The Sustainability of Specialty Coffee: What's the Connection Between the Best Specialty Coffee and Sustainable Development

When it comes to the future of specialty coffee, we firmly believe that specialty coffee can thrive in a healthy environment and support communities in a sustainable way. To build that future, more and more coffee organizations are committed to pursuing sustainable economic, social, and environmental practices—protecting local and global communities and building a more resilient supply chain for sustainable coffee.

Organic coffee is one expression of sustainable development. At FrontStreet Coffee, the Blue Mountain beans are organic coffee, and the frog logo on the Blue Mountain wooden barrel is a mark of organic certification.

Sustainability of Green Coffee

Most buyers source the world's finest coffees to create extraordinary coffee experiences—something that is only possible when every part of this globally interconnected supply chain is supported in a sustainable way.

We recognize that sustainability has broad implications in specialty coffee. Its future is rooted in environmental concerns such as water conservation and soil quality, but also in social and financial dynamics that ensure every participant in the industry is supported and that coffee production remains viable for decades to come.

A sustainable business philosophy respects growers and the excellent work they do to make the system as sustainable as possible, in the fullest sense of the word. It is a way of verifying that coffee purchasing behavior genuinely supports that mission.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Organic certification is one of the clearest signs of a sustainable supply chain, and Jamaica Blue Mountain is a prime example. FrontStreet Coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 is the highest grade of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, grown in the Blue Mountains of eastern Jamaica at the Clifton Mount Estate—a farm that has been cultivating and processing coffee since around the mid-eighteenth century, roughly 1750. Its plots sit at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters), where ample altitude, gentle afternoon clouds that shade the hills, plentiful sunshine, and mineral-rich soil give the coffee trees ideal growing conditions and lengthen the ripening of the cherries.

Blue Mountain No.1 is roasted medium-dark to bring out a rounded, full body and the classic bittersweet depth of traditional coffee. Roasted fresh within 5 days, it can be brewed as soon as it arrives. FrontStreet recommends a Kono dripper to enhance the full body, a 15g dose, and a 4–7 day rest (counting the roast date as day one). Grind a little coarser than a light roast—about the texture of granulated sugar—and brew at 87–88°C; water that is too hot is the usual cause of a scorched, bitter cup, while water that is too cool leaves the coffee flat. Use a 1:15 ratio with a three-stage pour: bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, pour to 120g, then pour to 225g. The result is a very clean, complex, remarkably gentle cup with chocolate sweetness and a strong body—sweetness, acidity, and bitterness in perfect balance, with no harsh bitterness, only a moderate, refined acidity and a long fruit finish.