What Makes Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee Distinct

Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 is a washed specialty coffee grown in Jamaica's Blue Mountains and graded by bean size, with No. 1 being the largest screen size. It is known for a mellow, balanced profile. Before 2009, Japan held priority purchasing rights and took over eighty percent of the beans, so genuine Blue Mountain was hard to find elsewhere.

After 2009, the Jamaican government ended that arrangement, and legitimate imports reached markets such as China. The growing area has since expanded and Japanese buying power has weakened, so genuine Blue Mountain is no longer as scarce as it once was. Knowing the grading and origin details helps buyers identify the real thing.

Blue Mountain Coffee, as a leading light among specialty coffees, is renowned worldwide for its mellow and balanced flavor. This article will take you through a comprehensive understanding of genuine Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee from multiple dimensions, including the historical origins of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, its growing environment, grading standards, varietal characteristics, and processing methods. At the same time, Front Street Coffee will share the pour-over parameters and flavor descriptions for Blue Mountain Coffee, including the taste differences between the natural and washed processing methods, to help coffee lovers better appreciate this legendary coffee.

Specialty coffee has always had extremely strict requirements for green beans and roasted beans, and Blue Mountain Coffee, as the cream of the crop among specialty coffees, naturally stands out in quality. Although Geisha coffee has now surpassed Blue Mountain in fame, Blue Mountain's status as "the foremost in mellow aroma" has never been shaken by any other coffee. Precisely because Blue Mountain Coffee is so outstanding, the market is flooded with a large number of coffees bearing the Blue Mountain name — whether they are the real deal is another matter entirely. Today, Front Street will take a proper look at genuine Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee.

Before 2009, getting a cup of genuine Blue Mountain Coffee in China was not easy, because Japan once held the priority purchasing rights to Blue Mountain coffee beans, monopolizing over eighty percent of Blue Mountain beans. It was not until after 2009 that the Jamaican government terminated Japan's special privilege. Due to strong demand in the Chinese market, legitimate imports of Blue Mountain have a history of many years, and Blue Mountain estate owners have also visited China multiple times in recent years, allowing Chinese consumers to gain a deeper understanding of Blue Mountain coffee beans. Blue Mountain sold in the Chinese market is not so scarce that everything is counterfeit. Today, the production area for Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee has expanded compared to the past, and with Japan's purchasing power weakening, genuine Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is also circulating in the Chinese market — as long as you know how to identify it, you can buy the real thing. In other words, enjoying authentic Blue Mountain Coffee now is considerably easier than before.

The History of Blue Mountain Coffee

In 1717, King Louis XV of France ordered coffee to be planted in Jamaica. In the mid-1720s, Jamaica's governor Sir Nicholas Lawes introduced Arabica seeds from Martinique and promoted their cultivation in the St. Andrew region. To this day, St. Andrew remains one of the three major production regions of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, the other two being the Portland region and the St. Thomas region. Within the following eight years, Jamaica exported as much as 375 tons of pure coffee. In 1932, coffee production reached its peak, with a harvest exceeding 15,000 tons.

In 1950, the Jamaican government established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board, responsible for setting coffee quality standards and overseeing their enforcement to ensure the quality of Jamaican coffee. The board issues specially crafted official seals for exported green beans and roasted beans, making it the highest-level national coffee authority in the world. Currently, there are six marks that can represent the origin of Blue Mountain Coffee: Mavis Bank Coffee Factory (M.B.C.F), Blue Mountain Coffee Cooperative Factory (M.H.C.C.T.), Portland Blue Mountain Coffee Cooperative Factory (P.X.X.S.H.), Coffee Industry Association (Wallenford), Coffee Industry Association (St. John's Peak), and J.A.S.

In 1969, the situation improved, with Japanese loans helping to enhance production quality and thereby stabilize the market. Today, this coffee has reached a level of passionate pursuit.

In 1981, Jamaica cleared approximately 1,500 hectares of land for coffee planting, and subsequently opened up another 6,000 hectares of coffee plantations. In fact, today's Blue Mountain region has only 6,000 hectares of planted area, so it is impossible for all coffee labeled "Blue Mountain" to come from there. The other 12,000 hectares of land are used for growing High Mountain Supreme Coffee and Jamaica Prime Washed Coffee.

