Is the Price of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Beans Inflated? What Grade Does Jamaican Coffee Represent?

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Whether you've had coffee or not, most people have probably heard of Blue Mountain Coffee. You also know that Blue Mountain Coffee comes with a hefty price tag. However, with the promotion of the specialty coffee concept, more and more people are starting to question whether the quality of Blue Mountain Coffee matches its price—is Blue Mountain Coffee really just commercial hype?

The Secret to Worldwide Fame

Blue Mountain Coffee is one of the world's finest coffees, with limited production, making it precious due to its rarity. The Blue Mountains are located in the eastern part of Jamaica. The mountain gets its name because when the weather is clear, the sun shines directly on the azure Caribbean Sea, and the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater. The highest peak of Blue Mountain reaches 2,256 meters, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. Located in the coffee belt, this area has fertile volcanic soil, fresh and pollution-free air, 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. This coffee possesses all the characteristics of fine coffee—not only is it rich and mellow in flavor, but because the sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, it has no bitterness at all, with only moderate and perfect acidity. It is typically consumed as a single-origin coffee, but due to its extremely limited production and incredibly high price, the market generally uses coffees with similar flavors as substitutes.

The "secret" behind Blue Mountain Coffee's pure flavor: All their coffee trees grow on rugged mountain slopes, making the harvesting process extremely difficult. Only skilled local women workers can handle this task. During harvesting, selecting perfectly ripe coffee beans is crucial—underripe or overripe beans will affect the coffee quality. After harvesting, the coffee beans must be hulled on the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours. Afterward, the coffee beans undergo washing and screening. The next step is drying, which must be done on concrete floors or thick blankets until the moisture content of the beans drops to 12%-14%. They are then stored in dedicated warehouses. When needed, they are taken out for roasting and then ground into powder. These procedures must be strictly controlled; otherwise, the coffee quality will be affected.

Of course, in brand promotion, the Japanese contribution to Jamaican coffee cannot be overlooked.

History

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 of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, with the other two being Portland and St. Thomas. Within 8 years, Jamaica exported over 375 tons of pure coffee. In 1932, coffee production reached its peak, with harvested coffee exceeding 15,000 tons. In 1950, the Jamaican government established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, which sets quality standards for Jamaican coffee and monitors their implementation to ensure Jamaican coffee quality. The board grants special official seals to exported raw and roasted coffee from Jamaica, making it the world's highest-level national coffee institution. Currently, there are 6 trademarks that can represent the origin of Blue Mountain Coffee: Mavis Bank Coffee Factory (M.B.C.F), M.H.C.C.T., P.X.X.S.H., Coffee Industry Association (Wallenford), Coffee Industry Association (St. John's Peak), and J.A.S.

By 1969, the situation had improved as Japanese loans were used to enhance production quality, thereby ensuring the market. Today, this coffee has reached a level of passionate admiration.

By 1981, Jamaica had developed about 1,500 hectares of land for coffee cultivation, followed by an additional 6,000 hectares of coffee land. In fact, today's Blue Mountain area is a small place with only 6,000 hectares of cultivation area, making it impossible for all coffees labeled "Blue Mountain" to be grown there. Another 12,000 hectares are used to grow two other types of coffee: High Mountain Supreme Coffee and Jamaica Prime Coffee.

Geographical Advantages

Blue Mountain Coffee is one of the world's finest coffees, and Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and terrain together provide an ideal location. The mountain range running through Jamaica extends to the eastern part of the island, with year-round fog on the mountains, frequent precipitation on the island, pure air, and clear sunlight, creating a harmonious balance of rainwater in this small island. Here, coffee trees are planted using mixed farming methods, growing alongside banana trees and avocado trees in terraced fields. Some small estates also cultivate 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 been working for two centuries. Jamaica's coffee industry faces a series of challenges, such as hurricane impacts, leaf rust disease, increased labor costs, and difficulties in mechanizing terraced operations. Many small estates and farms find it difficult to rationalize cultivation.

Due to Japan's 30-year contract with the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board (CIB) and continuous investment in Jamaica's coffee industry, before 2009, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee was basically monopolized by Japanese conglomerates. For example, 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. In 2008, after the contract between the two parties expired, it coincided with the global economic crisis. Japan's economy was sluggish, purchasing power declined, and Jamaican coffee farmers became more aware, unwilling to let Japanese merchants monopolize the market anymore. Therefore, they significantly raised the prices of raw coffee beans. Currently, Japan's purchase of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee has dropped from the previous 90% to less than 60%. This also created an opportunity in 2010 for the Hangzhou Coffee and Western Restaurant Industry Association team, led by @BlueMountainCoffeeNo1 and others, to successfully sign the exclusive agency rights for 70 tons of Jamaican raw beans annually.

