What Are the Characteristics of Blue Mountain Coffee? An Introduction to Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Varieties, Grades, Prices, and Flavor Profiles

Introduction to Blue Mountain Coffee

Many people, even if they are not coffee enthusiasts, have heard of Blue Mountain Coffee to some extent. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Coffee is renowned worldwide for its rich aroma and full-bodied flavor. FrontStreet Coffee will now explore Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee and introduce you to the classic taste of Blue Mountain.

Origin of Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee

Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee is produced in Jamaica, an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. The coffee gets its name from being grown in the famous Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica, with the highest peak reaching 2,256 meters, making it the highest point in the entire Caribbean region.

The Blue Mountains are situated within the coffee belt between 25 degrees north and south latitude, enjoying an exceptionally advantageous geographical position. Jamaica has a tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall throughout the year, humid air, and frequent mountain clouds and mist. The Blue Mountains have a relatively high average altitude, and coffee trees are suitable for planting on slopes where the terrain facilitates drainage. With sufficient daytime sunlight and the local fertile volcanic soil layer, the coffee grown here absorbs full nutrients and transforms them into aromatic compounds.

Coffee grown on the Blue Mountains typically matures during June to November each year. Local workers arrange for experienced female workers familiar with the terrain to harvest coffee cherries on the steep slopes. There are certain experience requirements for the female workers harvesting coffee fruit here, as they need to collect cherries with appropriate ripeness, because under-ripe or over-ripe coffee cherries can easily affect the quality of the resulting coffee.

Frontsteet Blue Mountain Typica Variety

FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee belongs to the Typica variety. Friends who have初步了解过咖啡品种 are surely aware that Typica is a pure-flavored Arabica variety with a long cultivation history.

Typica plants are tall with copper-colored young leaves at the top, which is why they are often called red-topped coffee. Typica has a pure and elegant flavor, but the plants are relatively weak with poor disease resistance and very low yield per plant. This is why fewer and fewer Typica variety coffees are seen today. Typica was introduced to the Blue Mountains for cultivation in the 18th century and has been there for over two hundred years. The Blue Mountains' Typica has adapted to the local island-style terroir and evolved better disease resistance, particularly showing much stronger resistance to coffee berry disease than typical Typica varieties.

It's worth noting that if Jamaican Blue Mountain Typica is transplanted to other coffee-producing regions, the flavor does not exhibit the original clean sweetness and subtle fragrance of Blue Mountain.

Quality of Washed Blue Mountain Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee believes that what makes Blue Mountain flavor a classic representative of specialty coffee is Jamaica's insistence on cultivating Typica varieties and adopting traditional washed processing.

With diverse market demands, some estates have begun to launch small batches of natural-processed Blue Mountain, but FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee has a cleaner flavor and is the most classic Blue Mountain flavor. If this is your first time tasting, FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting with washed Blue Mountain coffee.

After harvesting, fresh coffee cherries undergo manual screening to remove under-ripe and over-ripe fruits, then the pulp is removed and direct fermentation occurs for 12-18 hours. Next, they are brushed in clean water to remove the mucilage layer from the green beans. Finally, the semi-dry green coffee beans are spread out for drying. Each step must be strictly controlled, otherwise it can easily affect the quality of Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee. Washed processing includes additional steps to select out defective beans, therefore the resulting Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee has a cleaner flavor.

Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee Grade Classification

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Jamaica established the Coffee Industry Board (CIB) in 1953, which passed coffee export grade standards with quite standardized regulations for the size, color, defects, and flavor of exported green coffee beans.

The CIB divides coffee into three grades based on cultivation altitude. From the table, it can be seen that only the range between 910-1700 meters is called Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. Coffee grown below 910 meters can only be named Jamaican High Mountain Supreme Coffee and Jamaican Prime Coffee.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee grown at high altitudes above 910 meters needs to be further divided into 4 grades based on bean size and defect rate, with higher grades having smaller quantities. Among these, Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans purchased by FrontStreet Coffee are the highest grade of Blue Mountain coffee. The green beans are 17/18 screen size, with a defect rate not exceeding 2%, moisture content around 13%, and the beans are uniform in size, full and even.

Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans come from Clifton Mountain Estate. Not only are the green beans finely screened, but even the transport packaging has been carefully considered. To isolate Blue Mountain green coffee beans from air during transportation and prevent moisture absorption, Blue Mountain green beans are packed in specially made wooden barrels. Before export, the CIB inspects each batch of Blue Mountain coffee to ensure the flavor meets standards.

Flavor Characteristics of Blue Mountain Coffee

From cultivation, harvesting to production, Blue Mountain coffee goes through strict checkpoints at every stage, and roasting is also a very crucial step. FrontStreet Coffee's roasters hope to restore the more classic Blue Mountain flavor, adopting a medium-dark roast. After high-temperature roasting, the exterior of the coffee beans has caramelized, and one can smell distinct roasted bread aroma. To ensure that customers who place orders can taste the full aroma of Frontsteet Blue Mountain Coffee, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee that is freshly roasted within 5 days. When received, it is at the optimal tasting period and ready for brewing and drinking.

If we use a manual grinder at home, we can feel that Frontsteet Blue Mountain coffee beans produce a very crisp and consistent sound. After grinding, Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans have a very dense aroma, full of nutty and biscuit notes. For tasting this delicately flavored coffee like Blue Mountain, FrontStreet Coffee suggests drinking it as black coffee to experience the pure aroma of Frontsteet Blue Mountain.

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee develops extraction parameters based on the characteristics of Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee, and everyone can adjust according to these principles and their own preferences. Since Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee has a darker roast degree, the coffee grounds have stronger water absorption. To avoid over-extraction, a coarser grind size and lower water temperature will be used here. Additionally, FrontStreet Coffee hopes for a richer mouthfeel for Frontsteet Blue Mountain, so they will choose filter cups with slower flow rates, such as the KONO filter cup.

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing parameters for Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 are: KONO filter cup, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee grounds, grind size (75% pass-through rate on No. 20 standard sieve), and three-stage extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee first wets the KONO filter cup, then aligns and places the filter paper to fit more snugly with the filter cup. After pouring out the water from the sharing pot, add 15g of coffee grounds. Use 30g of water to bloom for 30s, then begin pouring in small circular motions from the center until reaching 125g, where the first segment ends. Wait until the coffee grounds layer drops to halfway up the filter cup, then begin pouring the second segment using the same technique until reaching 225g. Once all dripping is complete, remove the filter cup.

Frontsteet Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee has a sweet fragrance of dark chocolate, caramel sweetness, and soft, elegant acidity. Each flavor is balanced, the mouthfeel is smooth and rich, displaying very typical Blue Mountain characteristics.

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