Flavor Profile, Taste Characteristics, Brand Pricing of Blue Mountain Coffee Beans and How to Identify Authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Introduction to Blue Mountain Coffee Origin

Blue Mountain Coffee refers to coffee brewed from coffee beans grown at high altitudes in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. It is categorized by grade into Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee and Jamaica High Mountain Coffee. The Blue Mountains are located in the eastern part of Jamaica Island. The mountains get their name because when the weather is clear, the sun shines directly on the azure Caribbean Sea, and the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light from the seawater. The highest peak of Blue Mountain reaches 2,256 meters, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination.

This area is located in a seismic zone with fertile volcanic soil, fresh air, no pollution, and a humid climate with year-round fog and rain (average precipitation of 1,980 mm, temperature around 27°C). Such climate conditions have created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, as well as the world's second most expensive coffee (the first being Kopi Luwak).

Characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans possess very high quality. From the appearance of the beans, each coffee bean is full and uniform, with large particles, which is extremely beneficial for roasting. Taking FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Mountain Coffee as an example, the roasted Blue Mountain coffee beans have uniform color and emit a very aromatic toast and roasted almond fragrance. The taste is rich and mellow, and because the coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, it drinks smoothly without being sour or bitter.

All of this originates from the Jamaican government's coffee revival plan in the 1950s.

In 1950, the Jamaican government established the Coffee Industry Board, which set quality standards for Jamaican coffee and supervised the implementation of these standards to ensure the quality of Jamaican coffee. The board grants special official seals to both raw and roasted coffee exported from Jamaica. Because Japanese loans were used to improve production quality, market access was guaranteed.

In terms of cultivation, Jamaica grows the pure Typica variety introduced in the 18th century. Due to Jamaica's island environment with limited external contact, it successfully avoided the global coffee leaf rust disaster of the 19th century, allowing the Typica coffee trees here to be preserved. In processing, Jamaica was one of the first regions to use washed processing technology. Using washed processing greatly improves coffee quality, which is why Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans have such high quality.

Because Japan has continuously invested in Jamaica's coffee industry, Blue Mountain Coffee is mostly controlled by the Japanese, who also have priority purchasing rights for Blue Mountain beans. 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. This once created a situation where "90% of Blue Mountain Coffee beans were contracted by the Japanese, while other places could only obtain 10%." Therefore, regardless of price, Blue Mountain Coffee is always in short supply. For the Japanese, their love for Blue Mountain remains extremely enthusiastic, as evidenced by the ubiquitous presence of Japanese UCC even on Blue Mountain coffee farms in Jamaica.

After the contract between the two parties expired, it coincided with the global economic crisis. Japan's economy was sluggish, purchasing power declined, and Jamaican coffee farmers were unwilling to let Japanese businessmen monopolize the market, so they significantly raised the prices of raw coffee beans. Currently, Japan's purchase of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee has dropped from the previous 90% to less than 60%. In today's era of flourishing coffee culture, our country has long been able to directly import Blue Mountain coffee beans from Jamaica.

How to Identify Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee Beans?

Because Blue Mountain Coffee holds an extremely high status in the coffee world, many counterfeit Blue Mountain-style coffees have appeared on the market. Perhaps you have drunk Blue Mountain Coffee, but genuine Blue Mountain Coffee is actually very difficult to identify.

FrontStreet Coffee has concluded that fake Blue Mountain on the market generally falls into two categories. The first type uses edge-cutting names. These coffees are generally labeled as "Blue Mountain Flavor Coffee," "Blue Mountain Blend Coffee," or "Blue Mountain Mixed Coffee." When you see these names, you can immediately determine this is fake Blue Mountain, usually made with coffee beans from Brazil, Colombia, or Indonesia.

The second type is genuine counterfeit, using non-Blue Mountain coffee beans to impersonate Blue Mountain coffee beans. Strictly speaking, according to CIB standards, only coffee grown above 910 meters (3,000 feet) can be called Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, and it must be centrally purchased and processed by one of the four legally designated estates certified by the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board (CIB). The worse scenario is using other coffee beans as Blue Mountain beans, while a milder case is using coffee from outside the core Blue Mountain area of Jamaica as Blue Mountain coffee beans. In this situation, you need to check for certification.