Classification

Jamaica has three coffee varieties: Jamaica 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 four grades. From top to bottom in quality, they are: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, with PB being peaberries. According to CIB standards, only coffee grown above 666 meters altitude is called Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee; coffee produced below 666 meters in the Jamaican Blue Mountain area is called High Mountain Coffee; and coffee grown outside the Blue Mountains is called Jamaica Coffee. Originally, Chinese coffee professionals had a common misconception that only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain area above 1,800 meters could be called Blue Mountain Coffee. In fact, above 1,800 meters on the Blue Mountains, there is only one estate—Amber. Its owner is of Chinese descent with the surname Lyn (林), ancestral home in Guangdong, China. The estate has only 30 hectares of land with very limited production. Blue Mountain Coffee is mainly distributed in five mountain areas: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.

Quality Control

① Jamaica Coffee Industry Board LOGO: registration and certification for all merchants in the entire industry chain of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee production, sales, and roasting;

② LOGO of the currently only certified raw bean agent in China;

③ The CIB officially registered JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN trademark, which is marked on all certified Jamaican Blue Mountain raw and roasted coffee products;

With the globalization of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee's reputation and the global introduction of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee cultivation, numerous imitated Blue Mountain flavored coffees have appeared in the market, seriously affecting the excellent reputation of authentic Blue Mountain Coffee. In recent years, the Jamaican government has strongly advocated that Blue Mountain Coffee should be roasted and exported in its original packaging from the country, rather than exported as raw beans, to avoid the impact of imitated Blue Mountain flavored coffees. The importance of this measure lies in the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board's ability to monitor every aspect of Blue Mountain Coffee export, ensuring its purity and high quality.

Quality Standards

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is a small quantity but high-quality Typica, belonging to the best variety of Arabica. The annual harvest period is from June to November, generally using hand-picking methods. After picking, it goes through washing, peeling, fermentation, dehydration, drying, hulling, and roasting processes to obtain quality Blue Mountain roasted beans. During the raw bean processing, each step has dedicated personnel responsible for quality supervision. For the precious Blue Mountain Coffee, the Jamaican government also uses distinctive packaging and transportation methods. Blue Mountain Coffee is not packaged and transported in 60kg/bag cloth bags like other coffees, but in wooden barrels with a standard of 70kg/barrel. Jamaica is also the last country still using traditional wooden barrels for coffee packaging and transportation. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee beans must obtain a quality recognition certificate issued by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, which is also the only institution authorized to issue such certificates in Jamaica. Each export batch will have dedicated quality supervision experts responsible for sampling, roasting, grinding, and brewing into coffee, finally making a judgment on whether it meets standards.

The Jamaica Coffee Industry Board stipulates that exported raw beans must have a defect rate no higher than 3%, with moisture content maintained at around 13%, and Blue Mountain Coffee's roasting yield is generally maintained at 83%. According to the size of Blue Mountain raw beans, Blue Mountain Coffee above 17 screen size is NO.1, above 16 screen size is NO.2, and above 15 screen size is NO.3. Therefore, the Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee NO.1 fresh raw beans we usually see are deep green in color, with a waxy texture, smooth, full, and round surface, like emeralds from Central America. For roasted beans, each export batch must pass the cupping test by CIB's quality control manager before being allowed to clear customs; otherwise, it will be returned or destroyed.

Export Quotas

According to 2004 Jamaican CIB export statistics, in the limited Blue Mountain NO.1 quota, 85% was allocated to Japan, 5% to the United States, 5% to Europe, and 5% to other countries. However, in the global consumption distribution of authentic Blue Mountain NO.1, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), China accounts for 15% of Blue Mountain Coffee consumption, which surprised the world. The reason is that part of Japan's, Australia's, and Europe's Blue Mountain Coffee shares are exported to China through direct subsidiaries.

