Which Blue Mountain Coffee Brand is Authentic? The Distinctive Balanced and Rich Flavor of Genuine Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

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Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee enjoys immense recognition, and even those outside the coffee circle have heard about its premium pricing. Previously, friends who came to FrontStreet Coffee to purchase Blue Mountain coffee beans asked: why is Blue Mountain coffee so expensive?

FrontStreet Coffee believes there are two reasons for the high price of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. On one hand, Jamaica's annual coffee production is relatively low, typically maintaining between 1,200-2,400 tons, with Blue Mountain coffee accounting for only about 40%, roughly 300-600 tons. On the other hand, before 2009, Japan had priority purchasing rights for Blue Mountain coffee beans, monopolizing over 80% of them. However, after 2009, the Jamaican government ended Japan's priority purchasing rights. Even so, Blue Mountain coffee bean prices remain high due to continuous disasters in Jamaica's coffee-growing regions, including pests, diseases, typhoons, and leaf rust, which have caused Jamaica's coffee production to decline, driving Blue Mountain coffee prices to soar.

Of course, this is also related to the flavor profile of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans. Authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans, when brewed, produce a highly distinctive flavor with exceptional clarity and brightness, excellent body, and a perfect balance of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, making Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee world-famous. Authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is only grown in the Blue Mountains, and only coffee beans grown at altitudes between 1,000-1,700 meters can be called authentic Blue Mountain coffee beans. The Blue Mountain No.1 coffee offered by FrontStreet Coffee comes from this region.

Is there genuine Blue Mountain coffee available in China?

If we enter the keyword "Blue Mountain" in a search engine, numerous articles about how to identify authentic Blue Mountain will appear. Indeed, due to Blue Mountain coffee's international fame, many unscrupulous merchants use the Blue Mountain name to sell lower-quality commercial coffee as authentic, resulting in numerous fake Blue Mountain products on the market. The most common ones include phrases like "Blue Mountain flavor," "Blue Mountain blend," or "Blue Mountain instant," which actually have no connection to genuine Blue Mountain coffee.

Although there are many fake Blue Mountain products in China, this doesn't mean genuine Blue Mountain coffee doesn't exist. In fact, China has records of directly importing Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica as early as April 2011. At that time, Zhejiang DUNN'S RIVER Import and Export Trading Company, representing the "Hangzhou Coffee and Western Restaurant Association," purchased a total of 1,000*70kg bags for two million US dollars. Today, Jamaica also highly values the Chinese market, and the names of many authorized exporters in China can be found on the CIB official website.

FrontStreet Coffee's house-roasted Blue Mountain No.1 coffee is produced by Jamaica's Clifton Estate and comes with quality certification from the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, an authorized sales certificate from the Blue Mountain coffee manufacturer, and a certificate of origin for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. The Dongshankou store also displays the oak barrel containing Blue Mountain green beans, which doubles as a small table for guests when the store is full, adding a unique charm.

Why is genuine Blue Mountain so expensive?

Blue Mountain coffee was once hailed as the Hermes of the coffee world. Authentic Blue Mountain allows one to taste rich, dense, and lasting chocolate and roasted hazelnut aromas, while achieving a perfect balance of acidity, sweetness, bitterness, aroma, and body. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Blue Mountain coffee's high reputation is inseparable from the careful management and strict grading by Jamaican growers.

Blue Mountain possesses unique terroir conditions, and the combination of various factors makes it the perfect space for growing coffee. However, as an agricultural product, coffee's final aroma is influenced by variety, altitude, harvesting, and processing methods.

In the growing regions officially designated by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB), only Typica variety coffee grown at altitudes between 910-1,700 meters can be called authentic "Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee." Typica needs to be grown in high-altitude environments for its flavor characteristics to be more prominent. Additionally, the Typica variety has poor disease resistance and is highly susceptible to disease, coupled with low fruit yield per plant, requiring more human care and attention. Furthermore, the terrain at Blue Mountain's high altitudes is not flat, making management and harvesting very difficult. This places high demands on the skill level of harvesting personnel, further affecting production. In recent years, less than 15% of coffee beans produced in Jamaica can be labeled as Blue Mountain coffee, approximately 900 tons.