Below are three key points including designated export companies by the National Coffee Board, the only region using wooden barrels for raw beans, and authorization certificate certification.

1. Genuine Blue Mountain Coffee is exported by companies designated by the National Coffee Board.

Some authentic Blue Mountain No.1 in the Chinese market are mainly exported to China through direct branches from Japan, Australia, and Europe. According to 2013 statistics from the International Coffee Organization (ICO), Japan accounted for 85% of the allocation, while the United States, Europe, and other countries each accounted for 5%.

ICO statistics show that China accounts for 15% of Blue Mountain Coffee consumption. It's worth noting that limited Blue Mountain No.1 is mostly allocated to Japan, the United States, and Europe. Among these, because Japan invested in Jamaica's coffee industry, most Blue Mountain Coffee was bought up by Japan. In 1992, Jamaica sold 688 tons of Blue Mountain Coffee to Japan, 75 tons to the United States, and only 59 tons to the United Kingdom.

In 2005, Jamaica's Minister of Agriculture announced that Blue Mountain Coffee should be roasted in Jamaica, so through direct quota allocation, it tends to flow directly from Jamaica to consuming countries. This allocation system has been approved by the Jamaican Coffee Board (CIB). (PS: The board members of CIB are estate owners who own a certain scale of coffee plantations in Jamaica.)

In addition, the officially registered Logo of the Jamaican Coffee Board is used for the certification and inspection of exported Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. The BLUEMOUNTAINCOFFEE trademark is the symbol on the outer packaging of authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

And in 2022, our country has already established significant direct trade with Jamaica. For example, most of the Blue Mountain coffee beans from Clifton Farm and Silver Hill Estate are exported to our country. Therefore, if you see that the coffee introduction information is from these estates, the credibility greatly increases.

2. Genuine Blue Mountain Coffee is the only coffee region that uses wooden barrels for raw beans.

Blue Mountain Coffee is the only coffee region among all coffees that still uses wooden barrels for raw beans. All other coffee exports use burlap sacks.

During the British colonial period in the mid-18th century, flour transported from Britain to Jamaica left behind empty barrels, which were then used to transport coffee and rum to isolate the coffee aroma and ensure coffee quality. The wooden barrels used today are made from wood from temperate forests in the United States.

3. Certificate Certification

(1) Quality certificate issued by the Jamaican Coffee Board

(2) Authorized sales certificate issued by Blue Mountain Coffee manufacturers. (Blue Mountain Coffee is distributed by 4 Jamaican government-approved processing manufacturers and exported by 16 licensed exporters)

(3) Certificate of origin for Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Taking FrontStreet Coffee as an example, FrontStreet Coffee has an authorized sales certificate issued by Blue Mountain Coffee manufacturers. Consumers who want to determine whether this is genuine Blue Mountain Coffee can ask the store whether they have original wooden barrels, certificates, and other proof.

Why Does FrontStreet Coffee Use Blue Mountain Coffee from Clifton Farm?

Clifton Estate is the oldest coffee estate in Jamaica, and only Clifton Farm in Jamaica has the "(RFA) Rainforest Alliance" certification mark.

Only those that meet the "Sustainable Agriculture System Standards" can obtain certification, and their wooden barrels bear the Rainforest Alliance certification mark.

In addition, the Jamaican Coffee Board (CIB) has authorized Wallenford, Jablum, Silver Hill, and Moy Hall as the four designated coffee estates to centrally process Blue Mountain coffee beans. All outer packaging of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee indicates the name of the processing estate. Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, established in 1923, is the largest Blue Mountain Coffee estate, and its wooden barrels are printed with M.B.C.F. At the same time, Blue Mountain coffee beans from Clifton Farm were also among the first batch imported to mainland China.

Blue Mountain Coffee Price

Many friends know that Blue Mountain Coffee is very precious, but don't know the actual price of Blue Mountain Coffee. In fact, Blue Mountain Coffee is significantly more expensive than ordinary coffee beans, but in today's "Geisha era," the price of Blue Mountain coffee beans is still reasonable. Taking FrontStreet Coffee's retail price as an example, FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 coffee beans are priced at 158 yuan/100g for roasted beans, which is even cheaper than the famous estate's Geisha coffee beans today. If you want to drink a cup of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain pour-over coffee in a coffee shop, it's only 60 yuan.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

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