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Flavor Profile and Taste Characteristics of Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee Beans - Clifton Estate Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee Price and Story

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For more professional coffee knowledge and coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). Jamaica Blue Mountain's one of the ancient farms - Clifton Farm Jamaica Clifton Mount Estate. Estate owner: The Sharp Family.

FrontStreet Coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee Beans

Farm: Clifton Farm

Estate Owner: The Sharp Family

Certification: Rainforest Alliance Certified

Location: Newcastle Region

Total Area: 250 acres

Coffee Cultivation Area: 180 acres

Average Altitude: 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters)

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: 100% Arabica Typica

The Fame of FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee beans are renowned for their high quality, limited production, and rich history. It can be said that even those who haven't experienced specialty coffee have heard of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the four major estates that produce FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee in Jamaica.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee History

The history of Jamaican coffee can be traced back to the 18th century. In 1717, King Louis XV of France 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. Coffee trees were introduced to Jamaica and planted in the Blue Mountains, which were divided into high-altitude Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, High Mountain coffee, and Jamaican coffee. Different grades determine different prices.

The Unique Environment of Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica. Surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days when sunlight directly hits the azure sea surface, the mountain peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater, hence the name. The highest peak of Blue Mountain reaches 2,256 meters (coffee can only be grown below 1,700m, with areas above designated as protected forest), making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination.

Located in the coffee belt, this area features fertile volcanic soil, fresh air without pollution, humid climate, and year-round fog and rain. Average rainfall approaches 2,000 millimeters, with temperatures around 27°C. Such climate conditions have created the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, as well as the world's highest-priced coffee.

According to the official division by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB), only Typica variety coffee grown in forest areas at altitudes between 910-1,700 meters can be called authentic "Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee." Typica requires high-altitude environments for optimal flavor expression. Additionally, the Typica variety has poor disease resistance and is susceptible to infections, coupled with low fruit yield per plant, requiring more intensive human care. Furthermore, the high-altitude areas of Blue Mountain have uneven terrain, making management and harvesting very difficult. This requires highly skilled harvesting personnel, further affecting production. In recent years, less than 15% of coffee beans produced in Jamaica can be labeled as Blue Mountain coffee, approximately 900 tons.

Processing Method

Authentic FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans currently on the market all use the washed processing method, but soon they won't be limited to just washed processing (explained below). After manual harvesting of coffee cherries, initial screening is performed to remove unripe and overripe coffee cherries before pulping, ensuring completion within 12 hours. Traditional washed fermentation is then implemented, followed by sun-drying on cement platforms. Prolonged slow sun-drying enhances coffee flavor. The beans are dried until moisture content reaches 11%-13%, then bagged and placed in warehouses for resting and maturation. Warehouse temperature is controlled at 24-25°C with dehumidifiers controlling humidity. Only after 2-3 months of stable flavor maturation are they shipped.

When customers place orders, small batches undergo low-temperature dehulling, polishing, and removal of silver skin dust. Defective beans such as broken, abnormally colored, and mold-infected beans are manually screened out. Each skilled worker can only select about 75 pounds of green beans per day. Coffee beans are transported between workstations in wooden basins to avoid breakage or other processing defects. After completion, they are sealed in Jamaica Blue Mountain's unique wooden barrels. The Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB) Regulatory Section inspects each batch of coffee flavor before air export to ensure it meets standards.

Jamaica is the last country to use wooden barrels for coffee packaging and transportation. Only coffee that has passed this series of stringent standards set by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB) can receive the government's certificate of guarantee and officially bear the name "Blue Mountain."

Jamaica's Four Major Blue Mountain Estates

Jamaica's four major Blue Mountain estates are Clifton Estate, Stoney Estate, Gold Cup Estate, and RWS Coffee Estate.

Clifton Estate is the only Blue Mountain estate in Jamaica with the "Rainforest Alliance" certification. FrontStreet Coffee's FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans are selected from this estate. The flavor achieves perfect balance in acidity, body, and aroma, with an endless aftertaste. The estate has a 200-year history.

Stoney Estate primarily collaborates with Japanese companies and has lower recognition in China, with only 80 years of history. Therefore, its recognition in China doesn't match Clifton Estate's, and it was later acquired by JCC Company.

Gold Cup Estate has an even shorter development history of only 20 years, but it actually merged two century-old estates and operates with more advanced management techniques. Gold Cup currently has two brands: Amber Estate and BMCP from Blue Mountain Coffee Processors LTD processing plant, with the independent Amber Estate being its top flagship brand.

RWS Coffee Estate merged three century-old estates, also for the development of Blue Mountain coffee. RSW refers to its three estates: Resource, Sherwood Forest, and Whitfield Hall.

Clifton Estate can be said to be the most innovative estate in the entire Blue Mountain region. In the 2019-2020 period, it successively launched the natural version of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee and Blue Mountain Geisha coffee. Before this, all Blue Mountain coffee sold externally was washed-processed Typica varieties.

Authentic Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Has Certification

The Jamaican government previously insisted that all Blue Mountain coffee should be roasted in Jamaica to ensure consistent quality. In fact, roasting is a refined 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. Now, Jamaica's green coffee beans can be exported.

FrontStreet Coffee imported Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee from the origin. Currently, the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board can issue certificates for all exported Blue Mountain coffee on the market.

Certificates are divided into three types:

(1) Quality Certificate issued by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board

(2) Authorized Sales Certificate issued by Blue Mountain coffee manufacturers. (Blue Mountain coffee is distributed by 4 Jamaican government-approved processing manufacturers and exported by 16 licensed exporters)

(3) Certificate of Origin for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

Quality certificates indicate time and quantity. The Jamaica Coffee Industry Board randomly selects a package from submitted Blue Mountain coffee for inspection. If it meets Blue Mountain coffee conditions, a certificate is issued.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster adopted medium-dark roasting for FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans to highlight the balanced and rich flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain. Taking Yangjia 600N semi-direct fire roaster with 500g green beans as an example:

Enter the drum at 165°C with 130 heat power and damper setting 3; return temperature point at 1'32", when drum temperature reaches 95.8°C, heat remains unchanged; at 3 minutes, damper adjusted to 4, at 4 minutes increase heat to 140. When drum temperature reaches 153.3°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 8'36", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 10'06", develops for 3 minutes after first crack, and beans are discharged at 198.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Parameters: 15g coffee, water temperature 86°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, medium-coarse grind (Chinese standard 20-mesh sieve 75% pass rate)

Filter cups generally include these options: V60, Kalita wave, and Kono. FrontStreet Coffee primarily uses Kono filter cup for demonstration. FrontStreet Coffee chooses the Kono filter cup mainly because FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee uses a dark roast level. High temperatures can easily lead to over-extraction, so FrontStreet Coffee选择了 86°C water temperature. At this temperature, using V60 or other faster-flowing filter cups would easily lead to under-extraction. Kono has fewer and shorter ribs, which can isolate the gap between filter paper and filter cup, increasing water flow residence time and has immersion function, suitable for brewing medium-dark roasted FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee. Therefore, after testing all brewing parameters, FrontStreet Coffee ultimately chose the Kono filter cup.

At the same time, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing to maximize the rich flavors of coffee. Coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all 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 every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee. The coffee bean resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

In terms of brewing technique, FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, namely the three-stage pour method. Use 30g of water for bloom, with bloom time of 30s. First stage: small water flow circular pour to 125g, then stop. Wait until the liquid level is about to expose the coffee bed before continuing the second stage pour. Stop at 225g to end extraction. Total extraction time (including bloom) is 2'00.