Jamaica Blue Mountain, Hawaii Kona, and Cuba Crystal Mountain: Which Famous Coffee Tastes Best?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange, more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Introduction to Premium Coffees

First, let's address a common question: Why isn't Kopi Luwak included? Actually, Kopi Luwak is not a type of coffee, but rather a coffee product produced through special processing methods. Now, let's introduce today's main characters: Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, Cuban Crystal Mountain Coffee, and Hawaii Kona Coffee. Of course, if you truly want to experience the flavors of coffee, you should choose single-origin coffee.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Believe it or not, you've probably heard of Blue Mountain Coffee even before my introduction. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is the world's finest coffee, known as the "black gem." Like Rolls-Royce cars and Stradivarius violins, when something gains the reputation of "the world's best," this reputation often shapes its own characteristics and becomes an eternal legend.

Blue Mountain Coffee is the world's most superior coffee with limited production, making it precious due to its rarity. The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica. Surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, when the weather is clear, sunlight shines directly on the azure sea surface, and the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater, hence the name.

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, it boasts fertile volcanic soil, fresh air free from pollution, humid climate, and year-round fog and rain (average precipitation of 1,980mm, 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 rich and mellow in flavor, but also with a perfect balance of sweet, sour, and bitter notes, making it completely free from bitterness and only moderately and perfectly acidic. Typically consumed as single-origin coffee, due to its extremely limited production and incredibly high price, it's often blended with similar-tasting coffees in the market.

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over parameters recommendation: Flannel filter, 87°C, 1:14 ratio, Fuji grinder setting 4, total time 1 minute 40 seconds.

Cuban Crystal Mountain Coffee

It contains a slight bitterness like wine and a hint of sweetness, even with a faint smoky aroma, delicate and smooth, refreshing and elegant, with near-perfect balance. Known as the "noble and elegant princess" among coffees. While most coffees have intense flavors like heavy metal music, only Cubita's taste is delicately balanced like the gentleness of country tunes. It will take you away from the noisy city life and return you to a peaceful small village to experience the leisurely and carefree side of life.

The Cuban region has fertile land, humid climate, and abundant rainfall, making it a natural treasure for coffee cultivation. Suitable natural conditions provide a favorable environment for coffee tree growth, allowing coffee to thrive here. Cuba's best coffee-growing area is located in the central mountain range. Because this region produces coffee as well as valuable minerals like quartz and crystals, it's also called Crystal Mountain. Crystal Mountain is geographically adjacent to Jamaica's Blue Mountains with similar climatic conditions, giving it flavors similar to Blue Mountain Coffee, comparable to Jamaican Blue Mountain. It's also known externally as "Cuba's Blue Mountain." The most authentic Crystal Mountain Coffee is Cuba's famous Cubita. Crystal Mountain Coffee is the top representative of Cuban coffee, and Cubita is the top representative of Crystal Mountain Coffee. Noble women and elegant men are always fascinating. Cubita is the same - a light sip will deeply attract you to its flavor, leaving you intoxicated and unable to escape.

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over parameters recommendation: V60, 90°C, 1:15 ratio, Fuji grinder setting 3.5, total time 2 minutes.

Hawaii Kona Coffee

Hawaii's Kona coffee beans are the world's most beautiful-looking coffee beans - exceptionally full and brightly lustrous. Kona coffee beans have uniform and even shapes with strong acidity and sweetness, smooth and mellow mouthfeel. Grown on volcanic soil, the unique volcanic climate has created Kona coffee's distinctive aroma, combined with high-density artificial cultivation techniques, making each bean a pampered "noble lady."

Kona coffee tastes fresh and crisp with medium body, slight acidity, and rich aroma, leaving a long-lasting aftertaste. Most remarkably, Kona coffee has a mixed fragrance of wine, fruit, and spices, as captivating as the colorful volcanic islands. Overall, Kona coffee belongs to a milder category - too refreshing and too simple. However, if you're someone who needs to slowly get into the mood with coffee's aroma before tasting, then Kona is the coffee for you. Unlike Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, which is like a born emperor that conquers you from the first sip; or unlike Cuban Crystal Mountain's Cubita, which is like an elegant princess that makes you fall in love with her; Kona coffee is like a woman walking out of Hawaii's sunshine and gentle breeze - fresh, natural, neither too intense nor too mild. Due to decreasing production, prices now rival Blue Mountain Coffee. Kona's less than 2,600 acres of coffee land produce 2 million pounds of coffee beans annually. Today, most coffees marketed as "Kona" contain less than 5% real Hawaii Kona coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over parameters recommendation: V60, 90°C, 1:15 ratio, Fuji grinder setting 3.5, total time 2 minutes.

Conclusion

Actually, when it comes down to it, coffee tasting is an attitude. Someone once said: Coffee, in its most silent yet gentle way, changes history without any defense. Not only that, coffee also changes and records the lives and emotions of ordinary people who create history.

Related recommendations: Introduction to Hawaii Kona Coffee, How to Brew Hawaii Kona 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