, desperate to escape. A heart-pounding true story, The Monk of Mokha weaves together the history of coffee, the ongoing Yemeni civil war, and the courageous journey of a young man--a Muslim and a US citizen--following the most American of dreams.

When Mokhtar made a mistake, Hamood was angry only if Mokhtar made an excuse. 'Own the error and correct it', he said. Hamood had a thousand proverbs and maxims. His favorite was 'Keep your money in your hand, never in your heart'. He used to say that a lot.

Monk of Mokha - Dave Eggers

The world of coffee connoisseurs and that big budget high culture society is nicely illustrated throughout The Monk of Mokha. The words “toasty” and “fruity” are rampant, and Mokhtar needs to become part of that culture. Certainly the story Eggers wants to tell here involves the heroic journey Mokhtar takes from being an aimless 20-something Yemeni immigrant to an empire king who brings the beans to the United States from Yemen at the risk of his own life. The deeper story is political, and Eggers makes that clear: From the best-selling author of The Circle, the true story of a young Yemeni-American man, raised in San Francisco, who dreams of resurrecting the ancient art of Yemeni coffee but finds himself trapped in Sana'a by civil war. A real life, modern adventure story that is ripe for movie making. Mokhtar Alkhanshani rediscovers the Yemen coffee producing history and globally brings Yemen coffee to recognition and production. His dangerous journey reveals the beautiful but tumultuous setting of Yemen that has been subjected to uprisings, revolutions, invasion, kidnappings and bombings all within recent history. Mokhtar is an inspiration and a role model of ingenuity and hard work leading to great success. From DOORMAN ....to CEO COFFEEMAN....our uplifting boost of energy comes from a guy name Mokhtar Alkhanshali......Yemeni-American. Here are the things that we most of the time don't think of when we get ourselves a cup of coffee: Any given cup of coffee, then, might have been touched by twenty hands, from farm to cup, yet these cups only cost two or three dollars. Even a four-dollar cup was miraculous, given how many people were involved, and how much individual human attention and expertise was lavished on the beans dissolved in that four-dollar cup. So much human attention and expertise, in fact, that even at four dollars a cup, chances were some person—or many people, or hundreds of people—along the line were being taken, underpaid, exploited. If only once in a while we will remember this, we might enjoy our coffee even more, and appriciate the hard workers who made it happen.This American coming of age story reminds us all of how much our country is enriched by all who call it home.” —Dalia Mogahed, author of Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think After Alkhanshali’s aha moment in that San Francisco café, he researched and studied coffee obsessively, even training to become a certified Q grader from the Coffee Quality Institute. He spent three years traveling to more than 30 coffee-growing regions in Yemen, many accessible only on foot through the mountains. “I went through shootouts and explosions. I got tapeworm and malaria and gall bladder stones. I lost 49 pounds the first year,” he says. “But I always say my journey was a beautiful struggle. I got to meet amazing people, and I knew there was something there.” Q: Mokhtar, you still operate your company, Port of Mokha coffee, which continues to import coffee beans from war-torn Yemen. How much more difficult has the work become, and how are your workers and farmers faring amid the chaos? Coffee is about what you build together. It’s about journeys, it’s a miraculous adventure. It crosses cultures, boundaries, and messy politics to go from the producer’s hands all the way to us. And in this cup, it brings everyone together. He has another story to tell when at age 24 he moves to Yemen....where he learns the language- culture and works in coffee farming. He also got trapped in the violent civil war.