How Do You Verify Jamaican Coffee Grades and Origin?
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is graded , NO.2, NO.3 and PB, and only beans grown above 666 meters in the Blue Mountain region may carry the Blue Mountain name. Coffee from lower elevations there is Jamaican High Mountain Coffee, while beans grown outside the range are simply Jamaican coffee. requires 17 mesh or larger, under 3 percent defects, about 13 percent moisture, and Typica variety.
Authenticity also rests on processing and certification. Ripe red cherries are hand sorted, pulped, fermented and demucilaged, then sun-dried on concrete slabs for five days and rested at least ten weeks before final hand sorting. Clifton Mount Estate holds Rainforest Alliance certification, and Blue Mountain coffee differs from products labeled Blue Mountain flavor coffee, which need not contain Jamaican beans.
Blue Mountain coffee is hailed as one of the most successfully marketed and most expensive coffees in the world, but the market is rife with a mix of genuine and fake products and numerous grades, making it often difficult for consumers to tell them apart. This article starts with the grading standards for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, sorts out the differences among the grades from NO.1 to PB, clarifies the origin definitions of Blue Mountain coffee, High Mountain coffee, and Jamaican coffee, and explains in detail the green bean processing flow of Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and the Rainforest Alliance certification of Clifton Mount Estate. The article also explains the essential difference between Blue Mountain coffee and Blue Mountain flavor coffee, and finally provides specific pour-over parameters and flavor performance to help coffee lovers truly understand and enjoy a good cup of Blue Mountain.
The grading system for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
Arranged from highest to lowest quality, they are: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3.
Blue Mountain coffee is further divided into four grades, from highest to lowest: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, with PB meaning peaberry. According to CIB standards, only coffee grown at an altitude above 666 meters can be called [Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee]; coffee produced below 666 meters in Jamaica's Blue Mountain region is called [Jamaican High Mountain Coffee]; and coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain range can only be called [Jamaican Coffee]. Among these, the basic requirements for NO.1 Blue Mountain green beans include: 17 mesh or above, defect rate below 3%, moisture content about 13%, and the variety is Typica.
Green bean processing of Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
In the green bean processing stage, only ripe red cherries are picked, and manual hand sorting and removal of floating cherries are indispensable basic steps. The farmers then send the selected coffee cherries to another washing station for a second screening, and complete the pulping work before evening. The coffee beans are then placed in large water tanks, where over-fermented, unripe, or insect-damaged fruits are carefully removed before entering the demucilaging process. After demucilaging, the parchment beans are spread on concrete slabs to sun-dry for five days, then bagged and stored in warehouses to rest for at least ten weeks. The finally hulled green beans must still undergo one last hand sorting to remove the bad and keep the good.
Genuine [Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee] has certification backing. Clifton Mount Estate is the only coffee estate to have obtained RFA Rainforest Alliance certification, and only those meeting the "sustainable agricultural system standards" can obtain this certification.
Why Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is so expensive
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is the world's most successfully marketed and most expensive coffee, with a sweet, smooth, and mellow flavor, nutty notes, and a full body.
Jamaican coffee is not equal to Blue Mountain coffee:
Only coffee located in Jamaica's eastern Blue Mountain range (at an altitude above 1,000 meters) is truly Blue Mountain coffee.
Blue Mountain flavor coffee is not equal to Blue Mountain coffee:
It is merely coffee blended from mixed beans to approximate the flavor of Blue Mountain, and cannot be compared with authentic Blue Mountain coffee.
How to make pour-over Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
Prepare 15 grams of grounds, water temperature 88°C, grind size BG 5R (Chinese standard No. 20 sieve, 60% pass rate), water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15.
Method: First bloom with 30 grams of water for 30 seconds, pour water close to the coffee bed surface; when the first pour reaches 120 grams, stop pouring; when the water level drops by one-third to one-half, make the second pour, stopping at 225 grams, with the brewing time controlled at about 2 minutes 05 seconds.
Flavor: The taste of Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is very clean and very mild, with chocolatey sweetness and a very strong body. The flavor is rich and aromatic, and the coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, with no bitterness at all and only a moderate and perfect acidity, plus a lingering fruity note in the finish. Brewed with kono, kalita扇形, or cake cups, the concentration increases, the mouthfeel is solid and heavy, and the flavor is intense; while brewed with a V60 dripper, it presents a crisp and sweet taste, a sucrose-like sweetness, and in the later stage there is a finish and returning sweetness of nuts and high-concentration dark chocolate.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee): a roasting shop in Guangzhou. The storefront is small, but the bean selection is diverse, and you can find all kinds of famous and not-so-famous beans. It also provides online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
