MOCHA, a town of Yemen on the coast of the Red Sea, in E. long. 43° 20', N. lat. 13° 19'. The point of the coast where Mocha lies appears to have owed early importance to its good anchorage, for the Muza of the Peri plus (Geog. Gr. Min., i. 273 sqq.), a great seat of the Red Sea trade in antiquity, seems to be identical with the modern Mfiza` (Yakfit, iv. 680; Niebuhr, Desc. de l'Arabie, p. 193), a few miles inland from Mocha,. Mocha. itself is a modern town, which rose with the coffee trade into short-lived prosperity. The French expedition of 1709 found it a place of some 10,000 inhabitants, and its importance had increased half a century later, when Niebuhr visited it. The chief trade was then with British India. Lord Valencia in 1806 still found the town to present an imposing aspect, with its two castles, minarets, and lofty buildings ; but the population had sunk to 5000. The internal disorders of Arabia and the efforts of Mohammed Ali to make the coffee trade again pass through India accelerated its fall, and the place is now a mere village. Mocha never produced coffee, and lies indeed in a quite sterile plain ; the European name of Mocha coffee is derived from the shipment of coffee there. The patron saint, Sheikh Shadali, was, according to legend, the founder of the city and father of the coffee trade.