Nav: Home > Coffee >

What is the Quality Level of Green Mountain Coffee in Ode to Joy? Which is More Expensive: Green Mountain or Blue Mountain Coffee?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, In "Ode to Joy," Andy's home is stocked with this type of brewed coffee, which only represents a small portion of Green Mountain Coffee's business. Green Mountain Coffee's main business is producing KEURIG coffee machines and compatible K-cup coffee. The so-called K-cup is a patented product by Green Mountain - a container that looks like a paper cup with a small

In the Chinese TV series "Ode to Joy," there's a storyline about Green Mountain Coffee: "I brought back some Green Mountain Coffee from America." "That's Blue Mountain Coffee, not Green Mountain Coffee." The character in the show even thinks Green Mountain is a knockoff of Blue Mountain. Actually, there really is a Green Mountain Coffee in America. So what exactly is Green Mountain Coffee? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss it for you.

Green Mountain Coffee (Keurig Green Mountain)

Green Mountain doesn't refer to coffee from a particular place, but rather an American coffee brand from Vermont, founded in 1981. Green Mountain Coffee introduced the "Keurig single-cup coffee maker" and its accompanying "K-cup coffee," allowing office workers to quickly and conveniently brew a rich cup of black coffee anytime, making it extremely popular in the market. No need to grind coffee beans, no measuring, no cleaning, no residue at the bottom of the cup, exactly one cup brewed each time, and never having to worry about using too much material—making it more convenient than traditional coffee machines with richer coffee aroma.

Unlike Starbucks' "high-end" expensive coffee, Green Mountain Coffee sells high-quality Arabica coffee beans at lower prices. Green Mountain coffee makers sell for just over $100, basically at cost price, with the brand mainly profiting from selling K-cups. A 24-cup pack of K-cups typically sells for $12, equivalent to $0.50 per cup. Today, homes and offices in North America consume over 3 million K-cups daily. Nearly one-third of Green Mountain's $2+ billion in sales revenue comes from the office market. Additionally, Green Mountain Coffee allows other beverage manufacturers to produce K-cup packaging, with these companies paying Green Mountain a licensing fee of 6 cents per cup. In other words, Green Mountain Coffee has turned K-cups into an open platform for the beverage industry.

Green Mountain Coffee is undoubtedly a very successful sales model, but its popularity in China is not high because Green Mountain Coffee is exclusively supplied to the North American local market. Around the turn of the millennium, coffee culture in China wasn't as booming as it is today, and the only well-known coffee at that time was Blue Mountain Coffee.

Why is Blue Mountain Coffee So Expensive?

We used to often hear "Blue Mountain Coffee is too expensive to drink" and "Only Japanese Blue Mountain Coffee is authentic." These rumors originated from a coffee contract signed between Jamaica and Japan in the 1970s.

Before the 1960s, Jamaica's coffee beans were already very popular in the entire specialty market. In 1969, Jamaica was severely affected by hurricane disasters, with multiple industries falling into difficulties, and the coffee industry was no exception. At this time, Japan's UCC company provided financial assistance to Jamaica's coffee industry and introduced scientific ecological cultivation methods. The Jamaican government, grateful for the help, signed a 30-year contract with Japan, agreeing to supply 90% of the high-quality Blue Mountain Coffee quota to Japan, with the remaining 10% allocated to European and American countries. After the contract expired between both parties, it coincided with the global economic crisis. Japan's economy was sluggish, purchasing power declined, and Jamaican coffee farmers were unwilling to be monopolized by Japanese merchants anymore, so they significantly raised the price of raw coffee beans. Currently, Japan's purchase of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee has dropped from the previous 90% to less than 60%.

Coming into today's booming coffee culture, we can now directly import Blue Mountain Coffee beans from Jamaica. At FrontStreet Coffee, you can enjoy authentic Blue Mountain Coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain No.1 is sold at 158 yuan/100g per package, with direct pour-over tasting at 60 yuan/cup, which belongs to a relatively affordable price range.

What Grade is Blue Mountain No.1?

Blue Mountain No.1 is the highest grade among Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffees. Professional and meticulous processing methods produce extremely high-quality Blue Mountain beans, belonging to Jamaica's national treasure-level products.

Before export, Blue Mountain raw beans are packed and sent for quality testing, classifying the coffee beans produced by Blue Mountain according to various standards. CIB is the first institution to use scientific and objective methods to evaluate and grade coffee quality, combining raw bean size, color, uniformity, defect rate, moisture content, and cupping performance for grading. Blue Mountain Coffee is divided into four grades: Blue Mountain No.1, Blue Mountain No.2, Blue Mountain No.3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. Blue Mountain No.1 is the highest grade.

Top-grade Blue Mountain No.1 raw beans must meet specifications of 17 screen size or larger, defect rate below 3%, moisture content around 13%, and present rich coffee aroma in cupping with smooth, balanced taste, low and weak acidity, and persistent aftertaste. To ensure Blue Mountain Coffee beans maintain better quality until roasting and avoid moisture infiltration during transportation, Jamaicans insist on using handcrafted wooden barrels as carriers for Blue Mountain raw beans. Wooden barrels have also become one of the important symbols of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy aims to present the most classic flavor profiles of coffee, such as the bright lemon aroma of Yirgacheffe, the rich caramelized taste of Indonesian Mandheling coffee, and Blue Mountain naturally needs to highlight its classic Blue Mountain flavor. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting to maximize the presentation of coffee's chocolate and nutty aromas while retaining soft acidity and sweetness, making the overall taste tend toward balance.

How to Drink Authentic Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee?

Authentic Blue Mountain No.1 coffee has a dense and full aroma with rich and varied flavors. FrontStreet Coffee recommends enjoying it in the form of pour-over black coffee for the best experience. Additionally, Blue Mountain Coffee's variety is the ancient Arabica cultivar—Typica, with relatively low caffeine content, elegant and pure flavor, making it easy to accept even for friends drinking coffee for the first time.

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing parameters for Blue Mountain No.1 are:

Filter: KONO filter
Water temperature: 88 degrees Celsius
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Coffee grounds: 15g
Grind size: EK43s - setting 10.5 (75% pass rate through 20 standard mesh screen)

When FrontStreet Coffee brews coffee beans with mainly bitter notes, it prioritizes using KONO filters to highlight the coffee's rich body. The upper part of the KONO filter allows better adherence of the filter paper. Compared to V60 filters, the coffee extraction method mainly uses immersion extraction, increasing the overall concentration of the coffee to enhance its body. Similarly, KONO filters are also suitable for brewing Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans and Golden Mandheling coffee beans.

Here at FrontStreet Coffee, we first wet the KONO filter, then align and place the filter paper to fit better with the filter. After pouring out the water from the sharing pot, add 15g of coffee grounds. Use 30g of water to bloom for 30 seconds, then start pouring small streams of water in circular motions from the center until reaching 125g, then pause. When the coffee grounds layer drops to half the filter's position, begin pouring the second pour using the same technique until reaching 225g. Once all dripping is complete, remove the filter.

Blue Mountain No.1 coffee has the sweet aroma of dark chocolate, caramel sweetness, and soft, elegant acidity. Each flavor is balanced, with smooth and rich taste, presenting very typical Blue Mountain characteristics.

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's private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex