Which Brand of Blue Mountain Coffee Tastes Best? Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans Pour-over Parameters, Flavor Characteristics and Taste Description

We have always said that FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee is excellent, with an exceptionally mellow flavor, making it a standout among specialty coffees. However, for friends unfamiliar with coffee, this might not mean much. Blue Mountain coffee is actually quite famous, especially among coffee lovers who understand its prestigious position in the coffee world. Today, FrontStreet Coffee invites you to explore Blue Mountain coffee with us!

Blue Mountain coffee is one of the most expensive coffees in the world. Some might compare it to Geisha, but FrontStreet Coffee believes that while Geisha is certainly delicious, before the millennium, the nobility and aroma of Blue Mountain coffee were unmatched in the world. The flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee is rich, balanced, and fruity with acidity, satisfying various preferences. Additionally, high-quality fresh FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain coffee has an exceptionally lasting flavor—just as wine connoisseurs would say—an endless aftertaste. FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain perfectly blends the unique sour, bitter, sweet, and mellow notes of coffee, creating a powerfully alluring elegance that other coffees cannot match. Blue Mountain coffee enthusiasts call it: "a coffee beauty that combines all the virtues of fine coffee."

We often see many products labeled as "Blue Mountain coffee" on the market. Are these all genuine Blue Mountain coffee? FrontStreet Coffee explains: actually, not all of them can be considered authentic Blue Mountain coffee. The Blue Mountains are located in the eastern part of Jamaica Island, at elevations of 1000-1700m. Only coffee grown in this specific region can be considered authentic Blue Mountain coffee. The Blue Mountains get their name because when the weather is clear, the sun directly hits the azure Caribbean Sea, and the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light from the seawater.

The highest peak of the Blue Mountains reaches 2256 meters, making it the highest peak in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. Located in an earthquake zone, it has fertile volcanic soil, fresh unpolluted air, and a humid climate with year-round fog and rainfall (average precipitation of 1980mm, temperature around 27°C). Such climate conditions have created the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, as well as one of the world's most expensive coffees. This coffee possesses all the characteristics of fine coffee—not only is it rich and aromatic, but due to the perfect balance of sweet, sour, and bitter notes, it has no bitterness at all, only moderate and perfect acidity.

The exceptionally mellow flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee is inseparable from its growing environment. Their coffee trees all grow on rugged mountain slopes, making harvesting extremely difficult—only skilled local women workers can handle this task. Selecting coffee beans at just the right stage of ripeness during harvest is crucial, as underripe or overripe beans will affect coffee quality. After harvesting, coffee beans must be hulled the same day, then fermented for 12-18 hours. Following this, the beans undergo washing and sorting. The next step is drying, which must be done on concrete floors or thick blankets until the coffee bean moisture content drops to 12%-14%. Then they are stored in specialized warehouses.

Not all products labeled "Blue Mountain" are genuine Blue Mountain coffee. Blue Mountain coffee is exported by companies designated by the Coffee Industry Board, packaged in wooden barrels with green beans, and has Rainforest Alliance certification. The CIB stipulates that only Blue Mountain coffee beans grown in the designated Blue Mountain region above 2200 feet can be called Jamaican Blue Mountain. The grades are classified by bean size into NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and hand-selected PB. Among these, the basic standard for NO.1 Blue Mountain green beans includes beans larger than 17 mesh, defect rate below 3%, moisture content around 13%, etc. Currently, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board can issue certificates for all exported Blue Mountain coffee.

The FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No.1 coffee provided by FrontStreet Coffee comes with a certificate issued by the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board. Additionally, the wooden barrels packaging Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans feature a green frog logo. This is because FrontStreet Coffee specifically chose Clifton Farm, a Rainforest Alliance certified estate that produces Jamaican Blue Mountain No.1 coffee. Jamaica is also the only region that uses wooden barrels for packaging green beans.

Blue Mountain Coffee Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans are of the Typica variety. Typica plants have bronze-colored young leaves, oval or pointed slender beans, tall trees with slightly inclined branches at 50-70 degree angles. They offer elegant flavors but have weak physical constitution and poor disease resistance, resulting in very low fruit yield per tree.

Typica trees have a characteristic feature—their leaf tips are copper-colored, earning them the name "red-topped coffee." The opposite leaves of coffee trees are long oval with smooth surfaces, long terminal branches with few side branches. The flowers are white, blooming at the base where leaf stems connect to branches. Mature coffee cherries resemble cherries in appearance and are bright red.