Blue Mountain Coffee Growing Environment

Even if Blue Mountain coffee trees were transplanted to other countries, even Hawaii, the same Blue Mountain flavor could not be produced. This shows how unique Blue Mountain Coffee's growing environment is. Blue Mountain is located within the coffee belt between 25 degrees north and south latitude, enjoying a uniquely advantageous geographical position. The Blue Mountain range is situated in eastern Jamaica, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. On clear days, sunlight strikes the azure sea surface directly, and the peaks reflect a brilliant blue glow — hence the name Blue Mountain. The highest peak of Blue Mountain stands at 2,256 meters above sea level, the tallest in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. Located in the coffee belt, it has fertile volcanic soil, fresh and pollution-free air, a humid climate with year-round fog and rain, an average precipitation of 1,980 millimeters, and a temperature of about 27 degrees. Front Street believes that it is precisely these climatic conditions that have created the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and the world's most expensive coffee.

Coffee grown on Blue Mountain typically matures between June and November each year, and local women workers familiar with the terrain are arranged to pick coffee cherries on the steep slopes. Picking the fruit places certain demands on the workers' experience — they need to harvest cherries at just the right ripeness, because coffee cherries that are underripe or overripe will affect the quality of the resulting coffee.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is the only production region among all coffee beans that uses wooden barrels to pack green beans; all other regions use burlap sacks. The rainforest water frog logo on the barrel means that Clifton Estate meets the "Sustainable Agricultural System Standards" and has obtained Rainforest Alliance certification.

Front Street's Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is sourced precisely from Clifton Estate, an export company designated by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board. The wooden barrels containing the green coffee beans are printed with Clifton Estate's English name and the green water frog logo.

Clifton Estate

Clifton Estate is the oldest estate in Jamaica, having begun planting coffee in the mid-eighteenth century, and by 1900 it had developed into Jamaica's largest estate. In 1978, the Sharp family took over the management of Clifton Estate, improved the coffee growing environment within the estate, introduced advanced equipment, and established BMCP, currently Jamaica's largest coffee processing plant.

Clifton Estate has always adhered to environmental principles, investing substantial funds in building solar power stations and wastewater treatment plants, and the removed fruit skins are fermented into organic fertilizer.

How Many Types of Blue Mountain Coffee Are There?

Coffee beans are graded differently in different places. Blue Mountain coffee beans are graded according to altitude and bean size. Based on growing altitude, Jamaica classifies coffee grown in the Blue Mountain range into Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaican High Mountain Coffee, and Jamaican Coffee.

1. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Blue Mountain Coffee and High Mountain Coffee are each further divided into four grades. From highest to lowest quality, they are: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and PB — PB meaning Peaberry. According to CIB standards, only coffee grown at altitudes of 1,000–1,700 meters can be called Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. It has low yield, large beans, excellent quality, and a harmonious taste, combining appropriate acidity, bitterness, aroma, body, and sweetness. It is globally recognized as a supreme product, and therefore the price of the national treasure Blue Mountain No. 1 is the highest among all Blue Mountain coffees.

(1) No. 1 – 17/18 screen, defect rate not exceeding 2%.

(2) No. 2 – 16/17 screen, defect rate not exceeding 2%.

(3) No. 3 – 15/16 screen, defect rate not exceeding 2%.

(4) Peaberry – 10MS, defect rate not exceeding 2%.

2. Jamaican High Mountain Coffee

Coffee produced at altitudes of 500–1,000 meters in Jamaica's Blue Mountain region is called High Mountain Coffee, second only to Blue Mountain Coffee in quality.

3. Jamaican Coffee

Coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain range is called Jamaican Coffee, grown at altitudes below 500 meters.

Therefore, Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee is globally recognized as a supreme product and the most expensive among all Blue Mountain coffees.

The basic standards for the Blue Mountain No. 1 green beans that Front Street sources are: beans of 17 screen or above, defect rate below 2%, moisture content around 13%, appearing plump, uniform in size, and blue-green in color. In flavor, it combines pleasant acidity, sweetness, bitterness, aroma, and full body.

