How Expensive is Blue Mountain Coffee? Grade Classification? Flavor Profile and Variety Characteristics? What Does It Taste Like?

How Expensive is Blue Mountain Coffee? What Are Its Grade Classifications? Flavor Characteristics and Varieties? How Does It Taste?

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Blue Mountain Coffee is synonymous with the "Oscar-winning actor" of the coffee world. Like Marlon Brando, it firmly holds the position of an acting legend in the hearts of movie fans—it's truly the "Godfather of Coffee"!

Blue Mountain Coffee grows in Jamaica, where its superior growing environment has created this coffee superstar. The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. On clear days, direct sunlight hits the azure sea surface, and the mountain peaks reflect the brilliant blue glow of the seawater, hence the name. The highest peak of the Blue Mountains reaches 2,256 meters above sea level. This area lies within the coffee belt, featuring fertile volcanic soil, fresh and unpolluted air, a humid climate with year-round fog and rain—conditions that have created the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

When it comes to perfectly balancing the three flavors of coffee—sweetness, acidity, and bitterness—nothing surpasses Blue Mountain Coffee. Its aroma is incredibly rich and well-balanced, with fruity acidity and nutty notes, resulting in extremely low bitterness and a moderate yet perfect sweet-sour balance. It can be said that all taste sensations reach their optimal effect!

Blue Mountain Coffee beans are full and plump. Medium roasting can best showcase their flavor. Additionally, Blue Mountain Coffee has very low caffeine content—less than half that of other coffees—aligning with modern health concepts.

Jamaican Coffee Classification and Grades

Jamaican coffee also has strict classification and grading systems. It can generally be divided into three main categories: Blue Mountain Coffee, High Mountain Coffee, and regular Jamaican Coffee.

Blue Mountain Coffee

Only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain region above 1,600 meters elevation can be called Blue Mountain Coffee. It is mainly distributed across five mountain areas: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.

Blue Mountain Coffee is further divided into No. 1 and No. 2 grades. There's also Peaberry (also called pearl beans), which are carefully selected small round beans from products grown at 2,100 meters elevation, considered the cream of the crop among specialty coffees.

High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans

Coffee grown in Jamaica's Blue Mountain region between 450 to 1,500 meters elevation is called High Mountain Coffee. It's second only to Blue Mountain Coffee in quality and is known in the industry as the "brother variety" to Blue Mountain Coffee. Since Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee production is extremely limited, if you want to taste Jamaican-style coffee, Jamaican High Mountain Coffee is your best choice.

Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans

Jamaican Prime Coffee refers to coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain range. It grows at elevations between 250 to 500 meters. Due to significant differences in elevation and location from the Blue Mountains, it's generally not classified as Blue Mountain Coffee.

Because Blue Mountain Coffee has extremely strict requirements for its geographical location, growing environment, and harvesting conditions, its production is extremely low, always under 900 tons. From the 1960s to the present, Japan has consistently invested heavily in supporting Jamaica's coffee industry. Therefore, most Blue Mountain Coffee is controlled by the Japanese, who also have priority purchasing rights.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Recommendations for Blue Mountain Coffee

Simply put, roast Blue Mountain Coffee thoroughly "inside and out." Based on achieving proper roasting, use good roasting techniques to bring out the flavor of these beans.

Caramelization is the most crucial stage affecting coffee flavor. After six to seven minutes of roasting, green beans absorb significant heat energy, initiating pyrolysis reactions and producing the first cracking sound. Some sugars convert to carbon dioxide, water continues to evaporate, new aromatic components gradually develop, forming so-called coffee oils that combine with hundreds of aromatic substances including nicotinic acid, citric acid, quinic acid, malic acid, acetic acid, caffeine, and more.

Roasting Profile:

Heat the roaster to 170°C, set the damper to 3. After 1 minute, adjust the heat to 140°C, keeping the damper unchanged. At 5'10", when the temperature reaches 153°C, the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, and dehydration is complete. Adjust heat to 115°C, damper to 4.

At the 8'00" minute mark, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toasted bread aroma clearly transforms into coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for the sound of first crack at this point. At 8'12", first crack begins. Reduce heat to 90°C, fully open the damper (be very careful when adjusting heat—don't reduce it so much that cracking stops), and finish at 201.3°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cupping Notes

A perfect and subtle balance of acidity, body, and aroma. Its acidity is bright and delicate. Its body is as smooth as velvet. Its aroma has slight penetrating qualities, accompanied by floral, spicy, and citrus notes. After tasting, there's a hint of cocoa aftertaste.

The flavor is very clean, complex, and exceptionally mild, with chocolate sweetness and very strong body. The taste is rich and mellow, with perfect balance of coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness—completely without bitterness, only moderate and perfect acidity, with a persistent fruity finish.

Dry Aroma:

Roasted peanut, hazelnut, melon, chocolate-like

Wet Aroma:

Rose tea, caramel, honey, dark chocolate, almond skins, silky mouthfeel, brightness

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations for Blue Mountain Coffee

Daily Brewing Filter Options:

V60 dripper, Kalita wave, and KONO are all suitable

Example with KONO Dripper:

Parameters: 15g coffee, water temperature 84-86°C, BG grind setting 6M (China standard 20-mesh sieve, 47% pass-through rate), equivalent to small Fuji grind setting 4, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:14, total time around 1:50

Technique: 25-30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s. Slowly pour water to about 120g, then pause. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 210g.

Other Extraction Recommendations:

French Press: 3.5-4 grind setting, water temperature 86°C

Siphon: 4 grind setting, water temperature 89°C

AeroPress: 2.5 grind setting, water temperature 86°C

Tips:

Blue Mountain has a relatively dark roast degree. If the water temperature is too high, it will easily develop astringency and have very obvious smoky notes.

END

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473