The Story of Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee Beans: How to Make Delicious Pour-Over Blue Mountain Coffee Using Dripper and Water-to-Coffee Ratio

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If you ask what coffee is the most beautiful cloud in the sky, everyone probably has their own choice, but you cannot forget a veteran superstar—FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. That's right, even in 2020, FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee remains a formidable competitor that many new varieties cannot challenge, to the point that FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is still expensive today! But even when expensive, you need to know how to choose. FrontStreet Coffee will share with you today what constitutes true FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee.

History of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

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

Jamaica Certified Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee Region

The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica, at an altitude of 1000-1700m. Only Blue Mountain coffee grown in this region can be considered authentic Blue Mountain coffee. Because the mountain is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days when the sun shines directly on the azure sea surface, the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater, hence its name.

Blue Mountain is located in the coffee cultivation belt, with fertile volcanic soil, fresh air, no pollution, humid climate, and year-round fog and rain (average precipitation of 1980mm, temperature around 27°C). Such climate has created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. The Jamaica government certified authentic Blue Mountain coffee region refers to four eastern administrative districts: St. Andrew, St. Thomas, St. Mary, and Portland. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Mountain and natural processed Blue Mountain both come from the Clifton Mountain Estate within Jamaica's certified Blue Mountain coffee region. Clifton Mountain Estate is also the only one in the Blue Mountain cultivation area with Rainforest Alliance certification. Rainforest Alliance certification means: traditional cultivation methods using native forest shade, beneficial to protecting the ecosystem. Part of the alliance's revenue is also used for wildlife protection in tropical rainforest reserves, improving workers' living conditions, etc.

Why Did Japan Have Priority Purchasing Rights for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee in the Past?

In 1950, the Jamaica government established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, which set quality standards for Jamaica coffee and supervised the implementation of these standards to ensure the quality of Jamaica coffee. The board issues special official seals for Jamaica's exported green coffee and roasted coffee. Because Japanese loans were used to improve production quality, the Blue Mountain coffee market was guaranteed. Until 2009, Jamaica ended Japan's priority purchasing rights. In April 2011, the first batch of Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee arrived in mainland China.

Jamaica Coffee Industry Board CIB

Jamaica is the only country in the world with a government coffee management organization—the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (abbreviated as CIB), under the Jamaica Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. CIB's functions include cultivation technology guidance, processing training, fair trade, quality supervision, and other matters related to the quality and brand of Jamaica Blue Mountain. CIB 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 an area of 50 hectares or more).

CIB stipulates that only Blue Mountain coffee produced in Jamaica Blue Mountain regions above 2200 feet can be called Jamaica Blue Mountain. Its grades are divided according to bean size into NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and manually selected PB. Among them, the basic standards for FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 green beans are beans above 17 screen, defect rate below 3%, moisture content around 13%, etc. Currently, all exported Blue Mountain coffee on the market requires a certificate issued by CIB.

How to Identify True FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

1. Designated export company by the National Coffee Board 2. The only region that uses wooden barrels to pack green beans. FrontStreet Coffee wants to remind you to pay attention to two misconceptions when purchasing Jamaica Blue Mountain:

One is that many businesses will roast coffee beans from other regions or multiple varieties slightly darker to make them lose their flavor characteristics and approximate Blue Mountain coffee flavor. These businesses play word games, labeling non-Blue Mountain coffee beans as "Blue Mountain style coffee." Due to the high popularity of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, many counterfeit coffees have appeared on the market, such as: Blue Mountain style coffee, Blue Mountain blend coffee, or directly called Blue Mountain coffee. However, these are blended coffees created by industry professionals simulating the taste of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee by mixing various coffee beans themselves, which may not contain a single genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee bean.

Another is that some practitioners' understanding of Blue Mountain still remains from more than 10 years ago, believing that all genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee was bought by Japan, and what is sold in China is not genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee. In fact, due to China's huge market demand, Blue Mountain has been normally imported for several years. In recent years, owners of Blue Mountain coffee plantations have also visited China to further let Chinese consumers understand Blue Mountain coffee beans. Blue Mountain in the Chinese market is not so rare that it's everywhere fake. Today's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee production area is larger than before, and Japan's consumption power has weakened recently, so genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is also sold in China. As long as you know how to identify it, you can buy genuine products.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Before 2019, Blue Mountain coffee from Clifton Farm always used the washed method to process green coffee beans. During processing, the skin and pulp are first removed, then fermented for 12-18 hours. The completed fermented beans are then placed in pools, moved back and forth, using the friction of the beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until smooth and clean. After washing, the coffee beans are still wrapped in parchment with a moisture content of 50%, and must be sun-dried to reduce moisture content to 12-14%, otherwise they will continue to ferment, become moldy and rot. Afterwards, the coffee beans are screened and then stored in specialized warehouses.

