Moka Pot Hand-Brewed Blue Mountain Coffee Demo: What's the Value of Such Blue Mountain Coffee Per Cup?

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee is quite famous, and many people have probably heard of it, so I won't go into much detail here. In earlier years, there were no official import channels in China, making the already scarce Blue Mountain Coffee even rarer domestically. Being able to drink a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee became a matter of prestige, leading to statements like "Blue Mountain Coffee in domestic cafes are all fake" and "Blue Mountain Coffee cannot be purchased in China," which still circulate today.

However, recently, someone left a message for FrontStreet Coffee asking if FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 coffee beans could be used to make moka pot coffee. In FrontStreet Coffee's view, while any coffee beans can be extracted using a moka pot, for Blue Mountain Coffee specifically, choosing a package of authentic Blue Mountain Coffee is particularly crucial. Let's dive right into the main topic.

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Even in the era before official channels existed, China's consumption of Blue Mountain Coffee still accounted for 15% of the world's total consumption. When Jamaicans learned of this, they were so shocked their jaws nearly dropped (probably upon learning the market price of Blue Mountain Coffee in China...), so they began to重视 the Chinese market. Now, buying Blue Mountain Coffee in China is no longer difficult, and channels are not limited to just one - various private channels or green and roasted beans imported through third countries are all available.

To identify Blue Mountain Coffee, retail-packaged products can generally be identified through the CIB certification logo and the Jamaica Blue Mountain trademark. UCC's Blue Mountain Coffee is reliable even without a logo. For products with certification logos and trademarks, you can check the CIB official website to see if the company has CIB authorization. For bulk batches, you can check the certificate of origin, as bulk products are typically broken down from 70kg wooden barrels, each of which comes with a certificate of origin.

About CIB and CIB Certification

The Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica is the Jamaican government agency responsible for coffee affairs, overseeing, regulating, and guiding the cultivation, processing, and trade of coffee in Jamaica. It also owns the famous Wallenford estate and the Jamaica Blue Mountain trademark.

Similar to champagne, being called Blue Mountain Coffee itself represents production from a designated region - the Blue Mountains above 2,200 feet (approximately 671 meters). Coffee produced in this designated region is eligible to feature the circular Blue Mountain Coffee logo on its packaging (as shown below). If it's in wooden barrels (including the 70kg barrels mentioned above), it generally comes with a certificate of origin. Coffee grown below 2,200 feet in the Blue Mountains is not allowed to use the logo below or the Jamaica Blue Mountain trademark. So, when buying Blue Mountain, look for this circle (reminder again, UCC's Blue Mountain is an exception...)!

Blue Mountain Coffee Certification Logo

Attached is the list of authorized exporters from the CIB official website:

Country Traders Limited (the company behind the 89 yuan Blue Mountain), UCC, Wallenford, and Gold Cup can all be found above, along with detailed authorization scopes.

Blue Mountain Coffee Grading

Blue Mountain Coffee is graded from highest to lowest as follows:

• Blue Mountain No.1 (Blue Mountain No.1), also known as Blue Mountain No.1, is the top grade of Blue Mountain Coffee, screened with S-17/18 sieve size, with defective beans less than 2%
• Blue Mountain No.2 (Blue Mountain No.2), screened with S-16/17 sieve size, slightly smaller than Blue Mountain No.1, with defective beans less than 2%
• Blue Mountain No.3 (Blue Mountain No.3), screened with S-15/16 sieve size, smaller than No.2, with defective beans less than 2%
• Blue Mountain Peaberry (Blue Mountain Peaberry, or Blue Mountain P.B), 96% or more round male beans, with defective beans less than 2%, this is actually a specially selected bean, many believe this grade is actually above No.1, while others think it's between No.1 and No.2
• Blue Mountain Triage (also translated as Blue Mountain Blend), a mix of the above four grades, with defective beans less than 4%, essentially unscreened beans

As for beans produced outside the Jamaica Blue Mountain designated region, they fall into the following three categories:

• High Mountain, screened with S-17/18 sieve size, with defective beans less than 2%
• Jamaica Prime, screened with S-16/18 sieve size, with defective beans less than 2%
• Jamaica Select, screened with S-15/18 sieve size, with defective beans less than 4%

PS: Regarding sieves, a No.17 sieve means the sieve hole size is 17/64 inches, which is 6.75mm (put down your ruler and roasted beans, this refers to green bean size, as beans expand after roasting). Higher numbered sieves produce larger beans with more complex and varied flavors.

The Story of Blue Mountain Quota

In 1969, Jamaica suffered severe hurricane damage, with plantations suffering heavy losses. Japan's UCC company provided substantial assistance that revived Jamaica's coffee industry. As a gesture of gratitude, Jamaica signed an agreement with Japan in 1972, allocating 90% of Blue Mountain Coffee's quota to Japan, with Europe and the United States each receiving 5%. This led to the enduring belief that Japanese buyers purchase the majority of Blue Mountain Coffee. However, even if the Japanese bought it all, would they foolishly keep it all for themselves? Since they monopolized the market, selling it elsewhere at significantly higher prices would be much more profitable! This also explains why UCC doesn't put the CIB certification logo on its packaging - the entire market is almost entirely UCC's, so there's absolutely no need! Does our mighty UCC's Blue Mountain Coffee really need your CIB certification?!

