Coffee Bean Origin and Flavor Profile - Introduction to Growing Conditions and Flavor Characteristics of Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee - Jamaica True Blue Mountain Coffee

For many people, the first impression of coffee began with Jamaica Blue Mountain. In the years before specialty coffee took hold, Jamaica Blue Mountain was consistently held up as a symbol of the world's finest coffee. Island-style coffee houses and the many stories told about it gave Blue Mountain an air of nobility and rarity, which only sharpened people's curiosity.

Jamaica Coffee Grades and Growing Regions

Jamaican coffee falls into three classifications: Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans and Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans. Under the standards of the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB), only beans grown on the slopes and summits above 2,200 feet in the Jamaica Blue Mountain range may be called Jamaica Blue Mountain. Beans are then screened by shape and size into three grades - NO.1, NO.2 and NO.3 - plus PB (Peaberry, the round bean). Blue Mountain coffee is spread mainly across five mountainous areas of the range: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak and Blue Mountain Peak.

Pure Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee descends from a mother coffee tree in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. After hundreds of years of cultivation it has not changed, which is why Blue Mountain is expensive: its pure lineage and heritage let you taste both flavor and a trace of history. The variety is Typica, a naturally occurring sub-variety mutation of Arabica. It inherits Arabica's excellent genes and its first-class flavor, aroma and mouthfeel, and this too contributes to the quality of Jamaica Blue Mountain.

Jamaica Blue Mountain itself has a clean, elegant taste, with sweetness, acidity and bitterness in perfect balance and a persistent, distinctive charm rarely found in other coffees. The Blue Mountain No.1 from Jamaica's Silver Hill Estate is the finest of them all, and FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain is precisely the Blue Mountain No.1 from Silver Hill Estate. Coffee grown below 2,200 feet in the Jamaica Blue Mountain region is called High Mountain Coffee, while coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain range is simply called Jamaica Coffee.

Product Details

Product Name: Jamaica Silver Hill Blue Mountain No.1

Grade: Blue Mountain No.1

Estate: Silver Hill

Variety: Typica

Altitude: 4,500 feet / 1,500 meters

Bean Size: 17/18 screen

Density: 830-850

Moisture Content: 10.8-11.4%

Soil: Volcanic ash soil

Processing Method: Traditional washed processing

Additional Knowledge

The highest peak of the Blue Mountains reaches 2,256 meters, making it the tallest point in the Caribbean and a well-known tourist destination. The area lies in an earthquake zone, with fertile volcanic soil, clean unpolluted air, a humid climate, fog and rain through much of the year, average precipitation of 1,980 mm and an average temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. These conditions created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee.

Conclusion

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research center dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share everything without reservation to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month we run three coffee events with low discounts, because FrontStreet Coffee wants more friends to enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible price. That has been our mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If that classic, perfectly balanced profile is what you are after, FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is our top-grade lot and the clearest expression of it. Sourced from the historic Clifton Mount Estate, which has been growing and processing coffee since roughly 1750, it is grown at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters) - generous elevation, mild afternoon cloud shading the hillsides, ample sunshine and mineral-rich soil that together slow the ripening of the cherries.

The beans are fully certified with origin documentation, and our listings show the original shipping barrels alongside the paperwork; traditional Blue Mountain travels in wooden barrels of 15, 45 and 70 kilograms, and the barrel itself is a mark of authenticity. We roast medium-dark and ship within five days of roasting, so the coffee arrives at full flavor. In the cup it is very clean, complex and gentle, with chocolate sweetness and a strong body, the sweet, tart and bitter notes in perfect harmony, hardly any bitterness, a measured and elegant acidity, and a long fruit finish.