WEBVTT

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The US Is the world's second
biggest importer of coffee.

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It is a very labor intensive crop.

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It can take three to four years 
for a plant to bear the kind of fruit

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we would roast and grind.

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But the two people 
typically paid the least in the chain

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are the farmer and the barista.

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Learning about coffee is about learning
where your dollar goes.

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We follow one of those chains
from Michigan to Yemen.

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CONFLICT COFFEE

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Hello. Hey, how are you?

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What would you recommend today?

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You want something with cream or no cream?

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A little cream--

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Go with the [...]

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(Ibrahim) So, everything for here, right?

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(customer) Yes, sir.

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(Amel) <i>Ibrahim Alhasbani
is a coffee mogul in the making.</i>

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<i>in 2017, he opened his
first shop in Dearborn,</i>

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<i>and is now branching out to two locations.</i>

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<i>One across town and another in New York.</i>

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<i>He's not selling your average 
American-style filtered coffee, though.</i>

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<i>Alhasbani's coffee beans are from Yemen.</i>

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(Alhasbani) Enjoy, guys.

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(customer) Thank you.

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We're going to make
one Sana'ani and one Jubani.

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Okay.

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For the Sana'ani, we're going to use
a medium roast with cardamom.

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For the Jubani, we use a light roast,
medium roast, coffee husks,

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ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom.

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Got it.

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So, it's like a special mix.

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This is like the gateway drug into Yemen.

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Yes. It's like a bridge.

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It doesn't have sugar.

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Yemeni coffee is famous
because it has natural sweetness in it.

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And I take my coffee with sugar 
every morning,

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but I can drink this without sugar.

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Good.

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It's going to change your mind now.

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(Amel) <i>These coffee beans are sweeter</i>

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<i>because they're grown in the highest
mountainous regions of the country.</i>

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Why is coffee so important for Yemen?

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(Alhasbani) For Yemen, first, is our culture.

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We drink coffee every day.

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It has also opened Yemen
to the other countries.

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When they started shipping
to different countries,

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people, they read more about Yemen,

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they want to visit Yemen,

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they want to see
what's different about Yemen.

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(Amel) How old were you 
when you had your first cup of coffee?

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(Alhasbani) So my mom, she told me when I was a kid,

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I had two things, coffee and a spicy.

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She thinks, there's something wrong
with this baby.

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(Amel) <i>Yemen, may have been the first 
to drink coffee nearly a thousand years ago</i>

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<i>when it exported it out of 
a famous port called Mocha,</i>

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<i>but colonialism, conflict,</i>

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<i>and the rising popularity
of coffee crops elsewhere,</i>

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<i>overtook it.</i>

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<i>Alhasbani left home in 2011,</i>

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<i>but his brother still back in Haraz</i>

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<i>running the family's coffee farm.</i>

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Hello?

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Hello.

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How are you?

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All is good. Thank God.

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Okay. And how's everything there?

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Everything's great.
The coffee beans are great.

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Make sure you don't roast it
except with the right amount of time

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and at the right time.

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Yes, for sure.

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Let's go... let's go... let's go...

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Let's go, Abadan. Let's go, Noureddeen.

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Let's go.

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Let's go, it's noon.

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The sun is getting hot. Hold this.

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Here. Hold this.

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Watch out for my foot.

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The red and tender ones.

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The red.

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This is one of the best types of coffee.

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Look, they're red.

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Come on, come on.

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For people's livelihoods,
it's the coffee bean tree.

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If you notice, all of the valleys 
and empty areas here

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are used to grow coffee beans.

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All riches here are gone.

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Everyone here grows coffee beans.
There's nothing else left.

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(Amel) <i>For five years, a rebel militia 
based in the north, the Houthis,</i>

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<i>has been fighting with a coalition
backed by the Saudis for control.</i>

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<i>The coalition blocked 
most imports from coming in,</i>

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<i>and the fighting has made life
in the region's poorest country hell.</i>

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<i>More than 100,000
people have died so far.</i>

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<i>From airstrikes, famine,
and rampant disease.</i>

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<i>And exporting anything 
amid all of this chaos</i>

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<i>is sometimes impossible.</i>

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<i>It's cheaper to attempt this 
only once a year,</i>

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<i>and the only way to keep the beans fresh</i>

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<i>is to roast and grind them in the US.</i>

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You must really believe
in this Yemeni coffee.

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Yes, first, I believe in our brand.

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I believe, in our Yemeni coffee beans

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as one of the best coffee beans
in the world.

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Also, I believe in myself.

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I didn't listen to anyone.

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I spent all saving I have, 401K,
I took it down, I used it,

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I use all my credit cards,
I use all the money I have.

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So everybody said, "You're crazy."

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(Amel) When people 
first hear the word Yemen,

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they think of the current war, bloodshed,

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but to you, Yemen,
signifies something else.

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It's my life, it's my birthplace.

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I stopped watching news, actually, 
especially when it comes to Yemen.

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And it's just sad.

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I'm far right here,
and I can't do nothing.

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It's just, I can't control my emotion,
I can't control myself.

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It's bothering me from inside.

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All my family is still there.

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I have my sister, she was sick,

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and because there was
no hospital in Yemen,

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there's no doctors, there's no medicine,

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she passed away in the way.

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They took her to the hospital
they didn't do nothing for her,

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so they sent her back home 
and she got worse.

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They took her back to the hospital
and she didn't make it.

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Do you ever feel guilty that you're here 
and they're there, back in a war zone?

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Sometimes I feel guilty 
because I'm not next to them.

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Family is very important.

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On the other side, 
I don't feel guilty

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because at least I'm here to support them, 
to help them.

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If all of us are stuck there, 
we don't know what's going to happen.

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What are your hopes for a better Yemen?

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This war has to end.

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This is first.

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Second, we have to be
all Yemeni together...

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What are you thinking about?

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I'm just going to get emotional,
that's why...

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Yeah.

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It's just sad, I was crazy about them.

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When I remember those people,
when they fight, it's really bad.

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If we're not going to do nothing,

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nothing is going to change.