Is Blue Mountain Coffee Espresso? Blue Mountain Coffee Brewing Parameters Tutorial

FrontStreet Coffee - Blue Mountain Coffee Brewing Tutorial

The preciousness of Blue Mountain Coffee lies in its combination of excellent inherent pedigree and superior post-growing environment. From seed selection, cultivation, harvesting, processing and grading to packaging and export, Blue Mountain Coffee can be considered a model student among coffees.

Coffee grown in the Blue Mountains is not necessarily equivalent to "Blue Mountain Coffee." Only coffee grown at elevations between 1,500 and 5,000 feet qualifies to be called Blue Mountain Coffee. The cool climate in the high mountains extends the maturation period of the coffee. Additionally, the impact of temperature differences between day and night slows down the conversion of starch to sugar in coffee beans, thereby enhancing the rich aroma of the coffee.

Blue Mountain Coffee is the finest coffee in the world. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and topography together provide an ideal location. The mountain range running through Jamaica extends to the eastern part of the small island, with the Blue Mountains reaching over 2,100 meters. The weather is cool, foggy, with frequent precipitation, creating this fertile land with balanced rainwater.

Coffee trees are cultivated here using mixed planting methods, growing alongside banana and avocado trees on terraces. Some small estates also grow coffee. However, even the largest estate owners in this region are considered small-scale by international standards. Many of these estate owners are small landholders whose families have been working for two centuries. Jamaica's coffee industry faces a series of challenges, such as hurricane impacts, rising labor costs, and difficulties in mechanizing terrace farming. Many small estates and farms find it difficult to rationalize their cultivation methods.

Bean Preparation

First, prepare the amount of beans according to your personal needs. Generally, the extraction ratio for pour-over coffee is 1:15 or depends on personal taste requirements - 1:10 or 1:13 are also acceptable. If diluted further, it becomes like tea, with fragrance but the coffee flavor will be lighter. I personally choose 30 grams of beans (if your tools have a scale, you can weigh the beans) to brew 450ml of coffee essence. Place the beans in a grinder - this is considered the preliminary preparation work.

Water Heating

Generally, the water temperature for pour-over coffee should not exceed 90 degrees (personal experience). The higher the water temperature, the faster the extraction speed. Of course, some undesirable flavors may appear at high water temperatures, such as bitterness, which will be more pronounced. Generally, heating the water to between 85-88 degrees is sufficient.

Equipment Preparation

There are many types of filter cups for brewing coffee: fan-shaped, bowl-shaped, and cone-shaped. I generally choose to use the V60 cone-shaped filter cup. The advantage of using this type of filter cup is that the coffee grounds can be extracted evenly, and the blooming will be more uniform, achieving the goal of complete extraction. For pour-over, you need to prepare a filter cup, pour-over kettle, sharing pot, and filter paper. First, fold the edges of the filter paper, open it, and place it inside the filter cup. Then, hold the filter paper with your hand and pour water from the pour-over kettle along the cup wall to wet the filter paper, making it adhere closely to the cup wall, achieving uniform temperature and flat laying in the cup. Then pour out the excess water from the sharing pot.

Brewing Process

Grind the beans in the grinder and pour them into the filter paper in the filter cup. Gently tap the edge of the filter cup to evenly distribute the grounds in the filter cup. Then, aim the spout of the pour-over kettle at the center of the coffee grounds and pour evenly outward until the water completely soaks the grounds. Be careful to avoid pouring onto the surrounding filter paper. The ratio of water to grounds for this initial pour should be about 2:1 - for 30 grams of grounds, about 60 grams of water should be used. Let the water completely penetrate the grounds, then lift the pour-over kettle and wait for 30 seconds or until the grounds bubble up and then collapse before proceeding to the second stage of pouring.

The second pouring should be about four to five times the amount of grounds, meaning the water weight should be around 190 grams. Still pour evenly, being careful not to let the water exceed 5mm above the grounds level. This ensures full extraction while avoiding the influx of undesirable flavors. Then wait for the water to finish dripping before proceeding to the third pouring. The third pouring will be similar to the second, but the pouring speed should be faster than the second. When the water-to-grounds ratio reaches 1:15, stop pouring and separate the filter cup from the sharing pot. The brewing is complete.

In Summary

FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee house dedicated to researching coffee and sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation, hoping to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month, we hold three coffee promotions with significant discounts because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest prices. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years!

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