Jamaican Coffee Is More Than Just Blue Mountain: What Is Jamaican High Mountain Coffee and Its Flavor Profile

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The Noble Origins of Blue Mountain Coffee

You may not be familiar with Jamaica's location, but you've surely heard of the renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. What makes Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, known as "the finest among coffees," so special? Let's take a journey to Jamaica and explore the noble heritage of Blue Mountain Coffee.

Jamaica, the birthplace of Blue Mountain Coffee, is an island nation located in the Caribbean Sea of Central America, with an area approximately one-third that of Taiwan. Blue Mountain, with an elevation of 7,400 feet, is the highest peak on the island of Jamaica, about a 40-50 minute drive from the capital Kingston. This mysterious mountain is often shrouded in clouds and mist, and the prestigious Blue Mountain Coffee grows right here.

A Privileged Coffee Aristocrat

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is precious because it combines both superior innate characteristics and an excellent post-harvest environment. From seed selection, cultivation, harvesting, processing and grading to packaging and export, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee can be considered a model student among coffees.

There are three main coffee varieties worldwide: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Blue Mountain Coffee comes from the highest quality Arabica variety.

Coffee grown on Blue Mountain is not equivalent to "Blue Mountain Coffee." Only coffee grown at elevations between 1,500 and 5,000 feet qualifies to be called Blue Mountain Coffee. The cool climate at high altitudes extends the maturation period of the coffee; additionally, the temperature difference between day and night slows down the conversion of starch to sugar in coffee beans, thereby enhancing the coffee's rich aroma.

"Good coffee must be planted on slopes," said Cao Cunli, the only Taiwanese who owns a coffee farm on Jamaica's Blue Mountain. Slopes provide rapid drainage, allowing coffee trees to continuously absorb fresh water.

Shade trees planted around the coffee are another distinctive feature of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. These shade trees are typically banana trees or Jamaica's local specialty Ackee fruit trees, which protect coffee trees from direct sunlight exposure and serve soil conservation purposes. Taking care of coffee trees requires considerable patience and meticulousness—regular pruning is necessary to remove old branches and encourage new growth, and frequent inspection of fruit development is required, promptly removing underdeveloped ones to avoid wasting nutrients. "Taking care of Blue Mountain Coffee is like taking care of children," said Cao Cunli.

Walking through the coffee tree groves, you can see abundant coffee cherries on the trees. During the ripening process, their color changes from green to red. Once fully red, they must be harvested immediately to prevent fermentation and spoilage.

All Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee harvesting is done manually. Workers must navigate between trees on slopes, picking ripe coffee cherries one by one. Since coffee cherries on the same tree ripen at different rates, harvesting often requires dozens of separate rounds to collect all the coffee, making the entire process extremely laborious.

After harvesting, the fruit must first undergo floating water screening, then be processed using the washed method to remove the skin and mucilage, revealing the coffee beans inside before being sent to processing plants for centralized processing. During the coffee harvest season, the wet coffee beans after washing (called wet parchment) are spread across the plaza next to the processing plant like drying grain, receiving the blessing of sunlight.

After the coffee beans are dried, they undergo strict manual selection and machine grading before being packaged for export. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee's use of handmade wooden barrels for packaging instead of regular burlap bags is also a distinctive feature.

All exported Blue Mountain Coffee must undergo detailed inspection by the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board. Only coffee that passes the Cupping Test conducted by professional quality control personnel can enter the world market. Hernandez, director of the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board, emphasized that Blue Mountain Coffee prioritizes quality over quantity. "Quality, quality, quality, that is No. 1 priority," he said.

FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, having passed numerous rigorous checkpoints, possesses a rich aroma and smooth, mellow taste, with hints of fruit flavor. Proper medium roasting can further highlight its distinctive and outstanding character.

In fact, besides Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica also produces High Mountain and Prime Washed varieties. However, Blue Mountain remains the highest quality and lowest yield among them. Currently, 90% of Jamaica's Blue Mountain Coffee is purchased by Japanese companies, with the remainder exported to the United States and Britain, making it extremely expensive.

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