Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Characteristics and Brewing Methods

Jamaica Blue Mountain

Country: Jamaica

Altitude: 1600 meters

Region: Saint Thomas Parish

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Processing Method: Washed

The "Secret" Behind Blue Mountain Coffee's Pure Flavor

All the coffee trees grow on rugged mountain slopes, which makes harvesting extremely difficult. Only local skilled women workers can handle the task. It is crucial to select only perfectly ripe beans at harvest, since underripe or overripe beans will hurt the coffee quality. After picking, the beans must be hulled the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours. Next comes washing and sorting. Then they are dried, on concrete floors or thick blankets, until moisture content drops to 12%-14%. Finally they are stored in special warehouses and taken out for roasting and grinding when needed. Every one of these steps must be strictly controlled, or the coffee quality suffers.

Variety: Typica

Processing Plant: Abbey Green Farm

Flavor: Perfect balance of sweetness, acidity and bitterness

How to Identify Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee

1. Appearance: Raw Blue Mountain coffee beans are greenish, very uniform, medium to small in size, with slightly upturned ends. After roasting they expand significantly in volume and become very full.
2. Grinding: True Blue Mountain coffee beans grow at high altitudes, which gives them a relatively loose cellular structure. When ground by hand they feel crisp, smooth and continuous, with no sense of resistance.
3. Aroma: The aroma is very intense and dense; so-called Blue Mountain blends do not have this aroma.
4. Taste: Authentic Blue Mountain has a balanced, rich taste with no flavor too prominent or lacking. This is what no other coffee bean achieves, and it is the most critical point of identification. Blue Mountain peaberry has a more reserved aroma but a relatively stronger taste.
5. Feeling: As the world's finest coffee, Blue Mountain's classic balanced character inevitably brings a subconscious, hard-to-describe satisfaction when you taste it.

Hand Pouring Jamaica Blue Mountain

15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji ghost tooth blade #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until it reaches 225g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop
Address: No. 10, Bao'an Qian Street, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Manufacturer Contact: 020-38364473
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 100g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Jamaica
Roast Degree: Medium roast

About Blue Mountain Coffee

Blue Mountain Coffee refers to coffee brewed from beans grown in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. By grade it is further divided into Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee and Jamaica High Mountain Coffee. The Blue Mountains lie in the eastern part of Jamaica. Surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days when the sun shines directly on the azure water, the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the sea, which is how the mountains got their name. The highest peak reaches 2256 meters, the tallest in the Caribbean. The area lies within the coffee belt, with fertile volcanic soil, fresh, unpolluted air and a humid climate of year-round fog and rain (average precipitation of 1980mm, temperature around 27°C). These conditions created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, as well as the world's second most expensive coffee.

Flavor Profile

Rich and mellow, with a perfect balance of coffee's sweetness, acidity and bitterness. There is no harsh bitterness, only a moderate, rounded acidity, with a lasting fruity note.

History and Market

Jamaica Blue Mountain may be the world's most famous coffee, yet few people know its history or why it is so expensive. In 1789 the first person to introduce coffee to Jamaica was a Frenchman escaping the French Revolution. The first coffee was grown to increase local French consumption and then to export. For the first 100 years the local industry remained very small. Then in 1932 the Jamaican legislature passed laws encouraging coffee cultivation, to reduce the island's dependence on sugar exports. To ensure Blue Mountain quality, the Jamaica Coffee Industry regulations were revised to standardize processing, improve quality, create marketing consistency and save the fate of premium coffee. The Jamaica Industry Association became responsible for the quality of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. The island's smaller coffee also grows well, and the Jamaica Industry Association has final authority over all coffee exports: every lot must pass through it before export.

The export volume of Blue Mountain Coffee is extremely small. In 1717, King Louis XV of France ordered coffee cultivation in Jamaica. In the mid-1720s, Jamaica's Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes imported Arabica seeds from Martinique and began promoting cultivation in the St. Andrew area. To this day St. Andrew remains one of Jamaica's three major Blue Mountain coffee producing regions, along with Portland and St. Thomas.

Because of Japan's continuous investment in Jamaica's coffee industry, most of today's Blue Mountain Coffee is controlled by Japanese buyers, who also hold priority purchasing rights. In 1992, Jamaica sold 688 tons of Blue Mountain Coffee to Japan, 75 tons to the United States and 59 tons to the United Kingdom. Now 90% of Blue Mountain Coffee is purchased by the Japanese. Since the rest of the world can obtain only 10% of production, Blue Mountain Coffee is always in short supply, whatever the price.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you want to taste authentic Blue Mountain flavor, the grade to look for is Blue Mountain No.1, one of the highest grades in Jamaica. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 comes from the historic Clifton Estate, where coffee has been grown since around 1750 and the farms and processing areas sit at an average altitude of 4300 feet, or 1310.64 meters. Genuine lots come with full origin certification and the estate's original shipping barrels, traditionally made in 15, 45 and 70 kilogram sizes, each stamped with detailed batch information, so the source can be traced.

FrontStreet Coffee roasts Blue Mountain No.1 to a medium-dark level, which draws out the classic balance the coffee is known for. In the cup you will find nuts, dark chocolate, cream caramel and a soft sweetness unfolding in layers, with sweetness, acidity, bitterness and aroma all in harmony.

For pour-over, FrontStreet Coffee suggests a ratio of 1:15 to 1:16 at 85-88°C with a medium-coarse grind. If you prefer a heavier cup, a moka pot suits Blue Mountain well: grind a little finer than for pour-over, use hot water, heat over medium-low, and take it off the stove as soon as the coffee is nearly finished flowing. Adding milk to make a latte or flat white also works beautifully.