Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee | How Does Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Taste | Blue Mountain Coffee

What is Blue Mountain Coffee?

The "Blue Mountain" is a mountain in Jamaica. Thanks to its superb climate, it is an outstanding coffee origin, and for that reason genuine Blue Mountain Coffee is regarded as a specialty coffee.

Certification and Rarity

Not all coffee grown on the Blue Mountain is called Blue Mountain Coffee, however. Only coffee from a specific altitude range is certified, and annual production is extremely limited. Most people never get the chance to taste authentic Blue Mountain Coffee.

Jamaica: The Birthplace

Any discussion of Blue Mountain Coffee has to start with Jamaica. A small tropical island nation in the Caribbean, Jamaica has a humid, rainy climate that gives its eastern mountains ideal conditions for high-quality coffee, and the Blue Mountain is among them. Encircled by the Caribbean Sea, the mountain takes its name from the way its peaks reflect the brilliant blue of the sea when sunlight strikes the water on a clear day.

The Prestige of Blue Mountain Coffee

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee holds a place in the coffee world akin to Rolls-Royce among cars or Patek Philippe among watches. Its devotees even call it "the coffee beauty that combines all the advantages of good coffee."

The Reality Behind the Market

Being a beauty, it is not easy to come by. In 2013, CCTV's economic channel produced a special report claiming that all Blue Mountain Coffee in the Chinese market was fake. They interviewed Jamaica's Ambassador to China, Courtnay Rattray, who explained that Blue Mountain production is extremely low, with 85-90% of it monopolized by Japan, 10% supplied to the European and American markets, and essentially none exported to China. Most Beijing cafes claim to import raw Blue Mountain beans from Jamaica and roast them in-house, but Ambassador Rattray stated that Jamaica had not, at that point, directly exported raw beans to China at all, making the claim of importing raw beans to roast domestically obviously untrue.

Taste Profile

So how does Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee taste? FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaican Blue Mountain offers a rich, balanced, and smooth mouthfeel with a delicate fruit acidity, alongside flavors of chocolate, nuts, and caramel.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste the real thing, look for the top grade: FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1. It comes from the long-established Clifton Estate, and the bean is a Typica roasted to a medium-dark level that fully expresses Blue Mountain's signature balance. In the cup you can taste nut, dark chocolate, and cream caramel unfolding over a gentle sweetness, with acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and aroma in complete harmony. It is equally at home brewed as a pour-over, in a moka pot, or as espresso, and its even, approachable character is exactly why so many in the industry call Blue Mountain the coffee most people find easiest to love. Balanced, clean, and refined, it remains the benchmark for classic specialty coffee.