Is it narrative nonfiction, immersion journalism, business how-to, the book version of a TED talk, or just a sort of add-on book, one meant to visually grace the backdrop of some upscale, hipster retail outletβmaybe even a high-end coffee shop?
The book follows Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a young man from a family of Yemeni immigrants in California who decides, in , without much in the way of capital or formal education, to go on an adventurous quest to import coffee from Yemen. At the time, Mokhtar is working as a doorman at the Infinity, a plush residential building overlooking San Francisco Bay.
Then, in a building across from the Infinity that dates back to the late s and that once housed one of the oldest coffee import businesses in the United States, he discovers the connection between coffee and Yemen.
It is only halfway through the book, when Mokhtar begins traveling around Yemen to meet coffee farmers, figuring out which beans he wants to export and how to process and transport them, that the narrative seems to come alive.
Characters appear more boldly tinged than earlier in the book, the landscape more sharply etched. Some of this has to do with the sheer turmoil Mokhtar encounters in his travels through Yemen. By the time he is fleeing for California, there are no more flights, the roads are controlled by Houthi rebels from the north, and the Saudi Arabian air force is bombing rebels and civilians alike.
