Yemen: A drawing of the port of Mocha, Yemen, 1831, by I. Dodd, for The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction (London)

Mocha or Mokha (Arabic: المخا [al-Mukhā]) is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until it was eclipsed in the 19th century by Aden and Hodeida, Mocha was the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a.

Mocha is famous for being the major marketplace for coffee from the 15th century until the 17th century. Even after other sources of coffee were found, Mocha beans (also called Sanani or Mocha Sanani beans, meaning from Sana'a) continued to be prized for their distinctive flavor—and remain so even today.

According to the Jesuit and traveler Jeronimo Lobo, who sailed the Red Sea in 1625, Mocha was 'formerly of limited reputation and trade' but since 'the Turkish assumption of power throughout Arabia, it has become the major city of the territory under Turkish domination, even though it is not the Pasha's place of residence, which is two days' journey inland in the city of Sana'a'. Lobo adds that its importance as a port was also due to the Ottoman law that required all ships entering the Red Sea to put in at Mocha and pay duty on their cargoes.

Passing through Mocha in 1752, Remedius Prutky found that it boasted a 'lodging-house of the Prophet Muhammad, which was like a huge tenement block laid out in many hundred separate cells where accommodation was rented to all strangers without discrimination of race or religion'. He also found a number of European ships in the harbor: three French, four English, two Dutch, and one Portuguese.

At present, Mocha is no longer utilized as a major trade route and the current local economy is largely based upon fishing and small amounts of tourism. The village of Mocha has been officially relocated 3 kilometers west along the Red Sea shore to accommodate the building and demolition of several coastal highways.

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