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Is Green Mountain Coffee a "Blue Mountain Knockoff"? What's Its Quality Tier? Taste Differences Between Blue Mountain and Green Mountain Coffee

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Green Mountain Coffee was founded in the United States in 1981, headquartered in Vermont, went public on NASDAQ in 1993, and was acquired by a German consortium for $13.9 billion last December. The valuation of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters grew from $100 million to $150

Green Mountain Coffee vs. Blue Mountain Coffee: A Comprehensive Comparison

Blue Mountain Coffee became world-famous as early as the last century. Today, a brand called "Green Mountain Coffee" has emerged into public view. Many friends have asked FrontStreet Coffee questions like, "Is Green Mountain Coffee riding on Blue Mountain Coffee's popularity?" or "Is Green Mountain Coffee a fake Blue Mountain Coffee?" Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has decided to educate everyone about the differences between Green Mountain Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee.

Green Mountain Coffee is Not Coffee Beans!

Green Mountain Coffee is not a type of coffee bean, but rather a coffee brand. Founded in the United States in 1981 and headquartered in Vermont, Green Mountain Coffee went public on NASDAQ in 1993 and was acquired by a German conglomerate for $13.9 billion last December. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters' valuation grew from $100 million to $15 billion, not through the 12,000 tons of annual coffee sales, but through its 16 million coffee machines after transformation.

When Green Mountain Coffee was first established, it primarily focused on roasting coffee beans. The founder established a three-step strategy: first, moving from low-end consumer markets to high-end consumer markets by selling high-quality Arabica coffee beans. Second, establishing an environmental supervision committee to increase brand awareness and reputation through environmental protection and social responsibility practices. Third, enhancing production specialization to improve the quality and consistency of coffee roasting.

However, due to continuously rising raw material costs, Green Mountain Coffee's business model faced challenges. Therefore, Green Mountain Coffee opened up new territories by producing Keurig coffee machines and complementary K-Cup coffee. The so-called "K-Cup" is Green Mountain's patented product—a container shaped like a paper cup with a smaller cup-like infiltration device inside that only allows liquid to pass through, sealed with an aluminum foil lid to ensure coffee aroma doesn't dissipate.

Place a K-Cup into a Keurig coffee machine, press the button, and the pressurized water injection tube will pierce through the aluminum foil lid into the filter cup, injecting hot water. The coffee machine precisely controls water volume, temperature, and pressure to maximize coffee aroma. No need to grind coffee beans, no measuring, no cleaning, no residue at the bottom of the cup—get a cup of coffee ready in one minute. Keurig can be called the "foolproof" product of the coffee world.

Green Mountain Coffee doesn't actually make money from machines; Keurig coffee machines only sell for a little over $100, while K-Cups are the real money-makers. A 24-cup pack of K-Cups typically sells for $12, equivalent to $0.50 per cup. Although the price isn't high, volume is key. Currently, Green Mountain Coffee has a total installed base of 16 million machines in American homes and businesses. Calculating based on consumption of one cup per day, the annual K-Cup consumption reaches approximately 6 billion cups.

Green Mountain has applied for multiple K-Cup related patents, and with these patents, Green Mountain's K-Cups are open to all beverage manufacturers. Green Mountain allows other coffee, tea, or hot cocoa producers to use K-Cup packaging for use in Green Mountain's Keurig coffee machines. These companies must pay Green Mountain a licensing fee of 6 cents per cup. Therefore, besides having very similar names, Green Mountain Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee have almost no relationship. Blue Mountain Coffee beans have a reputation that is renowned far and wide.

The Rise of Blue Mountain Coffee

Blue Mountain is a mountain range located in the eastern part of Jamaica. Initially during the British colonial period, the then-governor Nicholas Lawes received a coffee tree from the governor of Martinique, and thus Jamaica began coffee cultivation. However, for the subsequent 200+ years, Jamaicans didn't pay much attention to coffee cultivation, and Jamaican coffee remained lukewarm.

It wasn't until 1932 that the Jamaican government decided to encourage coffee cultivation to reduce dependence on another economic crop, sugarcane. Jamaica's emphasis on coffee focused on improving quality rather than increasing yield, which was reasonable since the Blue Mountain region is small in area—even doubling production wouldn't match a fraction of what major coffee-producing countries achieve. Developing high-quality coffee was Jamaica's only way forward.

In 1953, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board, which was established to coordinate coffee matters, first set the standards for Blue Mountain Coffee, laying the foundation for its future high quality.

First, the board defined what constitutes true Blue Mountain Coffee—not just coffee beans grown in the Blue Mountain region. Only Arabica Typica coffee grown in four production areas at altitudes of 910-1,700 meters—St. Andrew, St. Mary, St. Thomas, and Portland—can be called Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. The total area of these four production zones is only 6,000 hectares. Coffee grown at altitudes of 460-910 meters is called "Jamaica High Mountain," while coffee below 460 meters is called "Jamaica Supreme." Compared to Blue Mountain Coffee, the quality and price decrease sequentially.

Blue Mountain Coffee Grades

Blue Mountain Coffee also has grade divisions, ranked from highest to lowest:

Blue Mountain No.1 – The highest grade Blue Mountain coffee, screened with S-17/18 mesh, with less than 2% defective beans.

