Where to Buy Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee? Can You Find Real Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans in Japan?

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

The Blue Mountain Range is located in eastern 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 the Blue Mountains reaches 2,256 meters, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. Located in the coffee belt, it has fertile volcanic soil, fresh and unpolluted air, a humid climate with year-round fog and rain (average precipitation of 1,980 mm, temperature around 27°C). Such climate conditions have created the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, as well as the world's highest-priced coffee—Blue Mountain coffee.

The "Secret" of 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 accomplish this task. Selecting properly ripe coffee beans during harvest is crucial, as underripe or overripe beans will affect the coffee quality. After harvesting, coffee beans must be hulled the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours. Subsequently, 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 region. To this day, St. Andrew remains one of Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee's three major producing regions, 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 oversees their implementation to ensure the quality of Jamaican coffee. The Board grants special official seals to both raw and roasted coffee exported from Jamaica, making it one of the world's highest-level national coffee institutions. Currently, six certification marks represent Blue Mountain coffee origin: Mavis Bank Central Factory (MBCE), 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 J.A.S.

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 venue. The mountain range running through Jamaica extends to the eastern part of the small island, with Blue Mountain Range reaching over 2,100 meters. The weather is cool, foggy, with frequent precipitation, nourishing this rich soil with rainwater. Here, coffee trees are planted using mixed cultivation methods, growing on terraces alongside banana and avocado trees. Some small estates also grow coffee. However, even the largest estate owners in this region are considered small-scale by international standards, with many being small landowners whose families have been working for two centuries. Jamaica's coffee industry faces a series of problems, such as hurricane impacts, increasing labor costs, and difficulties in mechanizing terraced operations. Many small estates and farms struggle to rationalize their cultivation.

Since Japan has continuously invested 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, it is always in short supply regardless of price.

Blue Mountain Coffee Grade Classification

Coffee from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region has three grades: Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans, and Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans. Among these, Blue Mountain Coffee and High Mountain Coffee each have two sub-grades. From highest to lowest quality, the ranking is: Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, High Mountain No. 1, High Mountain No. 2, and Jamaica Prime Coffee.

True Blue Mountain coffee is made from the finest local raw coffee beans, which is what connoisseurs truly appreciate. Its flavor is rich, balanced, and fruity with acidity, meeting various preferences. Additionally, high-quality fresh Blue Mountain coffee has a particularly lasting flavor, with an endless aftertaste as wine enthusiasts would describe.

Bean Size: Relatively full
Recommended Roasting Method: Medium roast

Blue Mountain coffee has very low caffeine content, less than half of other coffees, aligning with modern health concepts. The same coffee variety, when planted in similar climates like Hawaii, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, or anywhere else, 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, attractive, and elegant aroma that other coffees cannot match.

Unique Flavor Characteristics

Those who love Blue Mountain coffee describe it as "the 'coffee beauty' that combines all the advantages of good coffee." Jim, the general manager of Pete's Company, famous for coffee and tea in the United States, described Blue Mountain coffee: "Its aroma is fragrant, smooth, and mellow, giving me the feeling of preciousness like a gemstone. It is precisely because Blue Mountain coffee's flavor is moderate and perfect that it is generally consumed as black coffee." Its liquid appears golden in sunlight and drinks smoothly. Coffee books say that Blue Mountain is the only coffee in the world that combines both sour and bitter notes while being enjoyable—you'll understand once you drink it.

Blue Mountain Coffee Harvesting and Sales

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

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

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 coffee to determine whether it meets standards. Due to its expensive price, Blue Mountain coffee has a relatively fixed consumer group, with sales mainly concentrated 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, with harmonious taste and excellent flavor, suitable for single-origin coffee. It uses medium roast to maximize the preservation of the coffee's original flavor while enhancing its aftertaste. As China's coffee consumption market improves, many coffee shops have begun to offer "Blue Mountain coffee," often at only a fraction or one-tenth of the price of authentic Blue Mountain coffee.

