What are the different coffee bean varieties and why is Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee so expensive?

FrontStreet Coffee's Introduction to Three Major Coffee Varieties and Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Prices

The Three Major Coffee Varieties

The three primary native species are Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Arabica leads in production, accounting for roughly 60-70% of the world's coffee, and it includes sub-varieties such as Bourbon and Typica. Robusta accounts for about 30-40% of world production. Liberica makes up less than 1% of the total and is grown mostly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Liberica Coffee

Liberica, also called large bean coffee, has extraordinary vitality, but its flavor and its resistance to leaf rust are both weak. It represents less than 1% of cultivation and has essentially withdrawn from the commercial market, kept alive only for scientific research. That is why the rest of this article focuses on Arabica.

Arabica Coffee

Arabica's excellent flavor and aroma make it the only species among the three that can be consumed on its own and enjoyed straight. Single-origin coffees such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Indonesia Mandheling, Yirgacheffe, and Brazilian coffee all belong to this category. Typica is a derivative of Arabica, and the famous Jamaica Blue Mountain falls within it.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Production

Pure Jamaica Blue Mountain blends coffee's sour, bitter, sweet, and mellow dimensions into a seamless whole, producing an elegant aroma with moderate character. The trees all grow on rugged mountain slopes, which makes harvesting extremely difficult, and only skilled local women can manage the work. Selecting perfectly ripe cherries at harvest is critical, since underripe or overripe beans will drag down quality. Once picked, the beans must be hulled the same day and then fermented for 12-18 hours.

After fermenting, the beans are washed and screened. Drying comes next, on concrete floors or thick blankets, until moisture content falls to 12-14%. They are then stored in dedicated warehouses and taken out only when needed, for roasting and then grinding. Every one of these steps has to be controlled strictly, or quality will suffer.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Growing Region and Market

The Jamaica Blue Mountain region has a tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall and ample sunlight, giving the beans favorable growing conditions. Japan's long-standing investment in Jamaica's coffee industry is the second factor: Blue Mountain is largely controlled by Japanese interests, which also hold priority purchasing rights. In 1992 Jamaica sold 688 tons of Blue Mountain to Japan, 75 tons to the United States, and 59 tons to the United Kingdom, and 90% of Blue Mountain is bought by the Japanese. Since the rest of the world can access only the remaining 10%, Blue Mountain is always in short supply, at any price.

Jamaica Blue Mountain

Origin: Jamaica

Estate: Silver Hill Estate

Flavor: A very subtle blend of sour, sweet, bitter, umami, aromatic, and mellow notes. Fragrant, smooth, and rich, with even sweetness, a harmonious mouthfeel, and excellent overall flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Typica is the bridge between Blue Mountain and the rest of the Arabica world, and Ethiopia, where the species began, is the best place to taste it in a different light. FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe is the natural starting point: white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, a light, elegant, tea-like body, and a clean finish that drinks like lemon tea. It comes from a town in southern Ethiopia inside the Sidamo zone at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1,800 meters, which makes the area one of the highest coffee regions in the world.

From there the range widens. The washed Gedingding cooperative coffee from Worka in southeastern Yirgacheffe shows citrus and lemon with elegant white florals, because the fruit is stripped before drying and the varietal aromatics come through more clearly. The Red Cherry natural is built from fully ripe, defect-free fruit dried whole on raised beds for three to five weeks, turned every two to three hours at the start, and it brings citrus acidity, juicy berry, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy texture. For a different terroir entirely, the natural Hambella Huakui from Guji in Sidamo rests on raised beds for 21 days and shows light fermented wine, florals, citrus, and mango with honeyed sweetness, cocoa, a touch of spice, and a thick, lingering finish. Any of them makes an easy introduction to why Arabica has come to dominate the specialty world.