How Does the Blue Mountain Coffee Certification System Work?
Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee carries three kinds of paperwork: a quality certificate from the Jamaica Coffee Board, an authorized sales certificate from one of four approved producers, and a certificate of origin. The board randomly pulls one package from each submitted lot for inspection, and only lots meeting the standard receive the quality certificate, which states date and quantity.
Only coffee grown above 666 meters can be labeled Jamaica Blue Mountain; below that altitude it is Jamaica High Mountain, often called the brother variety. Both categories are graded No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and PB, with PB meaning peaberry. Because true Blue Mountain output is limited and much is tied up by the Japanese market, Jamaican coffee buyers often turn to High Mountain as an alternative.
Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is renowned worldwide for its exceptional quality, yet many enthusiasts still hold misconceptions about its certification system, grading, varieties and brands, and how to tell genuine from fake. This article systematically sorts out the three types of certificates issued by the Jamaica Coffee Board, the grading standards for Blue Mountain and High Mountain coffee, the production regions and historical origins of Blue Mountain coffee, and introduces in detail the flavor characteristics of Front Street Blue Mountain coffee, methods of identification, and the monopoly that the Japanese market holds over Blue Mountain coffee. Whether you want to understand why Blue Mountain coffee is so expensive or want to learn how to distinguish genuine from fake Blue Mountain, this article provides clear and professional answers.
Jamaica's coffee certification system consists of three types:
1) A quality certificate issued by the Jamaica Coffee Board.
2) An authorized sales certificate issued by Blue Mountain coffee producers.
(Blue Mountain coffee is distributed by 4 processing producers authorized by the Jamaican government, while exports are handled by 16 licensed exporters.)
3) A certificate of origin for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee.
The quality certificate states the date and quantity. The Jamaica Coffee Board randomly selects one package from the submitted Blue Mountain coffee for inspection; if it meets the standards for Blue Mountain coffee, the corresponding certificate is issued.
Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
(Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee), in which Blue Mountain coffee and High Mountain coffee are each divided into four grades. In descending order of quality, they are: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, with PB meaning peaberry. According to CIB standards, only coffee grown at altitudes above 666 meters can be called Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee;
Jamaica High Mountain Coffee
(Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans) Coffee produced in the Jamaica Blue Mountain region at altitudes below 666 meters is called High Mountain coffee. Its quality is second only to Blue Mountain coffee, and within the industry it is often called the brother variety of Blue Mountain coffee. Because Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee production is extremely limited, if you want to experience Jamaican flavor, High Mountain coffee is the best alternative.
Jamaica Coffee
(Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans). Coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain range is collectively called Jamaica coffee. In the past, Chinese coffee professionals generally held a misconception that only coffee produced in the Blue Mountain region above 1,800 meters could be called Blue Mountain coffee. In fact, in the mountain crown zone above 1,800 meters in the Blue Mountain range there is only one estate, named Amber. The estate owner is of Chinese descent, with the surname Lyn, whose ancestral home is Guangdong, China. The estate covers only 30 hectares and has extremely low output. Blue Mountain coffee is mainly distributed across five mountainous areas of the Blue Mountain range: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.
Front Street Blue Mountain coffee refers to coffee brewed from coffee beans produced in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. By grade, it is further divided into Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and Jamaica High Mountain coffee.
Front Street Blue Mountain coffee is hailed as one of the finest coffees in the world. Its output is scarce, and rarity makes it precious. The Blue Mountain range is located in eastern Jamaica. Because it is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, whenever the weather is clear and sunlight strikes the azure sea, the peaks reflect the brilliant blue glow of the seawater, hence the name. The highest peak of the Blue Mountains is 2,256 meters above sea level, the highest peak in the Caribbean region and also a famous tourist destination. This place lies in the coffee belt and has fertile volcanic soil, fresh and pollution-free air, and a humid climate with frequent fog and rain year-round (average precipitation 1,980 mm, temperature about 27°C). Such climatic conditions create the world-famous Jamaican Front Street Blue Mountain coffee, and also make it the second most expensive coffee in the world. This coffee has all the characteristics of good coffee: not only is its flavor rich and mellow, but because the three tastes of sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, it has almost no bitterness, only a moderate and perfect acidity. It is usually suitable for drinking as a single origin, but because production is extremely small and the price is high, it is often blended on the market with coffees of similar flavor.
