Book Review: Monk of Mokha
The Monk of Mokha is a nonfiction story about the life of a young Yemeni American, Mokhtar Alkhanshali. As he goes about life struggling to find a passion, he finds it in a not so common but, for him, a very likely place. He finds his passion in his ancestor’s hundreds and hundreds years of work. He finds it in the trade of coffee. More specifically, the trade of Yemeni coffee.
Mokhtar ventures on a journey to revive Yemeni coffee and bring it to the global market of specialty coffee. Such a journey, however, would prove to be not such an easy task. With the political climate in Yemen heating up, Mokhtar finds himself trapped in a country going through a civil war.
How does Mokhtar now deal with these struggles?
Mokhtar Alkhanshali’s inspiring story represents the struggles of millennials; a young man of only 25 who struggles to find his passion and calling, as much as he tries to explore his options in different fields, and despite succeeding in some of those fields, he does not feel satisfied. That is until he finds his calling in the image of a statue of a Yemeni man drinking coffee across the street from where he worked as a doorman.
Mokhtar’s calling was to resurrect the coffee heritage of his country of origin, Yemen, and raise it to the level of specialty coffee and spread it across the world. Mokhtar’s journey begins by him researching the coffee scene thoroughly, looking at the big specialty coffee companies across America, and seeing how he can apply it to his own project.
Despite the struggles and hurdles that Mokhtar faces along the way in his journey, he does not give up. He knows this is what he wants to do. He understands the importance of this project, not only to him, but to the people, to the farmers, of Yemen. He endures the most dangerous, life threatening situations in order to achieve what he believes is his life’s destiny.
Mokhtar Alkhanshali’s journey has inspired and affected me in a way that makes me want to achieve and work harder for the sake of a dream goal, with his passion for coffee, learning more about this passion, and most importantly, bettering the situation of his fellow Yemeni’s situations, to develop and improve the agricultural economy of Yemen.
Mokhtar is even more inspiring when you start to see his compassion, patience, and loyalty. He embodies such pure characters that hardly make it as a story protagonist.
This book truly made me feel as though I could achieve, despite hardships and struggles. It made me want to take on challenges and push through them. To learn and better myself.
I would definitely recommend reading this book to anyone, because this story is not just about coffee. It’s about life, hard work, struggles, and leadership.
I got this book from Kinokuniya. You can find it in-store or online. Or Magrudy’s. Or even on Amazon.
Support Mokhtar Alkhanshali’s project by buying his coffee beans from www.portofmokha.com