In 2005, guided by Taiwanese coffee merchants, Chinese media began paying attention to and reporting on the authenticity of Blue Mountain coffee. To date, authentic Blue Mountain coffee, due to its price and limited supply in the mainland market, remains out of reach for most Chinese consumers. Blue Mountain coffee's ability to maintain its premium status today is inseparable from local business policies. In 1932, Jamaica implemented 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 over quantity, willing to sacrifice yield to ensure quality. Therefore, Jamaica is one of the world's smallest 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, very few authentic Blue Mountain coffee beans are found in "Blue Mountain-style" coffees on the market. There's a "Jamaican Blended Blue Mountain" coffee made from 30% Blue Mountain coffee and 70% of the finest Jamaican High Mountain coffee. Both types of coffee attempt to imitate Blue Mountain coffee but cannot achieve perfection.

Blue Mountain Coffee's Reception in America

Starting in the 1970s, flavored coffee gradually became popular. It involves adding spices to coffee beans or adding coffee mate 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 coffees with the most superior growing conditions. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and topography together provide an exceptionally ideal venue. Designated Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee can only be grown in the Blue Mountain region, north of Kingston in eastern Jamaica. Coffee grows on mountains up to 1,800 meters (approximately 6,000 feet) high—quite high altitude for Arabica coffee. Additionally, the mountains are very rugged, making harvesting extremely difficult (coffee harvesting is almost entirely done by 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 is one of the sweetest coffees in the world. This flavor has been described by Jim Reynolds at Peet's Coffee and Tea: "The finest example of Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee is its fragrance, smoothness, and richness—it gives me the feeling of gemstone quality. It's as precious as a gemstone. It's complex but very mild, sweet, with very strong body. You must taste it to know what I'm talking about." Unique growing conditions and careful attention throughout all production processes make Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee very famous.

Jamaica is one of the world's smallest coffee producers, harvesting about 40,000 bags of 60kg each annually (Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is actually shipped in 70kg wooden barrels—they are the last country still using this traditional packaging method, but their production is measured in 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.

The Japanese have invested heavily in Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee cultivation areas and secure 90% of the annual production. Other countries 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.

Exceptional growing conditions have nurtured Blue Mountain coffee's unique flavor, placing it among the world's "premium coffees." All 100% pure Blue Mountain coffee globally refers to coffee produced within the specific range of Jamaica's eastern Blue Mountain Range. Every step during cultivation and processing must meet the strict quality 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 with low average temperatures around 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, it 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, picking one bean at a time. All processing, roasting, and packaging must comply with the high standards set by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board.

The low-yield, high-quality Typica is an ancient, superior 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 quantity for the best Blue Mountain coffee quality.

How to Roast Blue Mountain Coffee?

Simply put, roast Blue Mountain coffee thoroughly "inside and out," using good roasting techniques on the basis of proper roasting to express this bean's flavor. Caramelization is the most significant factor affecting coffee flavor. After six to seven minutes of roasting, raw beans absorb large amounts of heat energy, initiating pyrolysis reactions and the first crack. Some sugars convert to carbon dioxide, moisture continues to evaporate, new aromatic components gradually develop, forming so-called coffee oils, which combine with hundreds of aromatic substances including nicotinic acid, citric acid, quinic acid, malic acid, acetic acid, caffeine, and more.

Roasting Profile: Preheat roaster to 170°C, air damper at 3. After 1 minute, reduce heat to 140°C, damper unchanged. Roast to 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 turns to coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. 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 low that cracking stops). Finish at 201.3°C.

How to Brew Blue Mountain Coffee?

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

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

Filter: KONO dripper
Water temperature: 88°C
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Coffee grounds: 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 serving pot. Add 15g of coffee grounds, bloom with 30g of water for 30s, then start pouring with small circular motions in the center until reaching 125g, then pause. When the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, pour the second stage using the same technique until reaching 225g. Wait for all dripping to complete, then remove the dripper.

Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee emits a very rich aroma immediately after grinding. During brewing, it carries a caramel-like sweetness, with nutty and chocolate richness upon entry, moderate sweet and sour notes, clean taste, and persistent aftertaste.

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