Many friends have probably heard the rumor: "All authentic Blue Mountain coffee has been monopolized by Japan." This statement is not without basis. UCC is a Japanese coffee company, formerly known as Ueshima Coffee Co., Ltd., which established a farm in Jamaica in 1981 to operate the Blue Mountain coffee project. Jamaica promised to sell 90% of its Blue Mountain coffee quota to Japan, coupled with Japan's vigorous promotion of Blue Mountain, creating the phenomenon of high prices and difficulty in obtaining Blue Mountain coffee. Today, with the flourishing development of coffee culture, enjoying a cup of Blue Mountain coffee is no longer difficult. At FrontStreet Coffee, for just 60 yuan, you can enjoy a cup of the highest grade Blue Mountain No.1 pour-over black coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee - Jamaican Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee Beans

Farm: Clifton Estate

Owner: The Sharp family

Certificate: Rainforest Alliance Certification

Location: Newcastle region

Total area: 250 acres

Coffee cultivation area: 180 acres

Altitude: 1,310 meters

Processing method: Washed

Variety: 100% Arabica Typica

Roast level: Medium-dark

Compared to other coffee-producing regions, Jamaica was one of the first countries to recognize that coffee has "regional flavor." Local standards for evaluating Blue Mountain green bean quality cover multiple categories: bean size specifications, defect rate, color, uniformity, and cupping performance after roasting (including dry fragrance, wet aroma, acidity, flavor, body, cleanliness, etc.).

Bean specifications are determined using various screens with different hole sizes; coffee beans that do not pass through the holes meet the standard. Color evaluation includes both visual observation and colorimeter readings, with blue-green being the highest grade. Based on these various standards, Blue Mountain coffee is divided into 4 grades, from highest to lowest: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, PB, and blends. NO.1 is the highest grade premium Blue Mountain, known in China as "Blue Mountain No.1." Blue Mountain No.1 must meet specifications of 17 mesh or larger, defect rate below 3%, moisture content around 13%, and exhibit rich coffee aroma in cupping, with smooth, balanced flavor, low acidity, and persistent aftertaste.

For roasting, the CIB also has recommendations for roast levels that highlight Blue Mountain's classic flavor profile. FrontStreet Coffee's roasters follow this guidance, using medium roast to allow Blue Mountain No.1 coffee to showcase both rich chocolate sweetness while retaining appropriate soft fruit acidity.

How to appreciate FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1?

FrontStreet Coffee aims to highlight the rich, rounded texture of Blue Mountain No.1 coffee and uses a KONO coffee filter for extraction. The KONO's ribs are less than half the height of the filter, a design actually intended to ensure the filter adheres closely to the filter wall after wetting, limiting airflow. This increases the water absorption time of the coffee grounds, resulting in more uniform extraction overall.

Brewing parameters: 15g coffee, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, grind size: EK43s setting 10.5 (75% retention rate on China No.20 standard sieve), water temperature: 87-88°C, brewing method: segmented extraction.

Place the filter paper in the KONO filter, pour water to wet the filter paper while making it fit better. Pour in the coffee grounds and tap gently to distribute the powder layer evenly. For the first segment, gently pour 30g of water for blooming, with a blooming time of 30 seconds. For the second segment, pour water to about 125g, moving in even, steady outward circles. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it drops to half, pour the final segment of water to 225g. After waiting for all the coffee to drip through, the total extraction time is generally about 2 minutes.

When the coffee enters the mouth, FrontStreet Coffee first experiences an extreme balance in flavor, with acidity, sweetness, and bitterness in perfect proportions, complementing each other. This is followed by traditional coffee flavors of dark chocolate, nuts, and cream, which are prominent yet not harsh, very gentle. Then comes the texture—Blue Mountain is not as wild as Mandheling; it is rich and smooth. Finally, there's the aftertaste from swallowing, long and persistent, with careful tasting revealing that rumored elegant fragrance. Overall, it's truly very comfortable to drink~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473