How to Make Coffee Beans: Is Blue Mountain Coffee Good? What Type of Coffee Does Blue Mountain Use?

The Legacy of Blue Mountain Coffee

Before Geisha coffee rose to fame, Blue Mountain coffee stood as one of the world's finest premium coffees. In cafés, a cup of authentic Blue Mountain coffee would cost several hundred yuan, making it unaffordable for most people. Today, enjoying genuine Blue Mountain coffee has become much more accessible. FrontStreet Coffee's hand-poured Blue Mountain coffee costs only 60 yuan, allowing you to savor a fragrant and delicious cup of Blue Mountain coffee. If you purchase a single bag of coffee beans, it's only 158 yuan per 100-gram package, making it perfect for both gifts and personal use.

The Growing Environment of Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee

Blue Mountain coffee originates from Jamaica's island in the Caribbean Sea. The eastern Blue Mountain range, surrounded by seawater, reflects a blue luster under sunlight, hence its name "Blue Mountain." This remote area, with peaks reaching over 2,000 meters in elevation, is a renowned local tourist destination. Fertile volcanic ash soil, abundant sunlight, and rainfall provide rich nutrients for crops grown here. Locals cultivate coffee alongside bananas and avocados. Compared to other crops, coffee is a more demanding and delicate plant that requires not only a warm, humid, frost-free environment with adequate nutrition but also proper shade. The Blue Mountain peaks are perennially shrouded in clouds and mist, enveloping the coffee plantations and providing uniquely advantageous conditions for coffee cultivation.

Quality Control and Regional Classification

To stabilize Jamaican coffee quality, the government established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (CIB) in 1952, granting it official authority to implement strict management systems for Jamaican coffee production. In 1953, the CIB designated approximately 6,000 hectares within the Blue Mountain range—representing only 15% of the total Blue Mountain production—stipulating that only coffee from this region could be called "Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee." Coffee from other regions became "Jamaica High Mountain Coffee" and "Jamaica Prime Coffee." Due to Blue Mountain coffee's reputation, its price far exceeds the other two types.

The Blue Mountain coffee growing regions are distributed across four production areas at elevations of 910-1,700 meters (above 1,700 meters is protected forest land), including St. Andrew, St. Mary, St. Thomas, and Portland. The CIB conducts cupping tests on coffee from these designated areas, revealing rich chocolate and nut aromas, smooth口感, almost no bitterness, with various flavors perfectly harmonized in the coffee.

Historical Context and Global Distribution

Notably, in the 1960s, Jamaica suffered severe hurricane damage that hit multiple industries, including coffee. At that time, Japan's UCC Corporation provided assistance to Jamaica and introduced ecological cultivation methods to the Blue Mountain region. In 1972, Jamaica and Japan signed a 30-year coordination agreement, granting Japan priority purchasing rights for Blue Mountain coffee in gratitude for Japanese corporate assistance. During this period, 90% of Blue Mountain coffee was supplied to Japan, with the remaining 10% allocated to countries in Europe, America, and Asia, explaining why Blue Mountain coffee was so expensive during that era.

How is Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee Graded?

The CIB was one of the first institutions to use scientific and objective methods for grading coffee quality, combining bean size, color, uniformity, defect rate, moisture content, and cupping performance for classification.

Before export, FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain beans are packaged and sent for quality testing, graded according to size specifications and post-processing defect rates: Blue Mountain No.1, Blue Mountain No.2, Blue Mountain No.3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. Bean size is determined using various mesh sieves—coffee beans that don't pass through the sieve openings meet the required specifications. Top-grade Blue Mountain No.1 green beans must meet specifications of 17 mesh or larger, have a defect rate below 3%, moisture content around 13%, and exhibit rich coffee aroma in cupping tests, with smooth, balanced flavor, mild acidity, and persistent sweet aftertaste.

