Why Is Blue Mountain No. 1 Called a Classic Coffee in the Second Wave?

Blue Mountain No. 1 is graded by CIB, Jamaica's Coffee Industry Board, which sorts beans by screen size, defects, and cup quality; No. 1 is the top screen grade. Authentic beans are grown in the Blue Mountains, and Front Street Coffee's price and pour-over parameters reflect that supply chain, not the blended "Blue Mountain flavor" products sold elsewhere.

The confusion dates to the period before specialty coffee went mainstream, when limited Blue Mountain output and Japanese quota buying pushed prices up. Blends using beans from other regions imitated that profile through darker roasting. CIB grading, growing altitude, and quota history explain why true Blue Mountain No. 1 costs more than a blend, and how Front Street roasts and brews it.

Blue Mountain coffee was once a representative of the second wave of specialty coffee, and for many people, the first thing that comes to mind when talking about it is "expensive." In this article, Front Street Coffee discusses authentic Blue Mountain No. 1, sorts out the historical reasons behind changes in Blue Mountain coffee prices, and explains the difference between the common "Blue Mountain flavor" and "Blue Mountain blend" products on the market and true Blue Mountain coffee. The article also introduces the growing environment of Blue Mountain coffee, the CIB grading standards, the former impact of quotas in the Japanese market, and Front Street's roasting approach and in-store brewing parameters for Blue Mountain No. 1, helping coffee lovers understand more comprehensively the value and flavor performance of this classic coffee.

In the period before specialty coffee had become a mainstream concept, Blue Mountain coffee could be called an iconic presence in the second wave of specialty coffee and was regarded by many coffee lovers as a top single-origin product. When people talk about it, they often do not first describe its flavor, but instead first mention its high price. In this article, Front Street will analyze exactly what makes Blue Mountain coffee so expensive.

How much is a cup of Front Street authentic Blue Mountain No. 1 ?

The reason Front Street specifically says "authentic Blue Mountain No. 1" is that blended products named "Blue Mountain flavor" are often seen on the market. These so-called "Blue Mountain blends" have no connection to real Blue Mountain coffee; they usually just use beans from other regions and imitate the flavor direction of Blue Mountain through roasting. This phenomenon arose because early Blue Mountain coffee was scarce in production and high in price, so operators used blended beans and darker roasting to piece together a coffee close to Blue Mountain's taste. Therefore, some honest merchants at home and abroad clearly tell customers that these are comprehensive Blue Mountain, blended Blue Mountain, Blue Mountain flavor, or Blue Mountain-style coffee beans, and are not truly produced in Blue Mountain.

Before the turn of the millennium, if you wanted to drink a cup of Blue Mountain black coffee in China, it often cost tens or even hundreds of yuan, which was quite luxurious by the consumption standards of the time, and there was also a chance that what you drank was not genuine. Later, the Jamaican government released more Blue Mountain quotas to markets in various countries, and today it is much easier to drink real Blue Mountain coffee in China. Front Street Coffee's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans are sold at 198 yuan per 100g single pack. The Blue Mountain No. 1 purchased by Front Street comes from Jamaica's long-established Clifton Estate and is washed processed.

Rare things are precious

The reason Front Street Blue Mountain coffee can maintain high quality is naturally inseparable from the advantages of its growing environment. The Blue Mountain range is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, forming a unique island-type tropical rainforest microclimate, with concentrated rainfall in the rainy season and good drainage conditions. Volcanic ash from active volcanoes makes the soil rich in nutrients, so coffee trees do not need much irrigation or fertilization. The area has ample sunshine year-round, is often shrouded in mist, and the high-altitude growing areas are cool and comfortable, very suitable for crop growth. Local people are also accustomed to planting coffee trees together with banana trees on Blue Mountain.

CIB has designated an area of about 6,000 hectares in the Blue Mountain range and strictly stipulates that only Typica coffee produced within that area can be called "Blue Mountain coffee." Coffee from other areas can only be called High Mountain coffee. According to the boundaries set by CIB, the forest areas where Blue Mountain coffee is grown are at an altitude of roughly 910 to 1,700 meters, mainly distributed in St. Thomas, St. Mary, St. Andrew, and Portland. This area accounts for about one third of the entire Blue Mountain growing region.

The variety of Blue Mountain coffee is Typica. The higher the growing altitude, the more outstanding Typica's flavor expression often is. However, Typica has poor disease resistance and is very susceptible to infection, and combined with low fruit yield per plant, it requires more manpower for careful care. In addition, the high-altitude terrain of Blue Mountain is rugged, making management and harvesting quite difficult and demanding high skill from pickers, which further limits production. In recent years, less than 15% of coffee beans produced in Jamaica can bear the Blue Mountain coffee label, only about 900 tons. After picking, the fresh coffee cherries are immediately sent to the processing plant, where they are washed to remove the skin and pulp and then dried.

