Why is Blue Mountain Coffee So Expensive? Taste Profile and Pour-Over Parameters for Blue Mountain Coffee

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The Legendary Blue Mountain Coffee

On the slopes of Jamaica's Blue Mountains, coffee farms are scattered throughout. The plump, bean-shaped fruits mixed with cherry-like coffee cherries are none other than the world-renowned "Blue Mountain Coffee."

What Makes Blue Mountain Coffee Special?

What makes Blue Mountain Coffee special? Why is it considered one of the world's best coffees? Almost everyone who introduces Blue Mountain Coffee mentions its unique climate environment - the cloud-shrouded mountains and the significant temperature difference between day and night have laid an excellent foundation for the distinctiveness of Blue Mountain Coffee.

Jamaica's Perfect Coffee Growing Region

Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean Sea. To the north, across the water, lies another large island - Cuba. To the east are the island nations of Haiti and Puerto Rico. Jamaica is also one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. The coffee produced there comes in two varieties: highland and lowland coffee. The famous Blue Mountain Coffee is grown at elevations of 2400-2500 meters on the island's mountain slopes. The climate variation on these mountain slopes is minimal, making it an ideal region for coffee cultivation.

Unique Growing Conditions

The unique flavor of Blue Mountain Coffee is related to Blue Mountain's exceptional geographical location and climate conditions. Blue Mountain is located in the coffee belt at 25 degrees north latitude, with fertile new volcanic soil, fresh and unpolluted air, year-round rainfall, high humidity, and significant temperature differences between day and night.

Meticulous Cultivation and Quality Control

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is entirely cultivated and harvested by hand. Emphasis is placed on waiting until the coffee cherries are fully ripe before picking, rather than harvesting unripe green and ripe red cherries all together, which naturally results in quality differences from regular coffee. There's also focus on reducing pesticide usage, instead employing biological control methods to deal with fungal diseases and leaf-miner pests. Another crucial requirement is extremely strict quality control. Jamaica has thousands of coffee farms of varying sizes. After coffee beans are harvested, they all go through multiple checkpoints at collection stations, undergoing rigorous selection. Any beans that don't meet the standards are "returned." Moreover, qualified Blue Mountain Coffee raw beans (unroasted) approved for export are all packaged in odor-free wooden barrels to maintain the coffee's aromatic flavor. Such cost-no-object attention to quality, combined with limited production creating market demand that exceeds supply, naturally achieves the prestigious status of Blue Mountain Coffee!

Quality Concerns

Jamaica - Blue Mountain Coffee is the finest representative among classic coffee beans in the Caribbean region, truly the pinnacle of coffee excellence. However, unfortunately, some recent operators have adopted speculative practices, mixing lower altitude grown coffee beans with high altitude beans, reducing the original expected quality level. This makes Jamaica - Blue Mountain increasingly less remarkable.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Approach

How does FrontStreet Coffee think Blue Mountain Coffee should be roasted better?

Simply put, roast Blue Mountain "thoroughly" from inside out, using superior roasting techniques on the foundation of proper roasting to bring out the flavor characteristics of these beans.

Caramelization is the most significant step affecting coffee flavor. After six to seven minutes of roasting, raw beans absorb large amounts of 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, and caffeine.

Roasting Profile

Roasting curve: Preheat roaster to 170°C, add beans with air damper at 3. After 1 minute, reduce 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", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast smell clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 8'12", first crack begins, reduce heat to 90°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not so small that cracking stops). Remove from roaster at 201.3°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing methods for Blue Mountain Coffee:

Daily Brewing Filter Choices

For daily brewing, filter cup choices: V60, Kalita wave, and KONO are all suitable

KONO Filter Cup Example

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

Brewing Technique

Technique: 25-30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s, slowly pour water to about 120g then stop. Wait for water level to drop until the coffee bed is about to be exposed, then continue pouring to 210g.

Other Extraction Suggestions

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 flavors.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473