Packaging and Authentication

To ensure Blue Mountain coffee beans maintain optimal quality until roasting and avoid moisture infiltration during transport, Jamaicans insist on using handcrafted wooden barrels as carriers for Blue Mountain green beans. These wooden barrels have become one of the important symbols of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, these are replicas of Bonifieur wooden barrels produced on Guadeloupe Island in the last century. These barrels were originally used to transport flour from England to Jamaica and typically carry trademarks and manufacturer names. The Coffee Industry Board issues certificates for all genuine Jamaican coffee and stamps approval on exporters.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Philosophy

FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy aims to present the most classic flavor profiles of coffee. For example, the bright lemon acidity of Yirgacheffe, the rich caramelized flavors of Indonesian Mandheling coffee, and naturally, Blue Mountain coffee should highlight its classic Blue Mountain characteristics. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting to maximize the presentation of chocolate and nut aromas while preserving soft acidity and sweetness, creating an overall balanced flavor profile.

How to Identify Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee?

Because high-quality Blue Mountain coffee is extremely rare and production cannot meet market demand, some merchants exploit this by adding "Blue Mountain" terminology to low-quality blended coffee beans, misleading consumers. If you want to identify authentic Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has summarized several key points for your reference.

Price and Quality Indicators

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, authentic Blue Mountain coffee is grown in specific high-altitude regions where labor costs are very high, so the coffee price won't be too low. If the "Blue Mountain beans" we purchase cost only a few dozen yuan, they are likely fake.

In terms of aroma, FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee has rich, dense, and persistent chocolate and roasted hazelnut aromas that are difficult for typical dark roast blends to match. In flavor, FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee offers a perfect balance of sour, sweet, bitter, and aromatic notes—no single flavor overpowers others, and the body and sweetness are perfectly harmonized.

Authentication Documentation

If we cannot distinguish through the above two points, ask merchants to present Blue Mountain-related certificates and the wooden barrels containing the packaged green beans—Jamaica Blue Mountain is the only growing region that uses wooden barrels for green bean packaging. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 coffee also possesses quality certification certificates issued by the Jamaica Coffee Board, authorized sales certificates from Blue Mountain coffee manufacturers, and certificates of origin for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. Both documentation and handcrafted wooden barrels are displayed in FrontStreet Coffee stores. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee is produced by Clifton Mountain Estate and uses traditional washed processing methods, which is also the most common processing method for Blue Mountain green beans.

How to Brew Authentic Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee for Best Flavor?

Some friends who purchase high-grade FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain No.1 coffee beans may not know how to extract the classic Blue Mountain flavors. Here, FrontStreet Coffee demonstrates the hand-pouring process using their store's production standards.

Freshness and Equipment Selection

For brewing the delicate flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes freshness is extremely important. Since roasted coffee beans have an optimal flavor window, if they pass the aroma peak, extracting their flavors becomes very difficult. The beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are freshly roasted within 5 days, aiming to let everyone enjoy the most complete flavor experience.

FrontStreet Coffee typically uses KONO drippers for extracting medium-dark roast coffee beans. The upper part of the KONO dripper features a smooth curved surface that allows better filter paper adhesion. Compared to V60 drippers, the extraction method is primarily immersion-based, increasing overall coffee concentration and enhancing body. Besides KONO, common slow-flow brewers like Kalita wave drippers, flat-bottom brewers, and flannel filters are also suitable.

Brewing Parameters

Additionally, considering that medium-dark roast coffee has undergone a certain degree of roasting, the internal bean structure is more porous than light roast coffee, resulting in better water absorption. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee chooses a coarseness equivalent to 75% pass-through rate on a #20 standard sieve, along with 88°C water temperature, paired with FrontStreet Coffee's customary three-stage pouring method.

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

Three-Stage Pouring Technique

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

Flavor Profile of FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 coffee flavor: At high temperatures, Blue Mountain No.1 coffee entry reveals dark chocolate aromas, exceptionally rich, with distinct almond aftertaste. As the temperature decreases, roasted hazelnut and creamy sweetness emerge with silkiness, accompanied by a hint of soft acidity and caramel sweetness, with aromas persisting in the mouth.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473