Introduction to Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Origin - Which Country Produces Blue Mountain Coffee & Coffee Varieties

The Renowned Blue Mountain Coffee

The world-renowned Blue Mountain coffee originates from Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea, named after the Blue Mountain range surrounded by the Caribbean waters.

The Blue Mountain range is located in the eastern part of Jamaica. When the weather is clear and the sun shines directly on the azure sea surface, the mountain peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater, hence its name. The highest peak of Blue Mountain 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 and unpolluted air, a humid climate with year-round fog and rainfall (average precipitation of 1,980 mm and temperature around 27°C). Such climate conditions have created the world-famous Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, as well as the world's highest-priced coffee—Blue Mountain coffee.

The Secret Behind Blue Mountain Coffee's Pure Flavor

Their coffee trees all grow on rugged mountain slopes, making the harvesting process extremely difficult. Only local skilled female workers can handle this task. It's crucial to select appropriately ripe coffee beans during harvesting, as under-ripe or over-ripe beans will affect the coffee quality. After harvesting, the coffee beans must be hulled on the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours. Afterwards, the coffee beans undergo washing and sorting. 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 dedicated warehouses. When needed, they are taken out for roasting and ground into powder. These procedures must be strictly controlled; otherwise, the coffee quality will be affected.

The Historical Story of Blue Mountain Coffee

In 1717, French King Louis XV ordered coffee cultivation in Jamaica. In the mid-1720s, Jamaica's Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes imported Arabica seeds from Martinique and began promoting cultivation in the St. Andrew area. To this day, St. Andrew remains one of the three major producing regions for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, with the other two being Portland and St. Thomas.

In 1950, the Jamaican government established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, which sets quality standards for Jamaican coffee and supervises their implementation to ensure Jamaican coffee quality. The board grants special official seals to Jamaican exported raw and roasted coffee, making it the world's highest-level national coffee institution. Currently, six trademarks can represent Blue Mountain coffee's origin: Mavis Bank Central Factory (MBCE), Mavis Bank Coffee Co-op (MHCCT), Portland Blue Mountain Coffee Co-op (PXXSH), Coffee Industry Board (Wallenford), Coffee Industry Board (St. John's Peak), and Jamaica Standard Products (JAS).

The Unique Growing Conditions

Blue Mountain coffee is one of the world's most superior coffees. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and topography together provide an ideal location. The mountain range extending through Jamaica continues to the eastern part of the small island, with Blue Mountain reaching over 2,100 meters. The weather is cool, foggy, with frequent precipitation, nourishing this fertile land with rain. Coffee trees are grown using mixed cultivation methods, accompanying banana and avocado trees on terraces. Some small estates also grow coffee. But even the largest estate owners in this region are considered small-scale by international standards, with many being small landowners whose families have worked for two centuries. Jamaica's coffee industry faces a series of problems, such as hurricane impacts, increasing labor costs, and difficulty in mechanizing terrace operations. Many small estates and farms find it difficult to rationalize cultivation.

Due to Japan's continuous investment in Jamaica's coffee industry, most Blue Mountain coffee is now controlled by Japanese interests, who also have priority purchasing rights. In 1992, Jamaica sold 688 tons of Blue Mountain coffee to Japan, 75 tons to the United States, and 59 tons to the United Kingdom. Now, 90% of Blue Mountain coffee is purchased by Japan. Since the rest of the world can only obtain 10% of Blue Mountain, Blue Mountain coffee is always in short supply regardless of price.

Grade Classification of Blue Mountain Coffee

Coffee from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region has three grades: Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans, and Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans. Both Blue Mountain coffee and High Mountain coffee are each divided into two grades. By quality, from top to bottom: Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, High Mountain No. 1, High Mountain No. 2, Jamaica Prime Coffee.

True Blue Mountain coffee is made from the finest local raw coffee beans, which is where connoisseurs find their pleasure. Its flavor is rich, balanced, fruity, and acidic, satisfying people's various needs. Additionally, high-quality fresh Blue Mountain coffee has a particularly lasting flavor, just as wine drinkers would describe it as having an endless aftertaste.

