How to Drink Blue Mountain Coffee? Brewing Ratios, Standard Methods, and Flavor Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee's Guide to Brewing Blue Mountain Coffee

Before specialty coffee became mainstream, Blue Mountain Coffee was already the reigning king in the coffee world. Even non-coffee drinkers have heard of Blue Mountain's reputation. High-quality FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee possesses a perfect balance of richness, aroma, sweetness, acidity, and bitterness. How should such exquisite flavors be brewed? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee's barista shares brewing techniques from their store production to demonstrate how to pour over FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee.

Prepare Authentic FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

Many friends consider authenticity when purchasing Blue Mountain Coffee. Indeed, because genuine Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee grows on the steep terrain of the high-altitude Blue Mountains, management and harvesting are difficult, labor costs are high, and annual production is only about 900 tons. Distributed worldwide, it naturally becomes scarce and expensive. Therefore, many merchants label low-quality coffee with "Blue Mountain" to counterfeit genuine products. We often see "Blue Mountain Blend" or "Blue Mountain Flavor" coffees on shopping platforms. If the "Blue Mountain beans" we purchase cost only tens of yuan, they are likely fake. For reference, FrontStreet Coffee sells FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans at 158 yuan/100g.

Jamaica's "Coffee Industry Management Regulations" stipulate that only Typica coffee grown in specific areas of the Blue Mountain range at elevations of 910-1700 meters can be named "Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee." Additionally, the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB) strictly classifies Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee into Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, Blue Mountain No. 3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee is the highest grade Blue Mountain No. 1. Blue Mountain No. 1 beans must meet specifications of 17 mesh or larger, with defective bean ratios not exceeding 2%, moisture content around 10-12.5%, and possess appropriate acidity, sweetness, bitterness, richness, and aroma during cupping. As you can imagine, such exquisitely flavored premium coffee beans are extremely rare.

FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee uses wooden barrels for green bean packaging, making it distinctive from purchase. Compared to the coarse burlap bags commonly used in other regions, oak barrels can absorb and release internal and external humidity while preventing coffee aroma from escaping, helping maintain more stable moisture content and ensuring more consistent roasting. In terms of aroma, FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee has rich, dense, and lasting chocolate and roasted hazelnut aromas that dark roast blend coffees find difficult to match. In flavor, authentic FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee balances sour, sweet, bitter, and aromatic notes, with none overpowering the others, while richness and sweetness are perfectly balanced.

Authentic FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Flavor Characteristics

If we cannot distinguish through the above points, ask merchants to show Blue Mountain certificates and wooden barrels of green beans. Jamaican Blue Mountain is the only region that uses wooden barrels for green bean packaging. This FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee also possesses quality certificates issued by the Jamaica Coffee Board, authorized sales certificates from Blue Mountain Coffee manufacturers, and Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee certificates of origin. Documentary evidence and handcrafted wooden barrels are displayed in FrontStreet Coffee stores. This FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No. 1 is produced by Clifton Mountain Estate and uses traditional washed processing, the most common processing method for Blue Mountain green beans.

Hand-picked coffee cherries are placed in water, using flotation to remove impurities and unripe fruits. Next, the skin and pulp are removed, allowing fermentation in pools for 12-18 hours. Then, the fermented beans are placed in pools and moved back and forth, using the friction of beans and water flow to wash coffee beans until smooth and clean. They are then spread under the sun for dehydration drying until moisture content reaches 12-14%, then packaged and stored in warehouses before export for quality inspection. Washed processing significantly reduces defect rates, better restoring the natural aroma of Blue Mountain coffee beans and achieving cleaner mouthfeel.

When FrontStreet Coffee received Blue Mountain No. 1 green beans, the particles were uniform and full, with consistent size and overall translucent blue-green color. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting to maximize the presentation of Blue Mountain's chocolate and nutty aromas while preserving soft acidity and sweetness, allowing the overall mouthfeel to tend toward balance.

