What Grade is Blue Mountain Coffee? Introduction to Blue Mountain Coffee Varieties, Origin, and Flavor Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommendations Based on Flavor Preferences

When guests visit FrontStreet Coffee, if they enjoy fruity acidity, FrontStreet Coffee recommends African beans. If they prefer a strong bitter sensation, FrontStreet Coffee suggests Indonesian and Brazilian coffees. For those who enjoy balanced flavors, FrontStreet Coffee recommends drinking Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee, which offers a perfect balance of acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and richness.

Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee's Variety: Typica

The variety of FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is the ancient Typica variety, renowned for its elegant and pure flavor. Those familiar with coffee varieties surely know that Typica has the longest history, and all Arabica varieties we see today are descendants of Typica and Bourbon.

The reason Typica is no longer widely cultivated is due to its weak constitution and poor disease resistance, with very low yield per plant. Typica was introduced to Blue Mountain for cultivation in the 18th century and has been there for over two hundred years. The Typica in Blue Mountain has adapted to the local island-style terroir and evolved better disease resistance, particularly showing much stronger resistance to coffee berry disease compared to typical Typica. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the exquisite and clean flavor of Frontsteet Blue Mountain coffee is inseparable from Jamaica's commitment to careful cultivation of the Typica variety.

Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee is the Highest Grade

According to Jamaica's "Coffee Industry Regulation Law," the cultivation area of Blue Mountain coffee is mainly distributed in the four administrative regions of St. Andrew, St. Thomas, Portland, and St. Mary. It explicitly stipulates that only Typica coffee grown at elevations of 910-1700 meters can be named Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. The total area of the four producing regions is about 6,000 hectares, accounting for one-third of the entire Blue Mountain cultivation area, while an additional 1,200 hectares of land is used for growing Jamaica High Mountain coffee and Jamaica Prime coffee. In recent years, less than 15% of coffee beans produced in Jamaica can bear the Blue Mountain coffee label, making it extremely rare.

According to the strict regulations of the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB), Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is divided into Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, Blue Mountain No. 3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. Among these, the highest grade Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans must meet specifications of screen 17 or larger, with defective bean ratio not exceeding 2%, moisture content around 10-12.5%, and exhibit appropriate acidity, sweetness, bitterness, richness, and aroma during cupping. As one can imagine, the quantity of such premium coffee beans with exquisite flavors is extremely limited.

To better maintain moisture content during the transportation of green coffee beans, Jamaica uses handcrafted wooden barrels to package exported green beans of Blue Mountain No. 1, 2, and 3. There are three specifications: 70kg, 30kg, and 15kg. Other grades of Jamaican coffee are exported in 60kg burlap bags.

The Frontsteet Blue Mountain coffee that FrontStreet Coffee sources is the highest grade Frontsteet Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans, from Clifton Mountain Estate, processed using traditional washed methods. To allow everyone to observe and identify authentic Frontsteet Blue Mountain coffee with their own eyes, FrontStreet Coffee displays the wooden barrels containing green beans and the certificate of origin issued by Clifton Mountain Estate in their stores.

Clifton Mountain Estate

Founded in the 1790s, Clifton Mountain Estate is one of Jamaica's oldest coffee farms and is also a member of the Rainforest Alliance certification. If you observe the wooden barrels of Blue Mountain green beans, you can see the green rainforest tree frog logo printed on them.

Clifton Mountain Estate is situated on the scenic Clifton Mountain, with coffee cultivation areas and processing facilities at an altitude of approximately 1,310 meters. The high altitude creates a certain temperature difference, extending the maturation period of coffee cherries and allowing sufficient time to absorb nutrients. The entire coffee production process adheres to sustainable environmental protection concepts, minimizing various types of pollution. The removed coffee pulp is converted into organic fertilizer, and the water used in the processing plant is also recycled.

Washed-Processed Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee

Clifton Mountain Estate places harvested coffee cherries into water pools, using the flotation method to separate mature beans from immature ones. Then, water flow from conveyor belts sends the mature coffee cherries into a pulper to remove the fruit skin. The depulped coffee beans, still with mucilage and parchment, are placed in water pools for fermentation. After the mucilage ferments, the agitation of water flow removes mucilage residue. The clean coffee beans with parchment are then dried to a certain moisture content before being placed in warehouses for resting. The washed processing reduces the defect rate of Blue Mountain coffee, resulting in clearer flavors, higher cleanliness, and more stable quality.

How to Brew Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee for the Best Taste

The Jamaica Coffee Industry Board recommends a roast degree that highlights Blue Mountain's traditional flavors. FrontStreet Coffee's roasters also follow this principle, using a medium-dark roast that allows Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee to present richness while retaining soft fruit acidity. With increased roast depth, the coffee beans' texture becomes more porous, making them absorb more water after grinding and release more soluble substances, which can easily lead to over-extraction. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas recommend using medium grind size and not-too-high water temperature. Here, we use water temperature of 87-88°C, with coffee powder ground to a consistency where 75% passes through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve.

To highlight the rich and round mouthfeel of Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses a KONO coffee filter for extraction. The KONO's ribs are less than half the height of the filter cup. This design actually ensures that after wetting, the filter closely adheres to the filter cup wall, restricting airflow. This increases the water absorption time of coffee powder particles, resulting in more evenly extracted coffee.

Brewing parameters: 15g coffee, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, grind size: EK43s setting 10.5 (75% passing through Chinese standard No. 20 sieve), water temperature: 87-88°C, brewing method: segmented extraction.

Place the filter paper in the KONO dripper and pour water to wet the filter paper while making it fit better. Pour in the coffee powder and tap gently to distribute the powder layer evenly. For the first stage, gently pour 30g of water for blooming, with a blooming time of 30 seconds. For the second stage, pour to about 125g of water, circling evenly and steadily outward. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it drops to half, pour the final stage of water to 225g. After waiting for all the coffee to drip through, the total extraction time is generally around 2 minutes.

Flavor of hand-poured Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee: At high temperature, Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee enters the mouth with dark chocolate aroma, very rich, with obvious almond sweet aftertaste. As the temperature decreases, roasted hazelnut and creamy sweetness appear silky smooth, accompanied by a hint of soft acidity and caramel sweetness. The aroma persists in the mouth for a long time.

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