Bean Size: Relatively full
Recommended Roasting Method: Medium roast

Blue Mountain coffee has very low caffeine content, less than half of other coffees, conforming to modern health concepts. The same coffee variety, when planted in similar climates like Hawaii, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, or any other place, cannot produce the taste of Blue Mountain coffee beans. Pure Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee perfectly blends the unique sour, bitter, sweet, and mellow flavors in coffee, creating a strong and elegant aroma that other coffees cannot match.

Those who love Blue Mountain coffee say: "It is the 'coffee beauty' that combines all the advantages of good coffee." Jim, general manager of Peet's, a company famous for coffee and tea in the United States, described Blue Mountain coffee: "Its aroma is fragrant, smooth, and rich, giving me a feeling as precious as gemstones. It is precisely because Blue Mountain coffee's flavor is moderate and perfect that it is generally consumed as black coffee." Its liquid is golden in sunlight and drinks very smoothly. Coffee books say that Blue Mountain is the only coffee in the world that combines both sour and bitterness while allowing people to enjoy it—you'll understand after drinking it.

Harvesting and Sales of Blue Mountain Coffee

The annual harvest period for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is from June to November. Generally, hand-picking is used. After picking, it undergoes washing, pulping, fermentation, dehydration, drying, hulling, and roasting processes to obtain Blue Mountain coffee beans. During the raw bean processing, each step has dedicated personnel responsible for quality supervision.

For the precious Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaica's government also uses unique packaging and transportation methods. Unlike other coffees packaged in 60kg bags, Blue Mountain coffee is packaged and transported in wooden barrels at 70kg per barrel standards.

Jamaica is also the last country still using traditional wooden barrels for coffee packaging and transportation. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans must obtain quality certification from the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, which is the only institution authorized to issue such certificates. Additionally, each export batch has dedicated quality supervision experts responsible for sampling, roasting, grinding, and brewing into coffee, finally determining whether standards are met. Due to its expensive price, Blue Mountain coffee has a relatively fixed consumer group, with sales concentrated mainly in Japan, followed by some European and American countries.

The coffee beans are full and slightly larger than average beans. Their flavor is very subtle, with balanced and intense sour, fragrant, mellow, and sweet notes, slightly bitter, harmonious taste, and excellent flavor, suitable for single-origin coffee. It uses medium roasting, which maximally preserves the coffee's original flavor while enhancing its aftertaste. As China's coffee consumption trends improve, many cafes have begun to serve "Blue Mountain coffee" at prices often only a fraction or one-tenth of authentic Blue Mountain coffee.

In 2005, guided by Taiwanese coffee merchants, Chinese media began paying attention to and reporting on the authenticity issues of Blue Mountain coffee. To date, authentic Blue Mountain coffee remains out of reach for most Chinese consumers due to its price and limited supply in the mainland market. Blue Mountain coffee's ability to maintain its premium status today is closely related to local business policies. In 1932, Jamaica passed policies encouraging coffee production to reduce the island's dependence on sugar exports. Unlike most coffee-producing countries that increased output by planting large quantities of high-yield but lower-quality coffee, Jamaica prioritized quality, willing to sacrifice yield to ensure quality. Therefore, Jamaica is one of the world's smaller coffee-producing countries. Brazil, the world's largest coffee exporter, produces 30 million bags of coffee annually, while Blue Mountain coffee produces only about 40,000 bags annually. Currently, few "Blue Mountain-style" coffees on the market contain authentic Blue Mountain coffee beans. There's a "Jamaican Blend Blue Mountain" coffee made from 30% Blue Mountain coffee and 70% of the best Jamaican High Mountain coffee. Both types attempt to imitate Blue Mountain coffee but cannot achieve perfection.

Blue Mountain Coffee's "Cold Reception" in America

Starting from the 1970s, flavored coffee gradually became popular. It involves adding spices to coffee beans or adding coffee creamer to brewed coffee, with hundreds of varieties of flavored coffee available. Most flavored coffees use relatively inexpensive coffee beans. When Blue Mountain coffee costs about $80 per pound, Maxwell coffee costs only $3 per pound.

True Blue Mountain coffee is one of the world's most optimally grown coffees. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and topography together provide a uniquely ideal location. Designated Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee can only be grown in the Blue Mountain region, located in the eastern part of Jamaica north of Kingston. Coffee grows on mountains up to 1,800 meters (approximately 6,000 feet) high—quite high for Coffea arabica. Moreover, the mountains are very uneven, making harvesting extremely difficult (coffee harvesters are almost entirely women).