Blue Mountain Varieties

The Blue Mountain Coffee obtained by FrontStreet Coffee belongs to the ancient Typica variety, oval in shape, with flat and thin beans when viewed from the side. Even if grown at different altitudes, the thickness difference on the side of green beans won't vary significantly. The Typica variety was first brought from Ethiopia to Malabar, India by Yemenis, then to Indonesia by the Dutch, and later from the West Indies to the French colony of Martinique.

Subsequently, as it grew in other cultivation areas, it derived numerous variant varieties: Criollo (South America), Arabigo (Central America), Kona (Hawaii), Pluma Hidalgo (Mexico), Garundang (Sumatra), Blue Mountain (Jamaica, Papua New Guinea), San Bernardo & San Ramon (Brazil), Kents & Chickumalgu (India).

Brewing a Cup of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee

To bring out the classic good flavors, brewing FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee requires attention to certain details and techniques. A slight carelessness can turn the coffee taste from delicious to herbal medicine... ultimately wasting precious Blue Mountain Coffee. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will first brew a pot of Blue Mountain pour-over coffee using a dripper, then extract a cup of Blue Mountain Americano with a moka pot to see what flavor characteristics each has.

Hand-pouring Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Method

To highlight the rich and mellow mouthfeel of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 coffee, we'll use a KONO coffee dripper for extraction. The KONO's ribs are less than half the height of the dripper - this design actually ensures that after wetting, the filter paper adheres closely to the dripper wall, restricting airflow. This increases the water absorption time of coffee particles, resulting in more uniform overall extraction. (The KONO dripper is shown on the right side below)

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain pour-over parameters: 15g of coffee, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, grind size: EK43s setting 10.5 (75% pass rate through China No.20 standard sieve), water temperature: 87-88°C, brewing method: segmented extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee will place the filter paper in the KONO dripper, pour water to wet the filter paper while making it fit better, remembering to discard the water used to rinse the filter paper from the lower pot. Pour the ground coffee powder in, tap gently to distribute the powder evenly in the dripper. For the first segment, gently pour 30g of water for blooming, with a blooming time of 30 seconds. For the second segment, pour to about 125g of water, circling evenly and steadily outward. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it drops to half, pour the final segment of water to 225g. Wait for all the coffee to finish dripping, with a total extraction time generally around 2 minutes.

The hand-poured Blue Mountain No.1 coffee has notes of dark chocolate and nuts, with a very rich body and distinct almond aftertaste. As the temperature decreases, roasted hazelnut and creamy sweet silkiness emerge, accompanied by a hint of gentle acidity and caramel sweetness, with the aroma lingering persistently in the mouth.

Moka Pot Blue Mountain Coffee Method

Before extracting coffee, you need to prepare a package of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 coffee beans at its optimal flavor period, weigh 20g of coffee, and grind it to the consistency of coarse sugar. You'll need a gas stove or induction cooker for heating, a grinder for grinding coffee beans, and water.

1. Add hot water to the lower chamber, keeping the water level about 0.5cm below the pressure relief valve (safety valve). Using cold water would increase the soaking time of the coffee powder, causing over-extraction and bitterness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using hot water, which also shortens the extraction time.

2. The coffee grind needs to be finer than pour-over coffee but coarser than espresso coffee. You can refer to the size of the filter gaps in the filter basket to ensure coffee particles can pass through. Pour the coffee powder gently into the filter basket, using your fingers to spread it evenly and smoothly.

3. Place the filter basket back into the lower chamber and screw on the upper chamber tightly. Place it on an electric ceramic stove to begin heating, waiting for the moka pot to heat up.

4. When you hear a hissing sound from inside the moka pot, turn the stove to low heat and open the lid of the upper chamber. At this point, you can see coffee liquid and crema slowly flowing out.

5. When the upper chamber is half full of coffee liquid, you can turn off the heat source and move the pot to the table, using the remaining temperature and pressure inside the pot to continue extracting the remaining coffee liquid. Note that the moka pot uses metal components, so try not to touch the pot body during high-temperature heating to avoid burns.

6. Finally, prepare a 250ml coffee cup and 200g of warm water. Pour all the Blue Mountain coffee liquid extracted by the moka pot into the cup. You'll see beautiful golden crema floating on the surface, and a moka pot Blue Mountain Americano is ready.

For the finished moka pot Blue Mountain Americano, stir gently with a spoon and you can begin tasting. FrontStreet Coffee can experience rich roasted aroma when drinking it hot, with characteristics of roasted nuts, caramel, and dark chocolate. Accompanied by the foam on top, the buttery aroma gradually becomes noticeable, with some aftertaste after swallowing, very satisfying.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473