After fresh roasting, FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee underwent immediate cupping at FrontStreet Coffee. The dry aroma had nuts, sweet melon, and chocolate. After adding hot water, notes of oolong tea, caramel, honey, and dark chocolate emerged. The taste reveals rich dark chocolate, roasted hazelnuts, cream, and brown sugar, with clean and clear flavors, rich mouthfeel, and lasting aroma. To let everyone experience these aromas, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans ensuring freshness within 5 days of roasting, so when received, they are at the optimal tasting stage. Below, FrontStreet Coffee explains several key factors for pour-over FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee using store production standards.

Pour-Over Grind Size

Grind size is one of the most critical factors affecting coffee flavor. After coffee beans are ground into powder and contact hot water, they release large amounts of water-soluble flavor compounds. With the same extraction time, smaller particles extract more substances, while larger particles extract fewer. Simply put, coarser grinding yields lighter coffee flavor, while finer grinding produces richer flavor. FrontStreet Coffee adjusts grind size using a tool—China No. 20 0.85mm standard sieve. For light-medium roast coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee consistently uses 75-80% pass-through rate, while for medium-dark roast coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses 70-75%.

Compared to light roast coffee, medium-dark roast Blue Mountain beans have more porous internal structures, resulting in better water absorption and easier release of large-molecule bitter compounds. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee chooses a grind size with 75% pass-through rate on No. 20 standard sieve. In use, FrontStreet Coffee first weighs 10g of coffee beans, grinds according to estimated settings, then places the ground coffee in the upper sieve and shakes vigorously. Particles smaller than 0.85mm fall into the lower layer. Finally, the collected coffee powder in the lower layer is weighed and divided by 10g to get the pass-through rate. If the pass-through rate is smaller than the target parameter, the coffee powder is too coarse and needs adjustment finer; if larger, it's too fine and needs adjustment coarser.

Pour-Over Water Temperature

Water temperature plays a similar role to grind size. Higher water temperature increases coffee extraction efficiency, making it easier to release various compounds and resulting in higher concentration. If using near-boiling hot water for brewing, it's easy to extract unpleasant bitter compounds. Therefore, when brewing medium-dark roast coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses different brewing parameters than for light roast beans. Caramelization reactions are greater than in light roast beans, making it easier to release large-molecule bitter compounds. To avoid extracting too many impurities, FrontStreet Coffee reduces water temperature slightly. Light roast coffee brewing temperature is 91-93°C, while medium-dark roast coffee beans are recommended by FrontStreet Coffee to use 87-88°C.

Dripper

If you regularly follow FrontStreet Coffee brewing suggestions, you should know that FrontStreet Coffee prioritizes KONO drippers when brewing coffee beans that express richness. We can observe from the KONO dripper's shape that it only has ribs on the middle-lower part, while the upper part is a smooth curved surface. This way, when we wet the dripper, it fits tightly with filter paper, restricting coffee degassing during extraction. Therefore, hot water stays longer in the dripper, increasing coffee extraction rate and concentration, resulting in richer, thicker coffee flavor. KONO drippers are also suitable for beans with rich flavor profiles like FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Queen Estate Coffee.

Segmented Pouring

If you're a beginner with still-developing water control skills and unstable flow, segmented pouring is the simplest and most compatible pouring method. For example, if our total brewing time is 2 minutes, and the initial pouring takes more time than planned, subsequent pouring needs to increase flow rate. Conversely, if the initial flow is too fast, you can control slower, smaller water flow injection.

FrontStreet Coffee typically uses three-stage pouring with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio. For 1-2 servings, use 15g of coffee, meaning total water injection of 225g.

First, gently inject 30g of water for blooming, with 30 seconds blooming time. Second, inject water to about 125g, pouring evenly and steadily in outward circles. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it reaches halfway, inject the final water to 225g. After waiting for all coffee to drip through, total extraction time is typically around 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No. 1 Flavor: At high temperature, Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee enters with rich dark chocolate aroma and is very full-bodied, with distinct almond aftertaste. As temperature decreases, roasted hazelnuts and creamy sweetness become silky smooth, carrying a hint of soft acidity and caramel sweetness, with aroma persisting in the mouth.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public 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