How to Drink Blue Mountain Coffee: Can Blue Mountain Coffee Beans Be Used for SOE?

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Before the concept of specialty coffee entered public awareness, the market was dominated by rich, mellow, and bitter coffee. At that time, Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee stood at the pinnacle of the coffee world with its extraordinary reputation, always ranking among the top in coffee bean evaluations. So what exactly gives Blue Mountain Coffee such a high reputation? What exactly is the "Blue Mountain flavor" that everyone talks about? If you want to taste authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, how should you brew it? Let's explore these questions together in FrontStreet Coffee's article today.

Why is Blue Mountain Coffee so famous?

Jamaica's Blue Mountain Range has created the world-renowned Blue Mountain Coffee due to its excellent natural environment. Before the 1960s, Jamaican coffee beans were already very popular in the entire coffee market.

In 1969, the entire island of Jamaica was severely affected by hurricane disasters. At this time, Japan's UCC company not only provided financial assistance to Jamaica but also introduced scientific ecological planting methods to restore the cultivation of Blue Mountain Coffee. To thank the Japanese companies for their aid, the Jamaican government signed a 30-year contract with Japan, promising to allocate 90% of Blue Mountain Coffee's production quota to Japan, with the remaining 10% (about 245 tons) distributed to other markets for sale. As the saying goes, scarcity makes things valuable. Blue Mountain Coffee inherently has low supply, was later monopolized by trade, and was crazily marketed on the demand side, so prices naturally rose.

Actually, during the period of signing the agreement with Japan, Blue Mountain Coffee was not completely consumed locally. They would sell some Blue Mountain Coffee at high prices to other Asian countries and regions. Coupled with increased promotion by the Japanese, coffee professionals from many neighboring countries also began to pursue Blue Mountain Coffee, such as Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Since 2000, the "Blue Mountain craze" has gradually spread to mainland China. Therefore, when we mention coffee to our elders, they always immediately think of the great name "Blue Mountain."

During the 2008 global economic crisis, Jamaica tried to sell Blue Mountain Coffee to more countries, and coincidentally, the agreement with Japan had expired, distributing more Blue Mountain Coffee quotas to other countries. With the expansion of China's coffee market demand, many domestic merchants can now directly import Blue Mountain Coffee beans from Jamaica. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee is produced by the local historic Clifton Estate and uses traditional washed processing.

The Uniqueness of Blue Mountain Coffee

What makes high-end Blue Mountain Coffee so popular is its unique Blue Mountain flavor, and the key to forming Blue Mountain flavor lies in the exceptionally advantageous growing environment of Blue Mountain Coffee. Richard Sharp, the owner of Jamaica's Clifton Estate that produces Blue Mountain Coffee, once described in an interview why Blue Mountain Coffee is so good: "It's the specific latitude, longitude, and the unique location of the Caribbean island that creates a microclimate that doesn't exist anywhere else."

The Blue Mountain Range is located in eastern Jamaica, situated in an earthquake zone where volcanic eruptions have brought large amounts of mineral-rich fertile soil. The Blue Mountains have the highest peak in the entire Caribbean region, making it a famous local tourist destination. The air here is of high quality and unpolluted, coupled with the local year-round rainy, humid, and cool environment, allowing coffee trees to grow vigorously in the clouds. The high altitude creates a large temperature difference, giving coffee fruits ample time to absorb nutrients, producing coffee with a mellow, sweet, and fragrant taste. The Blue Mountain Range spans a very large area, but the terrain is uneven, so most coffee trees are planted on rugged slopes, making manual harvesting very difficult. Locals hire skilled female workers to manually harvest sufficiently ripe coffee cherries on the mountains, thereby ensuring coffee quality.

For many years, Jamaica has insisted on planting only Arabica varieties, which has allowed the local Typica to remain unhybridized and maintain its pure lineage. Unlike many other coffee-producing regions, Jamaica is a relatively closed island nation and naturally has exceptionally advantageous microclimate conditions. After over two hundred years of domestication and adaptation, Blue Mountain Typica has evolved to have better disease resistance, particularly to coffee berry disease, which is superior to typical Typica, with more stable yields and quality.

What is "Blue Mountain Flavor"? How much does a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee cost?

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, Blue Mountain's great reputation, coupled with its high price and difficulty to obtain, means there are numerous mixed-quality products on the market. Various inferior coffees with "Blue Mountain" wording can easily mislead consumers. For example, we often see on shopping platforms: Blue Mountain flavor, Blue Mountain blend, Blue Mountain mixed... these all carry the Blue Mountain name but are actually far from genuine Blue Mountain.

Hailed as the world's best coffee, it certainly wouldn't be cheap, so "Blue Mountain beans" priced at just a few dozen yuan are unlikely to be authentic. As consumers, we can identify authenticity by whether merchants have the handmade oak barrels used for transporting Blue Mountain green beans. Jamaica is the only producing region in the world that uses oak barrels as coffee transport containers. Compared to coarse burlap bags, the advantage of oak barrels is that they absorb and release internal and external humidity while isolating the coffee's aroma from escaping, keeping coffee beans at a more stable moisture content and making roasting more stable. Later, wooden barrels also became one of the identifiers for authentic Blue Mountain Coffee.