Blue Mountain Typica Variety

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee belongs to the Typica variety, a pure-tasting Arabica variety with a long history of cultivation. The Typica Blue Mountain Coffee has a dark chocolate flavor — not milk chocolate, but dark chocolate with a purity above 92 — and this flavor originates from the pure Typica variety. Typica coffee is highly susceptible to leaf rust. The Typica coffee originally widely planted in Central and South America was continually replaced due to rampant leaf rust, but Jamaica, relying on its geographical advantages, still has Typica as its main planted variety, with a very low incidence of leaf rust.

Typica has a tall tree shape, with reddish-copper young leaves at the top, and is therefore often called Red Top coffee. Typica has a pure and elegant flavor, yet it is physically weak, has poor disease resistance, and very low yield per plant. This is also why Typica variety coffee is becoming increasingly rare today. Typica was introduced to Blue Mountain for cultivation in the 18th century and has been grown for over two hundred years. Blue Mountain's Typica has also adapted to the local island terroir, evolving better disease resistance, including much stronger resistance to coffee berry disease than ordinary Typica.

Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Early Blue Mountain Coffee was only washed. With the development of specialty coffee, in 2019 Clifton Farm first attempted to introduce a natural-processed Blue Mountain batch. Although natural-processed Blue Mountain Coffee is hard to come by, Front Street believes that washed Blue Mountain Coffee better reflects the essential flavor of coffee, so almost all of Front Street's everyday beans are washed. Of course, Front Street also offers Blue Mountain Coffee in both natural and washed processing methods for you to choose from.

Front Street Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Blue Mountain Coffee, whether green beans or roasted beans, is particularly beautiful. Faced with such beautiful coffee beans, you truly don't want to waste a single one. Of course, Front Street believes that no matter what coffee beans you have, try not to waste them — be sure to brew a delicious cup of coffee!

To brew a good cup of coffee, besides the coffee variety, the freshness of the coffee beans is also crucial. Front Street believes that coffee bean freshness is a very important part of brewing. The coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee are all within 5 days of roasting, because Front Street knows well that coffee bean freshness greatly affects flavor. Front Street's roasting philosophy is "Freshly roasted good coffee," so that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee. Coffee beans need a resting period of about 4–7 days, so when customers receive them, the flavor is at its best.

Of course, some customers need Front Street to help grind the beans, which is also fine, but Front Street must remind you: once coffee beans are pre-ground, there is no need for further resting, because the pressure from carbon dioxide inside the packaging during transport also rounds out the coffee's flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because after contact with air it oxidizes quickly, the flavor dissipates faster, and the taste becomes less good. Therefore, Front Street recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh for each brew, so you can better taste the coffee's flavor.

Front Street's Brewing Parameters for Blue Mountain Coffee:

When brewing these two Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans, Front Street Coffee uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15 and a grind size of 75% passing a No. 20 standard sieve. To highlight Blue Mountain Coffee's characteristics of balance, full body, and gentle fruit acidity, Front Street uses a water temperature of 88°C. For the dripper, the KONO dripper is the first choice. Front Street takes into account that both Blue Mountain beans use a relatively dark roast; the darker the roast, the faster coffee compounds dissolve. To avoid over-extraction, Front Street uses a lower water temperature for extraction, while using the Kono dripper with a slower flow rate to ensure that as much coffee material as possible is extracted under low-temperature conditions.

The brewing parameters Front Street uses are: Kono dripper, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee dose, grind size (75% passing a No. 20 standard sieve).

Front Street uses staged extraction, namely a three-pour method, using 30g of water for blooming with a bloom time of 30s. The first pour is a slow circular pour with a small stream to 125g, then stop. When the liquid level drops to just about to expose the coffee bed, continue with the second pour to 225g to finish extraction. Total extraction time (including bloom) is 2'00.

Blue Mountain Coffee Flavor Description

[Front Street Natural Blue Mountain Coffee Flavor] Mild berry acidity, reminiscent of smoked plum and mulberry, with good overall balance, rich dark chocolate and nutty flavors, and a slight fermented note.

[Front Street Washed Blue Mountain Coffee Flavor] Rich dark chocolate and nutty flavors, creamy smooth mouthfeel, balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness.

Although Blue Mountain Coffee is so excellent, Front Street believes that with so many coffee bean varieties and different production regions, flavors will also differ. So Front Street suggests that if possible, try more flavors from other production regions and experience the fun that different flavors bring. Front Street has over fifty single-origin coffees from different regions, fully capable of satisfying everyone's tasting needs!

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.