How is "authentic" Blue Mountain coffee achieved? The "secret" to its pure taste lies in this: the coffee trees all grow on rugged hillsides, making the picking process exceptionally difficult, and only skilled local women workers can handle it. Choosing precisely ripe coffee cherries during picking is crucial; underripe or overripe cherries will affect coffee quality. After picking, the coffee beans must be hulled the same day, then allowed to ferment for 12–18 hours. After that, the beans are washed and sorted. The next step is drying, which must be done on cement ground or thick blankets until the beans' moisture content drops to 12%–14%. They are then stored in dedicated warehouse stacks. When needed, they are taken out for roasting and then ground into powder. These procedures must be strictly controlled, otherwise the coffee quality will be affected.
Because Japan has consistently invested in the Jamaican coffee industry, most Blue Mountain coffee is controlled by Japanese interests, and they have also obtained priority purchasing rights to Blue Mountain coffee. In 1992, Jamaica sold 688 tons of Blue Mountain coffee to Japan, 75 tons to the United States, and 59 tons to the United Kingdom. 90% of Blue Mountain coffee was purchased by the Japanese. Since the rest of the world can only obtain 10% of Blue Mountain coffee, regardless of price, Blue Mountain coffee is always in short supply.
The market for Jamaican coffee:
Blue Mountain coffee is a coffee that reputable coffee retailers must keep in stock no matter what. A leading British retailer said: regardless of price, he will continuously sell Blue Mountain coffee year-round because he has many customers who recognize only "Blue Mountain."
Today, 90% of harvested Blue Mountain coffee is purchased by the Japanese. Since the rest of the world can only obtain 10% of Blue Mountain coffee production, regardless of price, Blue Mountain coffee is always in short supply. In the United Kingdom, for many years, Langford Brothers was the only supplier. Later, Edmonds Group also obtained supply from Jamaica's Salda Foods.
The difference between Front Street Blue Mountain coffee and other coffees in terms of transportation is that it is shipped in wooden barrels with a capacity of 70 kilograms, which are imitations of the Bonifieur barrels produced on Guadeloupe in the last century. These barrels were originally used to carry flour shipped from the United Kingdom to Jamaica and usually bore the trademark name and the producer's name. The Coffee Industry Board issues certificates for all genuine Jamaican coffee and stamps them with an approval seal before export.
The Jamaican government used to always insist that all Blue Mountain coffee be roasted in Jamaica to ensure unchanged quality. In fact, roasting is a fine art, and doing it well requires experience, training, and expensive equipment. From the consumer's perspective, coffee beans should be obtained and drunk immediately after roasting. Roasting coffee in Jamaica cannot meet this requirement. Now, Jamaica's green coffee beans can already be exported. Jamaica's coffee has three varieties:
The "Blue Mountain style" coffee on the market rarely contains even a single genuine Blue Mountain coffee bean. One type, "Jamaica Blend Blue Mountain," is made by blending 30% Blue Mountain coffee with 70% of the best Jamaica High Mountain coffee. Both of the above coffees try to imitate Blue Mountain coffee, but neither can achieve perfection.
Identifying genuine and fake Blue Mountain
1 Appearance: The green beans of Front Street Blue Mountain coffee are blue-green in color, neat in appearance, medium-small in size, with slightly upturned ends. After roasting, they expand greatly in volume and become very plump.
2 Grinding: Genuine Front Street Blue Mountain coffee beans grow at high altitude, and their cell structure is relatively loose. When hand-grinding, they feel crisp, smooth, and continuous, without any sense of resistance.
3 Aroma: The aroma is very rich and dense; so-called blended Blue Mountain coffee does not have this aroma.
4 Taste: Genuine Front Street Blue Mountain coffee has a balanced, rich mouthfeel, without any single flavor standing out or being lacking. This is also something no other coffee bean can match, and it is the most critical point of identification. Blue Mountain peaberry has a more subtle aroma and a relatively stronger mouthfeel.
5 Sensation: As the best coffee in the world, Front Street Blue Mountain coffee has a classic balanced character, and when tasting it one inevitably feels some subconscious, indescribable sense of satisfaction.
