What are the characteristics and taste of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee? What is the price of Blue Mountain coffee?

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FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Pricing and Flavor Profile

What is the price of FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee? Is FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica RSW Estate Blue Mountain coffee beans more acidic or bitter?

First, let's explore how expensive Blue Mountain coffee really is. At FrontStreet Coffee, a cup of authentic Blue Mountain coffee costs only 60 yuan, or 158 yuan per 100g, offering an exceptional tasting experience. Some might ask: Is this really authentic Blue Mountain? Absolutely, because authentic Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee comes with certification. FrontStreet Coffee imported Jamaica Blue Mountain directly from its origin, and currently, the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board can issue certificates for all exported Blue Mountain coffee. The Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee sold by FrontStreet Coffee comes with certificates issued by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board. Additionally, the wooden barrels packaging Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee beans feature a green frog logo. This is because FrontStreet Coffee specifically chose a Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee estate with Rainforest Alliance certification, namely Clifton Farm. Jamaica is also the only region that uses wooden barrels for green beans, along with the most iconic Blue Mountain flavor. Authentic Blue Mountain has very rich aroma, balanced taste, with no particular flavor being overpowering or lacking.

The Jamaican government used to insist that all Blue Mountain coffee should be roasted in Jamaica to ensure consistent quality. In reality, roasting is a delicate art that requires experience, training, and expensive equipment. From a consumer's perspective, coffee beans should be obtained and consumed immediately after roasting. Coffee roasted in Jamaica cannot meet this requirement. Today, Jamaica's green coffee beans can now be exported.

History of Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee

The history of Jamaican coffee dates back to the 18th century. In 1717, French King Louis XV ordered coffee to be planted in Jamaica. In the mid-1720s, Jamaican Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes imported Arabica seeds from Martinique and began promoting cultivation in the St. Andrew area. Coffee trees were introduced to Jamaica and planted in the Blue Mountain range, which was divided into high-altitude Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, High Mountain coffee, and Jamaica coffee, with different grades determining different prices.

Three Major Production Areas of Blue Mountain Coffee

The Blue Mountain region is a small area with only 6,000 hectares of planting area, making it impossible for all coffee labeled "Blue Mountain" to be grown there. Another 12,000 hectares of land are used to grow two other types of coffee (non-Blue Mountain): High Mountain Supreme coffee and Jamaica Prime coffee.

Today's St. Andrew production area remains one of the three major Blue Mountain coffee production areas. The other two major production areas are the Portland region and the St. Thomas region. Some small estates also grow Blue Mountain coffee, such as Wallenford Estate, Silver Hill Estate, and J. Martinez's Atlanta Estate. Even the largest estate owners in this region are considered small-scale by international standards, with many being small landowners whose families have worked on this land for two centuries.

Currently, there are 6 logos that can represent the origin of Blue Mountain coffee, such as M.B.C.E (Mavis Bank Central Factory), M.H.C.C.T. (Blue Mountain Coffee Cooperative), P.X.X.S.H. (Portland Blue Mountain Coffee Cooperative), Coffee Industry Board (Wallenford), Coffee Industry Board (St. John's Peak), and J.A.S (Blue Mountain), among others. Some estate-level coffees will also be indicated on the wooden barrels.

Jamaica is the only country in the world with a government coffee management organization—the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB), which is affiliated with the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The CIB's functions include cultivation guidance, processing training, fair trade, quality supervision, and other matters related to Jamaica Blue Mountain quality and branding. The CIB's board members are all estate owners who own a certain scale of coffee plantations in Jamaica (due to industry shifts, newly certified Jamaica Blue Mountain estates now require more than 50 hectares). The CIB stipulates that only Blue Mountain coffee beans produced in regions above 2,200 feet in the Jamaica Blue Mountains can be called Jamaica Blue Mountain. Its grades are divided by bean size into NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and manually selected PB. The basic standards for NO.1 Blue Mountain green beans include beans above 17 screen, defect rate below 3%, moisture content around 13%, etc. With low production, large particles, excellent quality, and harmonious flavor, it combines appropriate acidity, bitterness, aroma, body, and sweetness, making it a world-recognized premium coffee. Therefore, Blue Mountain No.1 has the highest price among all Blue Mountain coffees.

Another company worth mentioning is Coffee Trades, with the estate name CLYDESDALE. The company's coffee factory is located in the backyard of the CIB office building, and the estate is situated on the Blue Mountains at around 1,200 meters altitude. Jamaica's other two major Blue Mountain coffee companies are Wallenford and Mavis Bank. Both companies were originally state-owned. Wallenford's production exceeds 60% of Jamaica's total Blue Mountain production, while Mavis Bank's production exceeds 20%. Moreover, Mavis Bank is one of the few Jamaican Blue Mountain companies that handles all three grades of coffee: Jamaica Blue Mountain, Jamaica High Mountain, and Jamaica Prime Coffee.

Blue Mountain Coffee Varieties

Coffee beans worldwide are mainly divided into three types: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. The Blue Mountain coffee introduced by FrontStreet Coffee is of the Typica variety. Typica is the oldest Arabica subspecies, with bronze-colored leaf tips, oval or slender-pointed bean shapes, tall tree structure, slightly inclined branches at 50-70 degree angles, and is known as red-top coffee. The opposite leaves of the coffee tree are long oval, with smooth leaf surfaces, long terminal branches with few branches, and white flowers that bloom at the base where leaf stems connect to branches. The flavor is elegant, but the plant is relatively weak with poor disease resistance, and each tree's coffee yield is very low. Mature coffee fruits look like cherries, appearing bright red. However, because Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee has weak disease resistance, low yield, and is susceptible to insect attacks, this is one of the reasons why Blue Mountain coffee is expensive.