The difference between export quotas and consumption distribution mentioned above has made the Jamaican government extremely embarrassed. The asymmetric Blue Mountain Coffee export quotas mean that most profits remain in trading companies in countries like Japan, and the Jamaican coffee industry has not benefited from this. The turning point came in 2005, when Jamaica's Minister of Agriculture clearly announced: Blue Mountain Coffee should be roasted more in Jamaica and directly flow from Jamaica to consumer countries through quota allocation.

The means by which the Jamaican government relied on to change export quotas came from the Wallenford estate directly controlled by its government. Obtaining Wallenford Blue Mountain NO.1 quota means that the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB) recognizes the quota indicators for that country or company.

Regarding Jamaican Blue Mountain in China

Blue Mountain Coffee, due to its expensive price, has a relatively fixed consumer group, with its sales concentrated mainly in Japan, followed by some European and American countries. The coffee beans are full in shape, slightly larger than average beans. Its flavor is very subtle, with balanced and strong acidity, aroma, mellowness, and sweetness, with a slight bitterness, harmonious taste, and excellent flavor, suitable for single-origin coffee. It uses medium roast (Medium Roast), which maximizes the preservation of the coffee's original flavor and enhances its aftertaste. In China, influenced by Japanese and Taiwanese coffee culture, most coffee roasters like to roast Blue Mountain coffee to medium-light, taking it out about 10-15 seconds after the first crack ends. However, @BlueMountainCoffeeNo1 believes that 80% of coffee flavor and mouthfeel comes from roasting. If Blue Mountain Coffee is roasted too lightly, although one can taste more obvious fruit acidity and floral aromas and other complex fragrances, the aroma is not rich enough, and the mouthfeel is not full enough. Especially, the unique tropical nut aroma of Blue Mountain cannot be well expressed. Therefore, too light roasting will lose some of the flavor characteristics of Blue Mountain Coffee.

In recent years, with the improvement of domestic coffee consumption trends, many coffee shops have begun to serve various coffees with "Blue Mountain Coffee" labels, and although their prices are only a fraction or even a tenth of authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, their flavors often differ greatly. Especially in the past 10 years, media has frequently exposed fake Blue Mountain Coffee, making many consumers hesitant about Blue Mountain Coffee.

Blue Mountain Coffee's ability to maintain its premium status today is inseparable from local business policies. In 1932, Jamaica passed policies to encourage coffee production, reducing the island's dependence on sugar exports. Unlike most coffee-producing countries that increased production by planting large quantities of high-yield but poor-quality coffee, the local government prioritized quality over quantity, willing to sacrifice production to ensure quality. Therefore, Jamaica is one of the countries with lower coffee production in the world. Brazil, the world's largest coffee exporter, produces 30 million bags of coffee annually, while Blue Mountain Coffee produces only about 40,000 bags per year.

Tasting Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain Coffee is like a noble lady; one must know how to appreciate its unique charm. Led by a good state of mind, in a European-style coffee cup, the curling aroma suddenly drifts into your nostrils. You can't help but take a small sip, savoring it carefully. That lingering taste slowly spreads from your throat deep into your organs. At this moment, you might as well, in the melodious blue music, in the pure fragrance, use a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee to cleanse your soul and warm your spirit. Drinking a cup of Blue Mountain is like reading a poem, listening to a song, dancing a perfect dance, and you are the protagonist.

Generally, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee uses medium roast (Medium Roast), suitable for single-origin coffee, which can maximally preserve its charm. The unique acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and mellowness of 100% pure Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, especially its rich and distinctive fruity aroma, are perfectly balanced. Its high-altitude origin gives it a slight, high-quality acidity, with extremely minimal bitterness that is brief and doesn't linger in the mouth, turning into a slightly sweet feeling in the throat. The mellow throat rhyme makes people want more, allowing tasters to enjoy the most perfect visual, olfactory, and gustatory experience simultaneously, making coffee enthusiasts worldwide deeply fascinated! Its caffeine content is very low, only about 1/3 of ordinary coffee varieties, meeting modern health requirements. Therefore, the World Coffee Organization considers Blue Mountain Coffee to be "the only coffee in the world with no flaws."

Jamaican Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Jamaican coffee - [Blue Mountain NO.1 Coffee Beans] has full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, it offers extremely high cost performance. A half-pound (100g) package costs only about 158 yuan. Calculated at 15g per cup, one package can make 6 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 25 yuan, making it a conscientious recommendation compared to the often hundreds of yuan per cup price sold in coffee shops.

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473