What is Blue Mountain Flavor Coffee - The Difference Between Blue Mountain Flavor Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee - Blue Mountain Coffee Price

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FrontStreet Coffee · Introduction to Blue Mountain Coffee

The world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, where every single bean is highly sought after, comes from the Typica family.

The Blue Mountains are located in the eastern part of Jamaica. When the weather is clear, the sea surrounding the Caribbean reflects direct sunlight, creating a brilliant blue glow on the mountain peaks—hence the name. The highest peak of the Blue Mountains reaches 2,256 meters, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. This area lies within the coffee belt, featuring fertile volcanic soil, fresh air free from pollution, and a humid climate with year-round fog and rainfall (average precipitation of 1,980 mm and temperature around 27°C). Such climatic conditions have created the world-famous Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, as well as the world's highest-priced coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee possesses all the characteristics of fine coffee. Not only does it have a rich and mellow taste, but due to the perfect balance of coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness, it has no bitter taste at all, with only moderate and perfect acidity. It is typically consumed as a single-origin coffee, but due to its extremely limited production and incredibly high price, the market generally uses coffees with similar flavors as substitutes.

FrontStreet Coffee · Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Authentic FrontStreet Coffee Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee has pronounced acidity and fruit flavors.

True Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is one of the coffees grown under the most superior conditions in the world. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and topography together provide an ideal, naturally blessed location. Designated Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee can only be grown in the Blue Mountain region, in the eastern northern part of Kingston on the island.

Moreover, the mountains are extremely rugged, making the harvesting process very difficult (coffee harvesters are almost entirely women). All their coffee trees grow on steep mountain slopes, making the picking process extremely difficult—only local skilled female workers can handle it. Selecting properly ripe coffee beans during harvest is very important, as underripe or overripe beans will affect the coffee quality. After picking, the coffee beans must be hulled the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours. Afterward, the coffee beans are washed and sorted. The next step is drying, which must be done on concrete floors or thick blankets until the coffee beans' moisture content drops to 12%-14%. Then they are stored in specialized warehouses. When needed, they are taken out for roasting and then ground into powder. These procedures must be strictly controlled, otherwise, the coffee quality will be affected.

Currently, six major marks can represent Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee origins: Mavis Bank Central Factory (M.B.C.E), Blue Mountain Coffee Cooperative (M.H.C.C.T.), Portland Blue Mountain Coffee Cooperative (P.X.X.S.H.), Coffee Industry Board (Wallenford), Coffee Industry Board (St. John's Peak), and Blue Mountain (J.A.S). Some estate-level coffees are also indicated on wooden barrels.

In 1950, the Jamaican government established the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board, which sets quality standards for Jamaican coffee and supervises the implementation of these standards to ensure the quality of Jamaican coffee. The board grants special official seals to Jamaican exported raw and roasted coffee. Because Japanese loans improved production quality, the market is guaranteed.

Since Japan has continuously invested in Jamaica's coffee industry, most Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is now controlled by Japanese companies, who have also obtained priority purchasing rights for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. In 1992, Jamaica sold 688 tons of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee to Japan, 75 tons to the United States, and 59 tons to the United Kingdom. Today, 90% of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is purchased by Japanese. Since the rest of the world can only obtain 10% of Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is always in short supply regardless of price. Today, this coffee has reached a level of fanatic appreciation. At Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee farms, you can see Japanese UCC everywhere.

By 1981, Jamaica had developed about 1,500 hectares of land for coffee cultivation, followed by investment in another 6,000 hectares of coffee land. In fact, today's Blue Mountain region is a small area with only 6,000 hectares of cultivation, making it impossible for all coffees labeled "Blue Mountain" to be grown there. An additional 12,000 hectares are used to grow two other types of coffee: High Mountain Supreme and Jamaican Prime coffee.

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee raw beans are widely available on Japanese streets, where you can buy and roast them on the spot. In Japan, about 300 grams of Blue Mountain coffee costs between RMB 500-600, with various roast degrees to choose from.

