What Makes a Good Blue Mountain Coffee: Top Grade Blue Mountain Coffee Taste, Flavor Characteristics, and Price

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Is Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee the Best Coffee in the World?

Almost everyone who has heard of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee knows it is the most expensive coffee in the world, but not everyone knows why. Like Rolls-Royce cars and Stradivarius violins, when something gains the reputation of "the best in the world," this reputation often creates its own characteristics and becomes an eternal myth.

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The best Blue Mountain coffee is undoubtedly one of the best coffees available. Although the price guarantees the supply of Blue Mountain coffee, it does not equally guarantee that the coffee has the best flavor. It is also worth noting that this coffee tastes more expensive than it looks. To taste its best flavor, more coffee beans must be used than when drinking other coffees, otherwise the flavor is somewhat unworthy of its name. Therefore, the real cost of experiencing the flavor lies in using 10%-15% more coffee beans than the next most expensive coffee.

It is said that true Blue Mountain coffee is made from the finest local green coffee beans, which is where the connoisseur's pleasure lies. Its flavor is rich, balanced, fruity, and acidic, satisfying people's various needs. In addition, high-quality fresh Blue Mountain coffee has a particularly lasting flavor, just as wine drinkers would say—it leaves an endless aftertaste.

The Myth and History of Blue Mountain Coffee

It is necessary to understand the myth of Blue Mountain coffee carefully, as past images and today's reality are often inconsistent. In 1725, Sir Nicholas Lawes brought the first Blue Mountain coffee seeds from Martinique to Jamaica, planting them in the St. Andrew area. Today's St. Andrew region is still one of the three major producing areas of Blue Mountain coffee, with the other two being the Portland and St. Thomas regions. Within 8 years, Jamaica exported over 375 tons of pure coffee. In 1932, coffee production reached its peak, with more than 15,000 tons of coffee harvested. But by 1948, coffee quality had declined, and Canadian buyers refused to renew their contracts. For this reason, the Jamaican government established the Coffee Industry Board to save the fate of top-quality coffee. By 1969, the situation had improved because Japanese loans were used to enhance production quality, thereby ensuring the market. Even in 1969, Japanese coffee drinkers were willing to pay a premium for this coffee, and now, this coffee has reached a status of fanatical devotion. By 1981, Jamaica had reclaimed about 1,500 hectares of land for coffee cultivation, followed by investment in developing another 6,000 hectares of coffee land.

In fact, today's Blue Mountain region is a small place with only 6,000 hectares of planting area, and not all coffee marked "Blue Mountain" is grown there. An additional 12,000 hectares of land are used to grow two other types of coffee (non-Blue Mountain coffee): High Mountain Supreme and Prime Washed Jamaican.

The Unique Growing Conditions of Blue Mountain Coffee

True Blue Mountain coffee is one of the coffees grown under the most superior conditions in the world. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and topography together provide a uniquely ideal venue. The mountain ridge running across Jamaica extends to the eastern part of the small island, with the Blue Mountains reaching over 2,100 meters above sea level. The cool, foggy, and frequent rainfall weather makes this fertile land well-balanced with rainwater. Here, people use mixed planting methods to grow coffee trees, making them coexist with banana trees and avocado trees on terraces. 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 estate owners being small landholders whose families have worked on this land for two centuries.

Jamaica's coffee industry faces a series of problems, such as the impact of hurricanes, increasing labor costs, and difficulties in mechanizing terrace operations. Many small estates and farms find it difficult to rationalize cultivation. However, Blue Mountain coffee is one that reputable coffee retailers will stock regardless of circumstances. A major British retailer said: regardless of the price, he will continuously sell Blue Mountain coffee throughout the year because he has many customers who only recognize "Blue Mountain."

The Global Market for Blue Mountain Coffee

Now, 90% of harvested Blue Mountain coffee is purchased by the Japanese. 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. Now, because the rest of the world can only obtain 10% of Blue Mountain coffee production, Blue Mountain coffee is always in short supply regardless of price. In the United Kingdom, for many years, Langford Brothers company was the only supplier. Later, the Edmonds Group also obtained supply from Jamaica's Salda Foods.

The difference between Blue Mountain coffee and other coffees in transportation is that it is shipped in 70-kilogram wooden barrels, which are replicas of the Bonifieur wooden barrels produced on Guadeloupe Island last century. These wooden barrels were originally used to transport flour from England to Jamaica and usually carry trademark names and manufacturer names. The Coffee Industry Board issues certificates for all pure Jamaican coffee and stamps them with approval before export.

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