What is the Taste Profile of Premium Blue Mountain Coffee (JABLUM) - Authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Brand

As the finest among coffees, Blue Mountain Coffee offers a rich aroma with a smooth, mellow body where sweet, sour, and bitter notes harmonize perfectly, leaving a long-lasting aftertaste. In an era before specialty coffee became popular, its status in the coffee world was comparable to "Rolls-Royce" in automobiles or "Rolex" in watches. Counterfeit products falsely bearing the Blue Mountain name were rampant, and prices were frighteningly expensive. Nowadays, enjoying a cup of authentic Blue Mountain Coffee is no longer difficult—at FrontStreet Coffee, you can taste Jamaica's highest-grade Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans.

Everyone certainly hopes to drink authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, preferably of the highest grade, since higher grades deliver superior flavor performance.

Blue Mountain Coffee Certification and Quality Standards

Since the Jamaican government established the CIB (Coffee Industry Board) in 1952, it has standardized the cultivation, production, and sales processes of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, thereby improving quality, enhancing coffee production and processing procedures, while coordinating the market sales of Blue Mountain Coffee. The CIB is also responsible for grade classification and quality inspection of coffee produced in the Blue Mountains. This means all Blue Mountain Coffee sold worldwide must be certified by the CIB and carry its label. The Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee sourced by FrontStreet Coffee is produced by Clifton Mountain Estate, certified by the CIB, and FrontStreet Coffee also holds quality certification certificates issued by the Jamaican Coffee Board, authorized sales certificates from Blue Mountain Coffee manufacturers, and certificates of origin for Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

Compared to other coffee-producing regions, Jamaica was the earliest country to recognize the "terroir" of coffee. The 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 aroma, wet aroma, acidity, flavor, body, cleanliness, etc.). Bean size is determined using various mesh sizes—coffee beans that don't pass through the openings meet the specified standards. Color evaluation includes both visual inspection and colorimeter readings, with blue-green being the highest grade.

Blue Mountain Coffee Grade Classification

Based on these various standards, Blue Mountain Coffee is classified into 4 grades, from highest to lowest: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, translated domestically as Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, Blue Mountain No. 3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. Top-grade Blue Mountain No. 1 green beans 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 mouthfeel, mild acidity, and persistent sweet aftertaste.

Packaging and Roasting

Blue Mountain coffee beans that pass quality inspection are transported using different materials according to their grades. Blue Mountain No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 are the world's only coffees exported in wooden barrels, available in three specifications: 70kg, 30kg, and 15kg. Other grades of Jamaican coffee are exported in 60kg burlap bags. Compared to coarse burlap bags, oak barrels offer advantages of absorbing and releasing internal and external humidity while preventing coffee aroma from escaping, helping coffee beans maintain more stable moisture content for more consistent roasting. Later, wooden barrels also became one of the identifiers for authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, and FrontStreet Coffee's store displays the wooden barrels used for transporting Blue Mountain green beans.

The roasting process is equivalent to the cooking step in gourmet cuisine—quality ingredients combined with appropriate cooking techniques enhance the food's flavor. The ultimate goal of roasting is to produce a delicious cup of coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy aims to present the most classic flavor profile of the growing region while highlighting the unique characteristics of the beans—for example, the bright lemon citrus aroma of Yirgacheffe, the herbal, rich body of Indonesian Mandheling coffee, and naturally, Blue Mountain Coffee should showcase its classic Blue Mountain flavor. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting to maximize the presentation of chocolate and nut aromas while preserving mild acidity and sweetness, creating an overall balanced mouthfeel.

Tasting Notes and Brewing Methods

Immediately after roasting, FrontStreet Coffee conducted cupping of the Blue Mountain coffee beans. The dry aroma revealed nuts, sweet melon, and chocolate. After adding hot water, notes of oolong tea, caramel, honey, and dark chocolate emerged. The taste presents rich dark chocolate, roasted hazelnuts, cream, and brown sugar, with clean and clear flavors, rich body, and persistent aroma. To allow everyone to experience these aromas, FrontStreet Coffee ensures all shipped coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days, so they arrive at their optimal tasting stage. Below, FrontStreet Coffee will explain several key factors for pour-over Blue Mountain Coffee using their store's production standards.

FrontStreet Coffee typically uses a KONO dripper for extracting medium-dark roasted coffee beans. The upper part of the KONO dripper features a smooth curved surface that allows better filter paper adhesion. Compared to the V60 dripper, the extraction method primarily focuses on immersion extraction, enhancing the overall concentration and increasing the coffee's body. Besides KONO, common Kalita trapezoidal drippers and flannel filters with slower flow rates are also suitable.

Additionally, considering that medium-dark roasted coffee has undergone a certain degree of roasting, the internal structure of the beans becomes more porous than lightly roasted coffee, resulting in better water absorption. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee chooses a grind size of 75% pass-through rate on a #20 standard sieve, along with 88°C water temperature, combined with FrontStreet Coffee's customary three-stage pouring method.

Pour-over Parameters

88°C water temperature, grind size similar to raw sugar (75% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve), 15g coffee beans, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, three-stage extraction.

Brewing Process

First stage: Gently pour 30g of water for blooming, with a bloom time of 30 seconds. Second stage: Pour water to approximately 125g, circling evenly and steadily outward. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop—when it reaches halfway, pour the final stage of water to 225g. After waiting for all coffee to drip through, the total extraction time is typically around 2 minutes.

Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee Flavor Profile

At high temperatures, Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee enters the mouth with dark chocolate aroma, exceptionally rich body, and noticeable almond aftertaste. As the temperature decreases, roasted hazelnuts and creamy sweetness emerge with silky smoothness, accompanied by a hint of mild acidity and caramel sweetness, with the aroma persisting in the mouth.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473