How's the Market for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans? Which Brand is Best?

Since Japan has invested in Jamaica's coffee industry consistently over the years, most of today's Blue Mountain coffee is controlled by Japanese companies, which have also secured 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. Today 90% of Blue Mountain coffee is bought by Japan. Because the rest of the world can obtain only the remaining 10%, it stays in high demand no matter the price.

The image above shows the packaging of authentic imported Blue Mountain coffee.

Jamaica BLUE MOUNT

• Country: Jamaica
• Altitude: 1600 meters
• Region: Saint Thomas Parish
• Roast Level: Medium roast
• Processing Method: Washed

The "Secret" to Blue Mountain Coffee's Pure Taste

All of the coffee trees grow on rugged mountain slopes, which makes harvesting extremely difficult; only local skilled female workers can do the job properly. Selecting cherries at exactly the right ripeness is crucial, since under-ripe or over-ripe beans will hurt the coffee's quality. After harvesting, the beans must be hulled the same day and then fermented for 12-18 hours, after which they go through washing and screening. Next comes drying, which must be done on concrete floors or thick blankets until the moisture content drops to 12%-14%. The beans are then kept in dedicated warehouses and taken out for roasting, then grinding, only when needed. Every one of these steps must be tightly controlled, or the coffee's quality will suffer.

• Variety: Typica
• Processing Mill: Abbey Green Farm
• Flavor: Perfect balance of sweet, acidic, and bitter notes

Identifying Authentic vs. Fake Blue Mountain Coffee

1. Appearance

Raw Blue Mountain beans are blue-green, very uniform in appearance, and medium to small in size with slightly raised ends. After roasting they expand noticeably in volume and look very plump.

2. Grinding

Authentic Blue Mountain beans are grown at high altitude, which gives them a relatively loose cellular structure. Ground by hand, they feel crisp, smooth, and continuous, with no resistance at all.

3. Aroma

The aroma is very rich and dense; so-called Blue Mountain blends simply do not have this characteristic fragrance.

4. Taste

Authentic Blue Mountain coffee has a balanced, rich flavor profile in which no single taste stands out too much or falls short, and this is the most important identifying point that no other bean can match. Blue Mountain peaberries have a subtler aroma and a relatively stronger taste.

5. Sensation

As the world's finest coffee, Blue Mountain's classic balance inevitably creates a subconscious, indescribable sense of satisfaction when you taste it.

Hand Pour Jamaica Blue Mountain

15g of coffee grounds, medium grind (Fujima Fuji ghost tooth blade #4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before pouring again. Slowly pour until you reach 225g total. Discard the final tail. Water-to-coffee ratio of 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 100g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Bean State: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Jamaica
Roast Level: Medium roast

What is Blue Mountain Coffee?

Blue Mountain coffee refers to coffee brewed from beans grown in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. By grade it is divided into Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee and Jamaica High Mountain Coffee. The Blue Mountain range lies in the eastern part of Jamaica. The mountains take their name from the fact that on clear days, when the sun shines directly on the azure Caribbean Sea, the peaks reflect the brilliant blue of the water. The highest peak of Blue Mountain reaches 2,256 meters, making it the tallest in the Caribbean.

This area lies in the coffee belt and has fertile volcanic soil, clean unpolluted air, and a humid climate of year-round fog and rain (average rainfall of 1,980mm and a temperature around 27°C). Such conditions created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, and the second most expensive coffee in the world.

Flavor Profile

Rich and mellow, with a perfect balance of coffee's sweet, acidic, and bitter notes. Completely free of bitterness, with only moderate and perfect acidity and persistent fruit flavors.

Jamaica Blue Mountain may be the most famous coffee in the world, yet few people actually know its history or why it costs so much. In 1789, the first person to bring coffee to Jamaica was a Frenchman fleeing the French Revolution. The first coffee was grown to increase local French consumption before export, and for the first 100 years the local industry was very small.

In 1932, however, the Jamaican Conference passed laws encouraging coffee cultivation to reduce the island's dependence on sugar exports. To safeguard Blue Mountain quality, changes were made to the "Jamaica Coffee Industry Board" to standardize processing, improve quality, and equalize marketing, saving the fate of premium coffee. The Jamaica Industry Association took responsibility for the quality of Blue Mountain coffee. On top of that, the island's many smaller coffee plants also grow well, and the association holds final authority over Jamaica's coffee exports: all coffee must pass through the Jamaica Industry Association before export.

Blue Mountain's shipment volume is extremely small. In 1717, France's King Louis XV 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 production regions, the other two being Portland and St. Thomas.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For anyone who wants to experience authentic Blue Mountain flavor, grade matters. Blue Mountain No. 1 is among the highest grades of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, held to strict standards for bean size, defect rate, and overall quality. FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 comes from the historic Clifton Mount Estate, where coffee has been grown and processed since about 1750. The estate sits at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters), where the altitude, the mild afternoon mist that shades the slopes, ample sunlight, and mineral-rich soil all give the trees ideal growing conditions and draw out the cherries' maturation.

It is roasted medium-dark to bring out Blue Mountain's classic balance, so the cup unfolds in layers of nuts, dark chocolate, creamy caramel, and soft sweetness, with acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and aroma held in harmony. The beans are typically roasted within 5 days and shipped fresh, so they arrive at full flavor and are ready to brew right away.

FrontStreet suggests a Kono dripper to play up the coffee's richer body, 15g per person, with the beans rested 4-7 days from the roast date for the best flavor. Grind a little coarser than you would for a light roast, about the texture of granulated sugar, and brew at 87-88°C. Use three pours at a 1:15 ratio: 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour to 120g and stop using a slow, vertical circling stream; finally pour to 225g with a slightly faster stream and circling motion so the bed does not clog and over-extract. The result is a very clean, complex, and remarkably gentle cup: chocolate sweetness, a very strong body, and a perfect balance of sweet, acidic, and bitter, with no bitterness to speak of, a moderate and perfect acidity, and a long-lasting fruit finish.