Blue Mountain No.2 – Screened with S-16/17 mesh, beans slightly smaller than No.1, with less than 2% defective beans.

Blue Mountain No.3 – Screened with S-15/16 mesh, beans smaller than No.2, with less than 2% defective beans.

Blue Mountain Peaberry (P.B) – Over 96% round peaberry beans, with less than 2% defective beans. This is actually specially selected beans; many believe this grade is actually above No.1, while others think it falls between No.1 and No.2.

Blue Mountain Triage – A mix of the above four grades, with less than 4% defective beans, essentially unsorted beans.

Purchasing and Identifying Blue Mountain Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee has seen many statements online like "All Blue Mountain has been bought by the Japanese" or "There's no real Blue Mountain in China." FrontStreet Coffee just wants to say, "My friend, times have changed." If this statement was made 10 years ago, it would be correct, but in today's 2022, earth-shattering changes have long occurred.

Let's first explain why all Blue Mountain Coffee was bought by the Japanese. In 1969, Jamaica suffered severe hurricane damage with devastating losses to plantations. Japan's UCC company provided substantial assistance that helped Jamaica's coffee industry revive. In return, Jamaica signed an agreement with Japan in 1972, allocating 90% of Blue Mountain Coffee's quota to Japan, with Europe and America each receiving 5%. Thus, the belief that Japanese bought most of the Blue Mountain Coffee persists to this day. However, Japan's monopoly on the Blue Mountain Coffee market didn't mean all was sold domestically in Japan; some was sold at premium prices to other places like South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. At that time, mainland China also had some private channels introducing genuine Blue Mountain Coffee through Hong Kong and Taiwan, but such Blue Mountain commanded sky-high prices that ordinary people basically couldn't afford.

Until 2010, mainland China had no direct quota for purchasing Blue Mountain Coffee from Jamaica. After the 2008 financial crisis, Jamaica attempted to reduce dependence on a single coffee buyer. Coincidentally, the agreement signed with Japan was expiring, and Blue Mountain Coffee bean quotas gradually opened to more countries. According to media reports, in July 2010, the Hangzhou Coffee and Western Restaurant Industry Association was invited to visit Jamaica and signed a letter of intent for cooperation as the exclusive general agent in China for Blue Mountain Coffee green beans. In May 2011, the first container of Blue Mountain Coffee green beans arrived at Ningbo Port. This should have been the first official entry of Blue Mountain Coffee beans into mainland China. Since then, mainland China receives Blue Mountain Coffee shipped directly from Jamaica every year, so statements like "There's no real Blue Mountain in China" have long become old news.

Blue Mountain Coffee is packaged and exported in wooden barrels, which is also the most distinctive method worldwide. Currently, there are two specifications: 70kg large barrels and 15kg small barrels. FrontStreet Coffee purchases Blue Mountain Coffee beans in original barrels from the Clifton Mountain Farm every year.

Clifton Mountain Farm is one of the longer-established farms growing Blue Mountain Coffee in Jamaica and is also the only farm in the Blue Mountain region certified by the Rainforest Alliance. Original barrel Blue Mountain Coffee beans imported through official channels come with Clifton Mountain Farm's certification, proving these are Blue Mountain Coffee beans from Clifton Mountain Farm. When purchasing Blue Mountain Coffee beans, everyone should pay attention to whether they're in original wooden barrels and whether there's certification.

Blue Mountain Coffee beans are of the Typica variety, which is an excellent Arabica variety. Thanks to Jamaica being a closed island, the Typica coffee variety's genetics remain pure. Traditional Blue Mountain Coffee beans use washed processing, which was the latest processing technology 200 years ago. Compared to natural processing, washed processing yields higher quality, better bean appearance, and cleaner taste.

When FrontStreet Coffee roasts Blue Mountain Coffee beans, they use medium-dark roasting to highlight Blue Mountain's balanced sweet-sour-bitter profile and rich, mellow characteristics.

Specific Roasting Records: 500g green beans, using a Yangjia 600n semi-direct flame roaster.

Preheat to 165°C, fire power 130, damper setting 3; return to temperature point at 1'32", furnace temperature 95.8°C, fire power unchanged; at 3 minutes adjust damper to 4, at 4 minutes increase fire power to 140. When furnace temperature reaches 153.3°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 8'36", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 10'06", develop for 3 minutes after first crack, drop beans at 198.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations for Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing to maximize the rich flavors of the coffee. The coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that coffee bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee when they receive their order. The coffee's resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

Dose: 15g of coffee, water temperature 87°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, grind size: medium (75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve).

Use KONO dripper.

First, pour 30ml of water for bloom for 30 seconds. Second stage: use small water flow in circular motion to pour to 125ml, then stop. When the liquid level drops to just about to expose the coffee bed, continue with the third pour until reaching 225ml to complete extraction. Total extraction time (including bloom) is 2'00".

Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee Flavor: At high temperature, Blue Mountain No.1 coffee enters the mouth with dark chocolate aroma, very rich and mellow, with obvious almond aftertaste. As temperature decreases, roasted hazelnut and creamy sweet silkiness emerge, carrying a hint of gentle acidity and caramel sweetness, with aroma persisting in the mouth without dissipating.