In the 2020 new harvest season, Clifton Farm launched natural processed Blue Mountain coffee beans for the first time, which is truly novel. Jamaica has a tropical rainforest climate, with rainy seasons from May to June and September to November each year, with the most showers in January and May. The harvest and processing season for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is from February to June each year, with half of this time during the rainy season, making natural processing clearly impractical. Additionally, traditional natural processing results in unstable coffee quality, with coffee quality entirely dependent on weather conditions. Furthermore, to achieve better quality natural processing, labor costs are higher than washed and other processing methods. When coffee fruits are naturally dried on drying beds, they need to be manually turned every few hours to maintain ventilation, reduce mold growth, and ensure even drying. Such a labor-intensive and unrewarding processing method was even more difficult to implement in Jamaica at that time.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee Green Bean Analysis

First, observe FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee green beans. Whether natural or washed, the beans are very full, with uniform screen sizes, slightly pointed at both ends, oval in shape. When viewed from the side, the bean body is flat and thin, characteristic of pure Typica variety. FrontStreet Coffee's natural processed Blue Mountain coffee beans appear yellow-green in color with more silver skin; while FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Mountain coffee beans are blue-green with less silver skin. This is because washed beans have been soaked in water for a long time during processing, separating the silver skin from the coffee beans. When the parchment is finally removed, the outer silver skin is peeled off along with it, leaving very little residual silver skin on the surface of washed green beans.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Roasting Experience

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Blue Mountain Coffee:

Heat the roaster to 170°C, add beans, set airflow to 3. After 1 minute, reduce heat to 140°C, keep airflow unchanged. At 5'10", temperature reaches 153°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 115°C, change airflow to 4. At the 8'00" minute, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma 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. At 8'12", first crack begins, reduce heat to 90°C, open airflow fully (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that cracking stops), and discharge at 201.3°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Process Blue Mountain Coffee:

Heat roaster to 165°C, add beans, set heat to 130, airflow to 3. Return to temperature at 1'32", when roaster temperature is 95.8°C, keep heat unchanged. At 3 minutes, adjust airflow to 4. At 4 minutes, increase heat to 140. At 6'30", bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 8'36", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma 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. At 10'06", first crack begins, develop for 3 minutes after first crack, discharge at 198.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s barista typically uses 200ml ceramic cupping bowls, marked with 150ml and 200ml measurement lines. According to SCAA standards, water TDS is around 150ppm. Too low TDS can easily cause over-extraction, while too high TDS affects mouthfeel and can cause under-extraction. Cupping water temperature is 94°C. Cupping grind size follows SCAA cupping standards, with grind size controlled to pass through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85mm) at a rate of 70%-75%. Ratio: 11 grams of coffee powder to 200ml of hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, which extracts concentration within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%. Steeping time: 4 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Blue Mountain Coffee Cupping:

Dry aroma: Roasted peanuts, hazelnuts, cantaloupe, chocolate

Wet aroma: Oolong tea, caramel, honey, chocolate, almonds

Flavor: Roasted nuts, chocolate, almonds, cantaloupe, honey, balanced sweet, sour, and bitter

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Process Blue Mountain Coffee Cupping:

Dry aroma: Nuts, woody

Wet aroma: Caramel

Flavor: Berries, smoked plums, mulberries, dark cocoa, nuts, slight fermentation sensation

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Experience

Filter: Kono

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind size: Medium-coarse (No. 20 standard sieve 75% pass-through)

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented brewing method: 30g water for bloom for 30 seconds, then small water flow slowly circles from center outward to add 100g water, showing 130g on the electronic scale. Then wait until the coffee bed drops to 1/2 level, then pour 65g water with large flow, reaching total water weight of 195g. After all coffee liquid from the filter drips into the lower server, remove the filter to end extraction. Total brewing time is 1 minute 50 seconds.

[FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Process Jamaica Blue Mountain] Entry has brown sugar sweetness accompanied by berry acidity, with nut and cocoa flavors in the middle to back end, creamy texture, rich and distinct layers, with a finish revealing walnut aroma.

[FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Jamaica Blue Mountain] Entry has dark chocolate and nut flavors, high cleanliness, very bright, good body, balanced sweet, sour, and bitter.

Comparing these two FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No. 1 varieties, FrontStreet Coffee's natural process Blue Mountain has stronger flavor layers, and its sweetness and acidity provide a very comfortable feeling; while FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Mountain maintains the classic Blue Mountain characteristic taste—那种一口到底顺滑、明亮和醇厚. The delicate balance of sweet, sour, and bitter is breathtaking.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473