The "monopoly" of the Japanese market

Before the 1960s, Jamaican coffee beans were already quite popular in the specialty market. In 1969, Jamaica suffered a severe hurricane disaster, and many industries fell into difficulty, including the coffee industry. At that time, the Japanese company UCC provided financial assistance to Jamaica's coffee industry and introduced scientific ecological cultivation methods. In return for this help, the Jamaican government signed a 30-year contract with Japan, promising to supply 90% of the quota of high-quality Blue Mountain coffee to Japan, with the remaining 10% allocated to European and American countries.

During this period, the Japanese domestic market did not fully consume all of this Blue Mountain coffee, and some beans were resold at high prices to other Asian countries and regions. Coupled with vigorous promotion by Japan, many nearby coffee lovers also began to pursue Blue Mountain coffee, such as in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, China, and other places. Around 2000, the "Blue Mountain craze" gradually spread to China, creating a situation in which Blue Mountain coffee prices were high and the beans were hard to obtain.

When the global economic crisis broke out in 2008, Jamaica tried to sell Blue Mountain coffee to more countries. It happened that the agreement with Japan had also expired, so it allocated more Blue Mountain quotas to other countries. As demand in China's coffee market continues to expand, many merchants in China are now able to import Blue Mountain coffee beans directly from Jamaica. This is also why the Blue Mountain coffee drunk today is cheaper than in the past.

How high is the grade of Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1?

CIB was the earliest institution to use scientific and objective methods to assess coffee quality grades, grading comprehensively based on green bean size, color, uniformity, defect rate, moisture content, and cup performance.

Before export, Front Street's Blue Mountain green beans are packed and sent for testing, and are ranked by specification size and defect rate after processing, divided into Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, Blue Mountain No. 3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. Bean size is distinguished by screens with different hole sizes; coffee beans that cannot pass through the holes meet the corresponding specification standard. Top-grade Blue Mountain No. 1 green beans must reach a specification of 17 mesh or above, have a defect rate below 3%, a moisture content of about 13%, and show in cupping a rich coffee aroma, a smooth and balanced mouthfeel, lower acidity, and a lasting sweet aftertaste.

To ensure that Front Street Blue Mountain coffee beans maintain better quality before roasting and avoid the effects of moisture penetration during transportation, Jamaicans insist on using handmade wooden barrels as the carrier for Blue Mountain green beans, and the wooden barrel has therefore become one of the important symbols of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

Front Street's roasting philosophy is to present coffee's most classic flavor profile, such as the bright lemony acidity of Yirgacheffe and the rich, toasty mouthfeel of Indonesian Mandheling coffee. Front Street Blue Mountain naturally also needs to highlight the classic Blue Mountain flavor. Front Street uses a medium-dark roast to maximize the coffee's chocolate and nutty aromas while retaining soft acidity and sweetness, making the overall taste more balanced.

How should Front Street authentic Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee be brewed to taste good?

As the coffee atmosphere in China continues to heat up, even without going to a coffee shop, you can now brew a fragrant and delicious cup of Blue Mountain coffee at home. After buying Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans, many friends ask Front Street how to brew it to taste better. Here, Front Street shares its extraction approach based on in-store production.

First, before brewing, Front Street confirms the freshness of the coffee beans. If the roast date is already more than a month ago, Front Street will switch to fresher coffee beans. This is because coffee beans have an optimal tasting period after roasting, and the aroma accelerates in loss as storage time increases, making it difficult to present the original flavor during brewing. This is also why Front Street insists on shipping only coffee freshly roasted within 5 days. Front Street hopes every customer can enjoy coffee beans during their most complete tasting period.

Front Street takes into account that medium-dark roasted coffee has undergone a certain degree of roasting, so the internal structure of the beans is fluffier than that of light-roasted coffee, and therefore absorbs water better. To avoid over-extraction, Front Street chooses a grind size with a 75% pass rate on a No. 20 standard sieve and a water temperature of 88°C, paired with Front Street's usual three-stage pouring.

When brewing coffee beans with a mainly bitter profile, Front Street usually gives priority to the KONO dripper, with the aim of highlighting the coffee's rich mouthfeel. The upper part of the KONO dripper allows the filter paper to fit better, and compared with the V60 dripper, its extraction method leans more toward immersion, helping to increase the coffee's overall concentration and enhance its richness. Similarly, the KONO dripper is also suitable for brewing Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans and Golden Mandheling coffee beans.

The parameters for brewing Blue Mountain No. 1 at Front Street's store are:

Dripper: KONO dripper

Water temperature: 88 degrees Celsius

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Coffee grounds: 15g

Grind size: EK43s - setting 10.5 (75% pass rate on No. 20 standard sieve)

Here, Front Street first wets the KONO dripper, then aligns and places the filter paper so that it fits the dripper more closely. After pouring out the water in the server, add 15g of coffee grounds, bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, then pour in a small stream in circles from the center until reaching 125g, at which point begin the stages. When the coffee bed drops to the halfway point of the dripper, pour the second stage in the same manner until 225g, and after all dripping is complete, remove the dripper.

Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee drinks with the sweet fragrance of dark chocolate, the sweetness of caramel, and a soft, elegant acidity. The various tastes are balanced together, the mouthfeel is smooth and rich, presenting a very typical Blue Mountain flavor.

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