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FrontStreet Coffee · Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Standards and Coffee Bean Prices

The History and Development of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

In recent years, the Jamaican government's efforts have mainly focused on increasing coffee production and establishing central coffee processing plants to clarify the processing and green bean grading of Blue Mountain coffee. While these measures have indeed improved quality, they have not been entirely successful. In 1943, Jamaica's largest coffee buyer at the time, Canada, still could not accept this quality. In 1944, the Jamaican government established a central coffee [water] processing plant, where all coffee intended for export had to be sent for processing and grading. Since then, the quality of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee exported from Jamaica has gradually improved. In June 1950, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board was established, formally making the state responsible for the quality of exported coffee beans. Currently, there are five government-certified 100% Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee processing plants: Wallenford, Mavis Bank, Old Tavern, Silver Hill, and Moy Hall.

Characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee possesses all the characteristics of excellent coffee. Not only is it rich and mellow in flavor, but because the coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, it has no bitter taste at all, with only moderate and perfect acidity. It is generally consumed as a single-origin coffee, but due to its extremely limited production and exorbitant price, it is typically prepared with coffee of similar taste in the market.

Production Process of Blue Mountain Coffee

Therefore, today, the harvest period for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is from June to November. Generally, hand-picking methods are used. After picking, the coffee beans undergo water washing, pulping, fermentation, dehydration, sun-drying, hulling, and roasting processes before becoming roasted Blue Mountain coffee beans. During the green bean processing, each step has dedicated personnel responsible for quality supervision.

Packaging and Quality Certification

For the extremely precious Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, the Jamaican government also uses distinctive packaging and transportation methods. Unlike other coffees that are packaged and transported in cloth bags of 60kg/bag, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is packaged and transported in wooden barrels at a standard of 70kg/barrel.

Jamaica is also the last country that still uses traditional wooden barrels for packaging and transporting coffee. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans must obtain a quality certification issued by the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board, which is also the only institution in Jamaica authorized to issue such certificates. Additionally, for each batch exported, dedicated quality supervision experts are responsible for sampling, roasting, grinding, and brewing the coffee before making a final judgment on whether it meets standards. Due to its expensive price, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee has a relatively fixed consumer group, with its sales主要集中在为 Japan, followed by some European and American countries.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans are full and plump, slightly larger than average beans. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee has a very delicate flavor, with balanced and strong acidity, aroma, richness, and sweetness, with a slight bitterness, harmonious taste, and excellent flavor, making it suitable for single-origin coffee. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roast (Medium Roast) for its Blue Mountain coffee, which maximally preserves the original flavor of the coffee while enhancing its aftertaste.

Market Challenges and Authenticity Issues

With the improvement of China's coffee consumption market, numerous coffee shops have begun to offer "Blue Mountain Coffee," often at prices only a fraction or one-tenth of authentic Blue Mountain coffee. In 2005, under the guidance of Taiwanese coffee merchants, Chinese media began to pay attention to and report on the authenticity issues of Blue Mountain coffee. To date, due to its price and the supply volume in the mainland market, authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee remains out of reach for most Chinese consumers.

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee's ability to maintain its premium status today is inseparable from local business policies. In 1932, Jamaica passed policies encouraging coffee production to reduce the island's dependence on sugar exports. Unlike most coffee-producing countries that increased production by planting large quantities of high-yield but low-quality coffee, the local government prioritized quality, willing to sacrifice yield to ensure quality. Therefore, Jamaica is one of the countries with the lowest coffee production volume in the world. The world's largest coffee-exporting country, Brazil, produces 30 million bags of coffee annually, while Blue Mountain coffee produces only about 40,000 bags per year. Currently, very few authentic Blue Mountain coffee beans can be found in "Blue Mountain style" coffees on the market. There is a "Jamaican Blend Blue Mountain" coffee made from 30% Blue Mountain coffee and 70% of the best Jamaican high mountain coffee. Both of the aforementioned coffees attempt to imitate Blue Mountain coffee but cannot achieve perfection.

The "Cold Reception" in the United States

The "cold reception" of Blue Mountain coffee in the United States is related to American habits.

Since the 1970s, flavored coffee has gradually become popular. It involves adding spices to coffee beans or adding coffee creamer to brewed coffee. There are hundreds of types of flavored coffee. Most flavored coffees are made from relatively inexpensive coffee beans. When Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee costs about $80 per pound, Maxwell coffee costs only $3 per pound.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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