How Blue Mountain Coffee is Graded

Coffee from the Jamaica Blue Mountain region has three grades: 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 two sub-grades. Ranked by quality from highest to lowest: Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, High Mountain No. 1, High Mountain No. 2, Jamaica Prime Coffee.

(1) Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

Both Blue Mountain coffee and High Mountain coffee are each divided into four grades. Ranked by quality from highest to lowest: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB (Peaberry). According to CIB standards, only coffee grown at altitudes above 666 meters is called Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. The ultimate among premium coffees, coffee produced in the Blue Mountain region at altitudes above 1,000 meters is located on treacherous mountainsides, resulting in low production, large beans with excellent quality, and harmonious flavor. It combines appropriate acidity, bitterness, aroma, body, and sweetness, making it a world-recognized premium coffee. Therefore, the price of national treasure Blue Mountain No.1 is the highest among all Blue Mountain coffees.

(2) Jamaica High Mountain Coffee

Coffee produced in the Blue Mountain region below 666 meters is called High Mountain coffee, which is second only to Blue Mountain coffee in quality. Due to the extremely limited production of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, if you want to taste Jamaican-flavored coffee, then Jamaica High Mountain coffee is your best choice.

(3) Jamaica Prime Coffee

Coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain range is called Jamaica Prime Coffee. Originally, Chinese coffee professionals had a common misconception that only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain region above 1,800 meters could be called Blue Mountain coffee. In fact, there is only one estate on the 1,800+ meter mountain crown of the Blue Mountains: Amber, owned by a Chinese descendant whose surname is Lyn, with ancestral roots in Guangdong, China. The estate has only 30 hectares of land with very limited production. Blue Mountain coffee is mainly distributed across five mountains in the Blue Mountain range: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.

Both Blue Mountain coffee and High Mountain coffee are each divided into four grades. Ranked by quality from highest to lowest: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB (Peaberry). According to CIB standards, only coffee grown at altitudes between 1,000-1,700 meters is called Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. With low production, large beans with excellent quality, and harmonious flavor, it combines appropriate acidity, bitterness, aroma, body, and sweetness, making it a world-recognized premium coffee. Therefore, the price of national treasure Blue Mountain No.1 is the highest among all Blue Mountain coffees.

Grade Standards:

(1) No.1 - 17/18 screen, defect rate not exceeding 2%.
(2) No.2 - 16/17 screen, defect rate not exceeding 2%.
(3) No.3 - 15/16 screen, defect rate not exceeding 2%.
(4) Peaberry - 10MS, defect rate not exceeding 2%.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee Bean Processing Method

Before this year, Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee was only available in washed processing. The washed and fermentation method is used to remove fruit pulp and mucilage. Farms using the washed method must build washing pools and have access to continuous fresh water. During processing, the fruit pulp is first removed, followed by 12-18 hours of fermentation. Then the fermented beans are placed in pools and moved back and forth, using the friction between beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until smooth and clean. After washing, the coffee beans are still enclosed in parchment, with a moisture content of 50%. They must be sun-dried to reduce moisture content to 12-14%, otherwise they will continue to ferment, becoming moldy and spoiled. Afterward, the coffee beans are sorted and then stored in special warehouses. These procedures must be strictly controlled, otherwise the coffee quality will be affected.

In 2020, the Blue Mountain region also exported a batch of natural-processed Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee. FrontStreet Coffee immediately imported and roasted it. The production of this natural Blue Mountain coffee was quite challenging. Previously, only washed processing was used because washing ensures the most authentic expression of Blue Mountain flavor, and changing the processing method will definitely alter its flavor structure. This is why FrontStreet Coffee always recommends washed-processed coffee beans when introducing coffee from a specific region to customers, because washing best represents the flavor profile of that region. Of course, Blue Mountain coffee adopting natural processing is more about following market developments, just as FrontStreet Coffee recently added a natural-processed Mandheling coffee bean, which differs from the traditional wet-hulled method.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations:

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing to fully experience the rich flavors of the coffee. Coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are roasted within 5 days, because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that coffee bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring that every customer receives the freshest coffee when their order arrives. The coffee's degassing period is around 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, the coffee is at its optimal flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee considered that both Blue Mountain beans use a darker roast level. The darker the roast, the faster the coffee compounds dissolve. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee uses lower water temperature for extraction while also using the slower-flow Kono dripper to ensure maximum extraction of coffee compounds under low-temperature conditions.

Dripper: Kono dripper
Water Temperature: 88°C
Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium grind (Chinese standard 75% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)
Brewing Method: Three-stage extraction. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then continue pouring with small circular motions to 125g for stage division. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait until all coffee liquid has dripped through the dripper, then remove the dripper. Timing starts from the beginning of pouring, with total extraction time of 2'00".

Flavor Description

[FrontStreet Coffee Natural Blue Mountain Coffee]: Slight berry acidity reminiscent of dark plums and mulberries, with excellent overall balance, rich dark chocolate and nut flavors, and a slight fermented note.

[FrontStreet Coffee Washed Blue Mountain Coffee]: Rich dark chocolate and nut flavors, creamy smooth mouthfeel, with balanced acidity and bitterness.

The final step is to swirl the server holding the coffee liquid to evenly mix the concentration, and then you can enjoy a delicious cup of Blue Mountain coffee!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473