FrontStreet Coffee · Distinguishing Blue Mountain Coffee from Blue Mountain Flavor

Over 90% of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is exported to Japan, so many "Blue Mountain coffees" sold in Chinese coffee shops are undoubtedly fake. The so-called "Blue Mountain blend" actually has no relationship with genuine Blue Mountain. This situation exists because early Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee was rare and expensive, so operators created coffee close to Blue Mountain's taste by mixing beans with dark roasting based on Blue Mountain's flavor profile. The beans in "Blue Mountain blends" are mixed, with relatively large shape differences, making them easier to identify. Also, don't believe in "premium Blue Mountain" that costs dozens of yuan per pound or "Blue Mountain coffee" that costs over thirty yuan per cup. Blue Mountain coffee generally costs around 1,000 yuan per kilogram, and after adding various profit margins, the price is undoubtedly very expensive.

FrontStreet Coffee · Classification of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Classification of Blue Mountain Coffee

The history of Jamaican coffee can be traced back to the 18th century when the British introduced coffee trees to Jamaica and planted them in the Blue Mountains. These are further divided into high-altitude Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaican High Mountain coffee, and Jamaican Prime coffee, with different grades determining different prices.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

(Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee), both Blue Mountain coffee and High Mountain coffee are each divided into four grades. Ranked by quality from highest to lowest: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, where PB refers to peaberries. According to CIB standards, only coffee grown above 666 meters altitude can be called Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

Jamaican High Mountain Coffee

(Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans) Coffee produced below 666 meters in the Jamaican Blue Mountain region is called High Mountain coffee. It is second only to Blue Mountain coffee in quality and is known in the industry as the brother variety to Blue Mountain coffee. Due to the extremely limited production of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, if you want to taste Jamaican-flavored coffee, Jamaican High Mountain coffee is your best choice.

Jamaican Prime Coffee

(Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans). Coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain region is called Jamaican coffee. Originally, Chinese coffee professionals generally had a misconception that only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain region above 1,800 meters altitude could be called Blue Mountain coffee. In fact, above 1,800 meters on the Blue Mountain peaks, there is only one estate: Amber, owned by a Chinese descendant whose surname is Lyn, with ancestral roots in Guangdong, China. This estate has only 30 hectares of land with very limited production. Blue Mountain coffee is mainly distributed in five mountain areas: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.

Identifying Authentic vs. Fake Blue Mountain

1. Appearance: FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain raw beans are greenish in color, very uniform in appearance, medium to small in size, with slightly upturned ends. After roasting, they increase significantly in volume and become very full.

2. Grinding: True FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain beans grow at high altitude, and their cellular structure is relatively loose. When ground by hand, they feel very crisp, smooth, and continuous, without any sense of resistance.

3. Aroma: The aroma is very rich and dense. So-called blended Blue Mountain coffee does not have this type of aroma.

4. Taste: True FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain coffee has a balanced and rich taste, with no single flavor being prominent or lacking. This is the most crucial identification point that no other coffee bean can match. Blue Mountain peaberries have a more restrained aroma but relatively stronger flavor.

5. Feeling: As the world's best coffee, FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain has classic balanced characteristics. When tasting it, one inevitably experiences some subconscious, indescribable sense of satisfaction.

The coffee in the cup tastes very clean, and it is one of the sweetest coffees in the world. This flavor has been described by Jim Reynolds in Peet's Coffee & Tea: "The best example of Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee is that it has aroma, smooth richness, and it gives me a feeling of gem-like quality. It is as precious as a gemstone. It is complex but very gentle, it is sweet, it has very strong body. You must taste it to know what I'm talking about." Unique growing conditions and extreme care throughout all production processes have made FrontStreet Coffee Jamaican Blue Mountain very famous.

Dear reader, "Blue Mountain flavor" coffee actually has no relationship whatsoever with authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

Important Notice :

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