Blue Mountain Coffee Grades

Jamaican law states that only coffee beans grown in the Blue Mountain region may be called Blue Mountain Coffee.

The premium grades of Blue Mountain Coffee fall into three tiers: Grade 1 (17-18 mesh and above), Grade 2 (16 mesh) and Grade 3 (15 mesh), where 17 mesh corresponds to a size of 17/64 inches. All three deliver identical flavor profiles, as confirmed by cupping panels of certified professionals recognized by the Jamaican government, and differ only in bean size.

The green beans of these three grades must be packed in wooden barrels for export, in three specifications: 70kg per barrel, 30kg per barrel and 15kg per barrel. The barrel surfaces are imprinted with the name of the producing farm, the English abbreviation of the importer's name, the batch number for each shipment and the destination port.

For instance, the Blue Mountain Coffee imported by Shanghai Jialumeng Coffee Company's Japanese parent, ATAKA Trading Co., Ltd., carries the abbreviation "ATC" inside a diamond-shaped logo on the barrels. Likewise, Blue Mountain Coffee imported by Japan's Ueshima Coffee Company shows the abbreviation "UCC" in its diamond-shaped logo.

So when you see a Blue Mountain barrel, you can tell at once which specific farm in Jamaica's Blue Mountains produced the coffee, who imported it and to which port it was delivered.

Jamaican exporters also provide importers with a green Certificate of Origin. This government-recognized certificate is issued only to importers who buy coffee in whole-barrel units (70kg, 30kg or 15kg barrels). It documents the exporting estate's name, the importer's name, the harvest year, the quantity, the grade number, the batch number, the destination port and other relevant details.

(Note that among green beans produced outside Jamaica's Blue Mountain region, only High Mountain coffee beans are packaged in wooden barrels.)

Lower Grade Blue Mountain Coffee

The next category covers defective beans and beans of inconsistent size. These may look imperfect, but their flavor quality remains acceptable. Jamaican government regulations mandate that such green beans be exported only in burlap bags.

Below that category sit coffees with actual flavor defects. Jamaican law strictly forbids exporting these as green beans; they must be roasted locally in Jamaica, specifically with a dark roast, before they may be exported. The requirement exists because only dark roasting can effectively mask or eliminate undesirable flavor characteristics.

Yet the exceptional qualities of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee can only be fully expressed through a medium roast. So when you buy directly imported, dark-roasted, small-packaged Blue Mountain Coffee from domestic stores, you are buying the lowest grade of genuine Blue Mountain Coffee. It may be the lowest grade, but it is still genuine Blue Mountain Coffee.

Tragically, many domestic consumers pay premium prices for fake Blue Mountain Coffee that contains not a single authentic Blue Mountain bean, a truly regrettable situation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste the real thing at its best, choose FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1, the highest grade of the crop and a bean the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board certifies as genuine. FrontStreet roasts it medium-dark so the classic balance of acidity, bitterness, sweetness and aroma comes through fully, and we recommend brewing it with a Kono dripper at 87-88°C, 15g of coffee to 225g of water.