Additionally, producers and distributors of Blue Mountain Coffee must be licensed by the Jamaican government and authorized by the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board. All Blue Mountain batches exported locally must also undergo quality testing and certification by the Coffee Industry Board and carry its label. Therefore, we can ask merchants to show relevant Blue Mountain certificates to identify whether it's genuine Blue Mountain. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee is produced by Clifton Estate and has a quality certificate issued by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, an authorized sales certificate issued by the Blue Mountain Coffee manufacturer, and a certificate of origin for Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. The Dongshankou store also displays the oak barrels containing Blue Mountain green beans.

Before the millennium, drinking a cup of Blue Mountain black coffee in China cost dozens or even hundreds of yuan, which was extremely luxurious for the consumption level at that time, and it might not even be authentic. As the Jamaican government allocated more Blue Mountain quotas to consumer markets in various countries, it's now much easier to drink a cup of genuine Blue Mountain in China. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee beans are sold at 158 yuan/100g per package, and tasting at the Dongshankou store costs only 60 yuan/cup (about 200ml). The Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee purchased by FrontStreet Coffee comes from the historic Clifton Estate in Jamaica and belongs to the highest grade of Blue Mountain Coffee.

For the delicate flavors of high-quality Blue Mountain Coffee, natural brewing methods are essential. Besides the pour-over coffee often mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee, if you have a coffee machine at home, you can also make FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee beans into SOE. Below, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate the operational steps.

SOE is the abbreviation for Single Origin Espresso, which translates to espresso made from single-origin coffee beans. The concept of SOE emerged with the popularization of specialty coffee and single-origin coffee concepts brought by the third wave of coffee.

Specialty coffee refers to high-quality coffee from regions with unique microclimates and geographical conditions, cultivated to have positive aromas and "taste of place." As more consumers learn about coffee bean origin information and are willing to pay higher prices for high-quality coffee beans, producers naturally invest more energy in the source of specialty coffee. This led to the emergence of single-origin coffee beans that emphasize a single producing region. Originally, single-origin coffee beans were typically extracted using pour-over methods, but later, more and more single-origin beans were applied to espresso coffee. Coupled with various competitions and promotions by chain brands, the SOE concept became increasingly popular.

Therefore, any espresso made from single-origin coffee beans can be called SOE. Both SOE and espresso blends belong to the category of espresso coffee terminology. In contrast, espresso blends mix coffee beans from more than two origins and usually use medium-dark roasting to present a rich, balanced taste. SOE aims to highlight the unique flavors of the producing region and uses lighter roasting. For example, the SOE extracted from FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Natural Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans on the FrontStreet Coffee menu presents the sweet and sour taste of berries and citrus.

The coffee machine at FrontStreet Coffee's store is a commercial single-head "Lelit Bianca," which can adjust extraction by changing pressure, with a maximum pressure of 11 bar. Home coffee machines only need to reach 9 bar pressure to satisfy extraction and milk frothing functions, paired with an espresso grinder.

SOE Coffee Extraction Parameters Sharing

Coffee beans: FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Natural Konga

Coffee powder amount: 20g

Coffee liquid amount: 40g

Powder-to-liquid ratio: 1:2

Extraction time: 26-33 seconds

Grinding setting: Galileo 2.0 grid

FrontStreet Coffee uses a double basket capacity with approximately 18-20 grams of powder, and FrontStreet Coffee uses 20 grams of coffee powder for each serving.

Typically, the ratio of coffee powder to coffee liquid ranges from 1:1.5 to 1:2.5. FrontStreet Coffee's extraction ratio is 1:2, meaning 20 grams of coffee powder extracts 40 grams of coffee liquid. Time is related to the flow rate of coffee powder. Generally, single extraction times are controlled between 20-35 seconds because coffee usually tastes thin within 20 seconds, while exceeding 35 seconds can easily lead to over-extraction and bitter flavors. Most of FrontStreet Coffee's espressos fall within the 28-30 second range.

FrontStreet Coffee first wipes the portafilter dry, turns on the grinder, grinds a double serving of coffee powder, places it on an electronic scale to adjust until reaching 20 grams. Then use a tool to distribute the powder evenly, tamp the coffee puck firmly to ensure more stable coffee extraction.

Then turn on the extraction switch to release water, moistening the group head while washing away any stuck coffee grounds. Gently lock the portafilter onto the group head and begin the extraction. When the electronic scale shows 40 grams of coffee liquid extracted (time approximately 28-33 seconds), pull down the extraction switch, and a cup of SOE espresso is complete. We can add an appropriate amount of ice water or 80-degree hot water according to our preference to make a cup of Yirgacheffe SOE Americano.

When making SOE hot latte, FrontStreet Coffee uses a 1:6 ratio, adding 40 grams of espresso liquid to a pre-warmed coffee cup, then using the espresso machine's steam to froth 240g of milk. The milk temperature is best controlled between 50-65°C to form a fine, moderately thick foam. Then evenly blend it with the coffee liquid. The resulting Yirgacheffe SOE latte tastes like eating a lemon-flavored cookie, with a rich, smooth texture, leaving you feeling warm and satisfied after drinking.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473