In the rugged and high-altitude mountains, careful cultivation and harvesting—all Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is processed, tasted, and distributed by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board. The coffee in the cup tastes very clean, and it's one of the sweetest coffees in the world. This flavor has been described by Jim Reynolds at Peet's Coffee and Tea: "The best example of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is its aroma, smoothness, and richness—it gives me a feeling of gem-like quality. It's as precious as a gemstone. It's complex but very gentle, sweet, with very strong body. You must taste it to know what I'm talking about." Unique growing conditions and meticulous attention to all production processes make Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee very famous.

Jamaica is one of the world's smaller coffee producers, harvesting about 40,000 bags of 60kg each annually (Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is actually shipped in 70kg wooden barrels—they're the last country still using this traditional packaging method, but their production is measured by 60kg bags as that's the international standard for coffee production measurement). In comparison, Brazil, the world's largest coffee exporter, produces about 30,000,000 bags of 60kg annually.

Japanese investors have invested heavily in Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee cultivation areas and secured 90% of annual production. Other countries worldwide must bid for the remaining 10%, which is about 3,500 barrels. True Blue Mountain coffee has a unique flavor, making it the world's most expensive coffee. Its demand is particularly high, creating a supply shortage in the market.

Exceptionally favorable growing conditions have nurtured Blue Mountain coffee's unique flavor, elevating it to the ranks of "premium coffee." Global 100% pure Blue Mountain coffee refers specifically to coffee produced within a designated range of Jamaica's eastern Blue Mountain range. Every step during its cultivation and processing must meet the stringent quality control standards of the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board to be certified as "Pure Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee."

The abundant rainfall in the Blue Mountain area, year-round fog and low average temperature of about 20°C, fertile new volcanic soil, and other special conditions create an excellent growing environment for Blue Mountain coffee. Located at high altitudes between 2,500 to 5,000 feet, this creates a unique slightly acidic flavor that doesn't feel stimulating or uncomfortable. Seedlings are nurtured in nurseries for about 2 years, organic fertilizers are used during growth, and harvesting is done manually by picking each bean individually. All processing, roasting, and packaging must comply with the high standards set by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board.

The high-quality but low-yield Typica is an ancient premium variety of Arabica. Most coffee-producing countries prefer to plant other varieties with higher yields but lower quality, while Jamaica prioritizes quality, willing to sacrifice yield to ensure the best quality of Blue Mountain coffee.

How to Roast Blue Mountain Coffee?

Simply put, roast Blue Mountain coffee thoroughly "inside and out," using good roasting techniques on top of proper roasting to express this bean's flavor characteristics. Caramelization is the most significant factor affecting coffee flavor. Raw beans absorb significant heat energy after 6-7 minutes of roasting, initiating pyrolysis reactions and producing the first cracking sound. Some sugars convert to carbon dioxide, moisture 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 others.

Roasting Profile:

Preheat roaster to 170°C, open damper to 3. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 140°C, damper unchanged. At 5'10", temperature reaches 153°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 115°C, damper to 4. At 8'00", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma—can be defined as first crack prelude. Listen carefully for first crack sounds. At 8'12", first crack begins, reduce heat to 90°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop cracking sounds). Remove from roaster at 201.3°C.

How to Brew Blue Mountain Coffee?

Authentic Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee has a dense and full aroma with rich and varied flavor. FrontStreet Coffee recommends tasting it as hand-brewed black coffee for the best experience.

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing parameters for Blue Mountain No. 1 are:

Dripper: KONO dripper
Water Temperature: 88°C water temperature
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Coffee: 15g
Grind Size: EK43s - setting 10.5 (75% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve)

Using a KONO dripper as an example: first wet the filter paper with hot water to make it fit better with the coffee dripper, then pour out the water from the sharing pot. Add 15g of coffee grounds, bloom with 30g of water for 30s, then start center-pouring with small circular water flow until reaching 125g, then pause. When the coffee bed drops to half the dripper height, start the second pour using the same technique until reaching 225g. Once all dripping is complete, remove the dripper.

Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee has a very rich aroma immediately after grinding. During brewing, it carries caramel sweetness. The initial taste is rich with nuts and chocolate, moderate sweet and sour sensations, clean taste, and lasting aftertaste.

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