Blue Mountain Coffee Processing Methods

Washed Processing Method:

The washed processing method uses water washing and fermentation to remove the fruit pulp and mucilage. Farms using this method must build washing pools and have access to continuous fresh water. During processing, the fruit pulp is first removed, then fermented for 12-18 hours. The fermented beans are then placed in pools and moved back and forth, using the friction between beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until smooth and clean. After washing, the coffee beans are still enclosed in the parchment layer with a moisture content of 50%, and must be sun-dried to reduce moisture content to 12-14%. Then the coffee beans are sorted and stored in specialized warehouses. These procedures must be strictly controlled; otherwise, coffee quality will be affected.

Natural Processing Method:

In the 2020 new harvest season, Clifton Farm launched natural-processed Blue Mountain coffee beans for the first time, which was quite innovative. Jamaica has a tropical rainforest climate, with rainy seasons from May to June and September to November, with the most frequent showers in January and May. The harvesting and processing season for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee runs from February to June each year, with half of this time overlapping with the rainy season, making natural processing impractical. Additionally, traditional natural processing yields inconsistent quality—coffee quality entirely depends on weather conditions. Furthermore, to achieve high-quality natural processing, labor costs exceed other methods like washed processing. During sun-drying on drying beds, coffee cherries need to be manually raked every few hours to maintain ventilation, reduce mold growth, and ensure even drying. This labor-intensive method with poor cost-benefit ratio was particularly difficult to implement in Jamaica back then.

Actually, the production of this Jamaican natural Blue Mountain coffee has been quite challenging. Previously, only washed processing was used because washing ensures the most essential expression of Blue Mountain flavor. Changing the processing method would inevitably alter its flavor structure.

On FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu, we offer both FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Mountain coffee and natural Blue Mountain coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Brewing Parameter Recommendations:

FrontStreet Coffee primarily uses the Kono dripper for demonstration brewing. FrontStreet Coffee chose the Kono dripper mainly because Blue Mountain coffee uses a dark roast profile, where high temperatures can easily lead to over-extraction. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee selected a water temperature of 88°C. At this temperature, using a V60 dripper or other faster-flowing drippers would likely lead to under-extraction. The Kono has fewer and shorter ribs, which can create a gap between the filter paper and dripper, increasing water residence time and providing an immersion effect. After testing all brewing parameters, FrontStreet Coffee ultimately chose the Kono dripper.

Dripper: Kono dripper, Water Temperature: 88°C, Coffee Dose: 15g, Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15, Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (75% retention rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

Using a segmented extraction approach, bloom with twice the coffee dose in water (30g water for 30 seconds). The blooming process is necessary to allow the coffee grounds to release carbon dioxide from within, making the subsequent extraction more stable. With a small water stream, pour in a circular motion to 125g, then continue pouring to 225g before stopping. Remove the dripper once all water has dripped through. Time the extraction from the start of pouring to 2'00". Then, stir the entire cup of coffee well before pouring into cups for tasting.

FrontStreet Coffee Natural Blue Mountain Coffee: Slight berry acidity reminiscent of dark plum and mulberry, with excellent overall balance, rich dark chocolate and nutty flavors, and a slight fermentation note.

FrontStreet Coffee Washed Blue Mountain Coffee: Rich dark chocolate and nutty flavors, with a creamy smooth texture and perfect balance of sweet, sour, and bitter notes.

Of course, for coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee always recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans to best appreciate the rich flavors of coffee. The coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee when their order arrives. The coffee resting period is around 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind their beans, which is also fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: pre-ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly. Once ground into coffee powder, there's no need for further resting, as the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the package during transportation can help mellow the coffee flavor. Therefore, you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving ground coffee.

However, ground coffee oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning its flavors dissipate relatively fast, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better appreciate the coffee's flavors.

Coffee flavors vary—some are acidic, some bitter, and others are neither acidic nor bitter. For friends who don't like acidity or bitterness, a mellow, balanced flavor might be the first choice. In this case, FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee is undoubtedly the best recommendation. Of course, Blue Mountain coffee is somewhat expensive, as it is one of the world's most expensive coffees. FrontStreet Coffee also offers 8 different FrontStreet Coffee daily coffee beans, each representing the most characteristic flavors from different producing countries, all with excellent value for money! For coffee beginners, starting with these FrontStreet Coffee daily coffees to understand their preferences, then choosing single-origin coffee beans with flavors they like is the best approach!

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473