The Difference Between Blue Mountain Blend Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee | What is Blue Mountain Coffee? | The Flavor Profile of Blue Mountain Coffee

The Rich History of Jamaican Coffee Beans

Jamaican coffee beans have a long and storied history. In 1728 the then-Governor of Jamaica, Sir Nicholas Lawes, imported coffee from the French island of Martinique. Because the local climate suited coffee exceptionally well, Jamaica was already exporting 83,000 pounds of premium coffee just nine years after the crop was introduced.

The Blue Mountain coffee-growing region lies in eastern Jamaica. Only coffee grown at elevations between 3,000-5,500 feet within this specific region can be considered authentic [Jamaica Blue Mountain]. Coffee grown between 1,500-3,000 feet is classified as [Jamaica High Mountain], while coffee grown below 1,500 feet is designated [Jamaica Supreme] or [Jamaica Low Mountain]. Areas above 5,500 feet are protected forest reserves where coffee cultivation is prohibited.

Government Quality Control Initiatives

The Jamaican government made serious efforts, chiefly to increase coffee production and to establish central processing facilities that improved handling and green-bean grading. These measures did improve quality, though they were not entirely successful. In 1943 Canada, then the largest buyer of Jamaican coffee, still found the quality unacceptable. In 1944 the Jamaican government established a central coffee [wet] processing plant, to which all coffee intended for export had to be sent for processing and grading. From then on the quality of Jamaican exported coffee improved steadily. In June 1950 the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board was established, formally placing responsibility for exported bean quality under state oversight. Today there are five government-certified 100% Blue Mountain processing facilities: Wallenford, Mavis Bank, Old Tavern, Silver Hill, and Moy Hall.

What is Blue Mountain Coffee?

Blue Mountain coffee is among the world's most superior coffees. The Blue Mountains lie in eastern Jamaica. On a clear day, the mountains reflect the brilliant blue light of the surrounding Caribbean Sea, which is how they earned their name.

The highest peak of Blue Mountain reaches 2,256 metres, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean and a famous tourist destination. This area lies within the coffee belt, with fertile volcanic soil, fresh, unpolluted air, and a humid climate of year-round fog and rain. These conditions created the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, as well as the world's most expensive coffee.

Blue Mountain coffee possesses every characteristic of excellent coffee. It has a rich, mellow flavour, and because its sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, it shows no bitterness at all, only a moderate and perfect acidity. It is usually consumed as a single-origin coffee, but because production is extremely limited and the price exorbitant, similar-flavoured coffees are often used as substitutes on the market.

The Secret of Blue Mountain Coffee

The "secret" behind Blue Mountain's pure flavour lies in several factors. Its coffee trees all grow on rugged mountain slopes, making harvest extremely difficult; only experienced local women workers can manage the task. Selecting perfectly ripe cherries at harvest is crucial, since underripe or overripe beans affect quality. After harvest the beans must be pulped the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours, followed by washing and sorting. The next step is drying on concrete floors or thick blankets until the beans' moisture content drops to 12%-14%. The beans are then stored in specialized warehouses, taken out for roasting when needed, and finally ground. These steps must be strictly controlled, or quality suffers.

As for the [Blue Mountain flavour coffee] and [Blue Mountain blend coffee] we often see on the market, honestly, these contain no Blue Mountain beans whatsoever. They are blended from beans such as Mandheling, Brazilian, and Colombian varieties to imitate the Blue Mountain flavour profile.

FrontStreet Coffee's [Blue Mountain Coffee] comes from Clifton Mountain Estate. We recommend brewing with water at 88°C using a KONO dripper, a medium-coarse grind, and an extraction time within two minutes. The cup reveals captivating notes of dark chocolate and nuts, with a brown-sugar aftertaste. The acidity, sweetness, and bitterness blend together perfectly, leaving an endless, memorable finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 represents the highest grade of Jamaican Blue Mountain, sourced from the historic Clifton Estate, which began growing and processing coffee around 1750. Its growing and processing site sits at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 metres), where sufficient altitude, gentle afternoon cloud that shades the hills, ample sunlight, and mineral-rich soil give the trees ideal conditions and extend the ripening of the cherries.

The beans are roasted within five days of shipping so they arrive full of flavour, and the traditional medium-dark roast emphasizes the deep body and the classic sweet-after-bitterness. Brew it with a KONO dripper, 15 g per person, letting the beans rest 4-7 days from the roast date; grind slightly coarser than a light roast, about the texture of white sugar, and use 87-88°C water and a 1:15 ratio.

Pour in three stages: 30 g for a 30-second bloom, then to 120 g with a slow vertical circling stream, then to 225 g with a slightly faster stream and circling to keep the bed from clogging the filter and over-extracting. The result is very clean, complex, and gentle, with chocolate sweetness and a strong body, a flawless balance of sweet, acid, and bitter and a long fruity finish.