Coffee Champagne—Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Clifton Blue Mountain Coffee History Story Growing Environment Characteristics

In coffee shops, there are always customers who request a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee with the confident feeling that Blue Mountain Coffee is the best coffee. While we cannot absolutely claim that the best coffee equals Blue Mountain Coffee, this is not a bad thing—at least it proves that Blue Mountain Coffee has a renowned reputation, and it certainly deserves this title.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee achieves a perfect balance of acidity, body, and aroma. Its acidity is bright and delicate, with a smooth mouthfeel. It features floral notes, spiciness, and citrus undertones, followed by a cocoa aftertaste. The flavor is exceptionally clean and complex yet remarkably gentle, with chocolate sweetness and strong body. It offers a rich and aromatic profile where the sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced—completely without any bitterness, only moderate and perfect acidity, with a persistent fruity sweetness in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee comes from the Clifton Mount Estate. Clifton Mount Estate is Jamaica's oldest continuously operating coffee plantation, renowned for producing the finest specialty coffee. The farm, with its elegant great house, is located in the Newcastle area of the island, on the eastern slopes of Catherine Peak at an altitude of 1,300 meters. Since the 1790s, Clifton Mount has been producing high-quality coffee beans. In recent years, Clifton Mount Estate has elevated its status to become Jamaica's premier estate producing Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

A Legacy of Excellence

For over a century, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee has been one of the world's most precious coffees, commanding the highest prices. Moreover, it is recognized by coffee experts worldwide as having all the characteristics of perfect balance in the cup.

The History and Origins

So what is the history and background of Blue Mountain Coffee?

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee can trace its origins to a decision by a French king in the 18th century. In 1723, King Louis XV sent three coffee plants to the French colony of Martinique—another lush, fertile island 1,900 kilometers southwest of Jamaica. Five years later, in 1728, the Governor of Jamaica, Sir Nicholas Lawes, received a gift of a coffee plant from the Governor of Martinique. The rest is history.

From that single Arabica coffee tree, a delicate coffee was introduced to the world. The plant was cultivated and plantations were established. Within nine years, the first coffee was exported, and Jamaica's coffee industry was born.

Arabica coffee thrived in Jamaica's nitrogen and phosphorus-rich soil, and there was no better place than the steep elevations of the Blue Mountains. Located north of Kingston on the eastern side of the island, the Blue Mountains reach an altitude of 2,350 meters. The primarily cultivated coffee bean variety is Arabica Typica. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee is also of the Typica variety.

Ideal Growing Conditions

Coffee thrives in the fertile volcanic soil and regular rainfall, and most importantly, under the island's misty cloud cover that provides shade from the intense sun. All these factors combine to give the coffee an extraordinary sweetness and aroma, with rich flavor, full body, and moderate acidity.

To be called Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, it must be grown at altitudes up to 1,800 meters in the parishes of Portland, St. Andrew, St. Mary, and St. Thomas—covering an area of approximately 6,000 hectares, which is the size of a large plantation in a high-volume coffee-producing country. Blue Mountain coffee cultivation is characterized by small farms of mostly 4 hectares, but there are also larger estates of up to 70 hectares. In total, there are approximately 15,000 smallholders and estates.

The "Champagne of Coffee"

The result is what many consider to be the world's best coffee and the "Champagne of coffees." Just as France's 'Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée' strictly controls where authentic Champagne grapes are grown, the growing region for Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee plants is also strictly controlled.

In fact, the region is relatively small, with exportable annual production varying between 400 and 1,000 metric tons—small by world standards, equivalent to 0.1% of Colombia's production, or in other words, just 3 hours of Colombia's production!

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