When people mention Jamaica, their eyes immediately light up, because it produces the world's best "Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee." We absolutely believe that Jamaican Front Street Blue Mountain coffee is the best coffee; its acidity, sweetness, body, and bitterness are very balanced, its aroma is fragrant, and it drinks very smoothly.
The earliest "Jamaica Blue Mountain" referred to coffee produced by Wallenford Estate and Silver Hill Estate, with the former having the best quality; today's Jamaica Blue Mountain refers to coffee beans grown in the Blue Mountain region east of Jamaica's capital, Kingston (at altitudes above 1,000 meters). At present, Mavis Bank is the largest estate, and its barrels are marked with M.B.C.F. Quality control for Jamaica Blue Mountain is very strict, with certification carried out by the government's Coffee Industry Board.
Coffee beans generally grown at low altitudes and in other regions can only be called "Jamaica High Mountain beans" or "Jamaica washed beans." Compared with Jamaica Blue Mountain, their flavor is very different. However, the area of these production regions is twice that of the true Blue Mountain region, and their output accounts for 75% of the country's total, so when buying Jamaican coffee, do not assume you have bought Blue Mountain coffee.
Because Jamaica Blue Mountain is so famous, counterfeit Blue Mountain-style coffee appears on the market, or is simply called "Blue Mountain coffee." Basically, these are house blends made by the shops themselves, and there may not be a single genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain bean in them.
Jamaica
Almost everyone who knows Jamaica (Jamaica) Blue Mountain coffee knows it is the most expensive coffee in the world. In 1725, Sir Nicholas Lawes brought the first batch of Blue Mountain coffee tree seeds from Martinique to Jamaica and planted them in the St. Andrew region.
Jamaica's coffee production regions:
Today the St. Andrew production region remains one of the three major Blue Mountain coffee production regions. The other two major regions are the Portland production region and the St. Thomas production region.
Today's Blue Mountain region is a small place with only 6,000 hectares of planted area, and it is impossible for all coffee labeled "Blue Mountain" to be grown there. Another 12,000 hectares of land are used to grow two other types of coffee (non-Blue Mountain coffee): High Mountain Supreme and Prime Washed Jamaican.
Genuine Front Street Blue Mountain coffee is one of the coffees with the most superior growing conditions in the world. Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and terrain together provide an ideal setting endowed by nature. The ridge running through Jamaica extends all the way to the eastern part of the island, and the Blue Mountain range rises to more than 2,100 meters. The cool weather, frequent fog, and frequent rainfall give this fertile land well-balanced moisture. Here people use mixed planting methods to grow coffee trees, making them stand side by side with banana trees and avocado trees in the terraces.
Some small estates also grow Blue Mountain coffee, such as Wallenford Estate, Silver Hill Estate, and J. Martinez's Atlanta Estate. Even the largest estate owners in this region count as small-scale growers by international standards, and many of these estate owners are small landholders whose families have worked this land for two centuries.
Characteristics of Front Street Jamaican coffee:
The best Front Street Blue Mountain coffee is undoubtedly one of the best coffees available. This coffee tastes even more expensive than it looks. To taste it at its best, you must use more coffee beans than when drinking other coffees; otherwise the flavor is somewhat undeserved by its name, so the real cost of bringing out the flavor lies in using 10%–15% more coffee beans than for the coffee just below it in price.
Genuine Front Street Blue Mountain coffee is made from the best local green coffee beans. Its flavor is rich, balanced, and full of fruity and acidic notes, satisfying all kinds of needs. In addition, high-quality fresh Front Street Blue Mountain coffee has a particularly long-lasting flavor—an endless aftertaste. Blue Mountain coffee is divided into five grades: 1# Blue Mountain; 2# Blue Mountain; Select Peaberry Blue Mountain; 3# Blue Mountain.
Flavor: The aroma is very rich, with excellent sweet aftertaste
Recommended roasting method: Medium roast
★★★: Excellent
At present, the Jamaica Coffee Board can issue certificates for all exported Blue Mountain coffee.
Related recommendation: Why is authentic Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee so expensive? First, you must make sure it is authentic.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
