核心畫面

Start at a port: sacks of coffee leaving a harbour town on the Red Sea, and the beans inside carrying a taste so close to chocolate that people notice it. The town's name travels with the beans. First it names that coffee, then it names any coffee-and-chocolate mixture, and finally it names the soft brown colour in the cup.

可以從一個港口開始想。紅海邊的小城把一袋一袋的咖啡運出去,那些豆子帶著一股很接近巧克力的味道,讓人一喝就記住。城的名更多收起可以從一個港口開始想。紅海邊的小城把一袋一袋的咖啡運出去,那些豆子帶著一股很接近巧克力的味道,讓人一喝就記住。城的名字跟著豆子一起走。先變成那種咖啡的名字,再變成「咖啡加巧克力」這個組合的名字,最後連杯子裡那種柔和的深棕色也叫這個名字。

From the word’s history

The packet's Wiktionary entry derives the word from Mocha, a Red Sea port in Yemen, from Arabic al-muḵā, because it was a major coffee marketplace under Ottoman rule, and notes that the beans often had a chocolaty flavour, which is how the name spread to coffee-and-chocolate mixtures.

封包裡的 Wiktionary 記錄說,這個字來自葉門紅海邊的港口 Mocha(阿拉伯文 al-muḵā)。鄂圖曼時期那裡是咖啡的大集散地,運出去的豆子常帶巧克力味,於是這個地名後來也被拿去指任何咖啡加巧克力的組合。

Wiktionary entry supplied in packet, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:957962996, etymology_text: From Mocha, Yemen, a port on the Red Sea, from Arabic al-muḵā.

Two branches

杯子裡的東西

這一組就是地名直接落在飲料上,差別只在巧克力是豆子自帶的,還是後來加進去的。

noun · B2

A strong coffee of the kind first shipped from Mocha, a port in Yemen; the beans are known for a deep taste with a hint of chocolate in it.

摩卡咖啡(葉門產的濃咖啡)

那個顏色

喝的東西看久了,名字就借去指它的樣子。這一層談的不再是味道,而是那種柔和的深棕。

noun · B2

A soft dark brown colour, like coffee with a little milk in it. It is used on its own as a colour name, and also before another noun, as in mocha walls or a mocha sweater.

摩卡色(柔和的深棕色)