Why Blue Mountain No. 1 is prized as the largest coffee bean
Clydesdale Estate dates to 1801 and vanished from records after 1842, leaving only ruins of its old grinding factory. The brand was revived by the Sharp family trading company, which buys cherries from nearby farmers and processes them at the B.M.C.P factory. Its Blue Mountain No. 1 uses the Blue Mountain Typica variety, semi-washed and graded at 18 screen.
Jamaica sits within the coffee belt, the band of tropical growing regions between the Tropics. Blue Mountain Typica grown there develops a balance of acidity, bitterness, sweetness and body that drinkers often describe as the beauty of coffee. Semi-washed processing and strict grading at 18 screen keep the lots uniform before roasting and brewing.
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee has swept the globe, and the Blue Mountain No. 1 produced by Clydesdale Estate is among its finest. This article takes you through the rise, fall, and revival of this old farm from 1801 to the present, explaining the Blue Mountain Typica variety, the semi-washed processing method, and the strict grading and unique flavor of Blue Mountain coffee. We will also share Front Street's brewing suggestions and tasting experience for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, giving you a comprehensive understanding of this top-tier coffee that combines acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and body, known as the "Beauty of Coffee."
Jamaica is an island nation in the Caribbean, and the Blue Mountain coffee it produces enjoys a global reputation. Next, we will introduce a small Blue Mountain coffee plantation there, whose Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee is of exceptional quality.
【Original Name】Jamaica CLYSDEDALE Estate Blue Mountain No.1
【Chinese Name】Front Street Jamaica Clydesdale Estate Blue Mountain No.1
【Variety】Blue Mountain Typica variety
【Green Bean Processing Method】Semi-Washed Process
【Origin】JamaicaBlue Mountain
【Region/Estate/Cooperative】CLYSDEDALE Estate
【Label】Blue Mountain No.1
【Grade】NO.1 defects<1%
【Appearance】18 screen
Front Street Clydesdale Estate
The history of Clydesdale Estate (now represented by Karumon Shanghai Company) can be traced back to 1801 and continued until 1842.
Between 1801 and 1825, the estate's first owner was Colin McClarty, after whom his son Alexander McClarty took over as the second-generation estate owner.
From 1825 to 1842, management of the estate passed to the third-generation owner, Alexander Campbell.
After 1842, records of the estate cease, and Clydesdale Estate disappeared from the annals of history.
Today, only the dilapidated remains of the old coffee grinding factory can be found locally.
What revived this ancient brand was the coffee trading company run by the Sharp family, including father Florence Sharp, eldest son Richard Sharp, and younger son Jason Sharp. They purchase fresh coffee cherries from farmers near Clydesdale Estate and send them to the B.M.C.P factory under Coffee Traders Limited for grinding and barreling. Our Japanese parent company ATAKA Trading also holds a partial investment in the B.M.C.P factory.
In summary, Clydesdale is now not merely the name of an estate but a prominent coffee brand. It is procured by the Sharp family's Coffee Traders Limited, produced and processed by the B.M.C.P factory, and exclusively bought out by Japan's ATAKA Trading—this is Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee.
Baidu information:
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is recognized as the world's most exceptional coffee, with very limited production—rare things are precious. The Blue Mountain range lies in the eastern part of Jamaica. Surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days sunlight strikes the azure sea, and the peaks reflect the brilliant blue glow of the water, giving Blue Mountain its name. The highest peak of Blue Mountain is 2,256 meters above sea level, the highest in the Caribbean region and a famous tourist destination. Located in the coffee belt, it has fertile volcanic soil, fresh unpolluted air, and a humid climate with year-round fog and rain (average precipitation about 1,980 mm, temperature about 27°C). Such climatic conditions create the world-renowned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and also the world's most expensive coffee. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee possesses all the characteristics of high-quality coffee: not only is it rich and mellow, but because sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly balanced, it has no bitterness at all, only a moderate and perfect acidity. It is usually enjoyed as a single-origin brew, but due to its extremely limited production and high price, coffees of similar flavor are often used for blending on the market.
The "secret" to Blue Mountain coffee's pure taste lies in the fact that the coffee trees all grow on rugged mountain slopes, making harvesting extremely difficult and impossible for anyone but skilled local women workers. Selecting perfectly ripe coffee cherries during harvest is crucial, as underripe or overripe cherries affect coffee quality. After picking, the cherries must be pulped the same day, then fermented for 12 to 18 hours. The beans are then washed and sorted. The next step is drying, which must be done on concrete floors or thick blankets until the moisture content drops to 12%–14%. They are then stored in special warehouses. When needed, they are taken out for roasting and then ground into powder. These procedures must be strictly controlled, or the coffee quality will suffer. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is the world's most exceptional coffee, and Jamaica's weather, geological structure, and terrain together provide ideal conditions. The ridge running through Jamaica extends to the eastern part of the island, with the Blue Mountain range reaching over 2,100 meters. The weather is cool, foggy, and rainy, and this fertile land receives well-balanced rainfall. Coffee trees here are grown using mixed planting methods, companionably intercropped with banana and avocado trees on terraces. Some small estates also grow coffee. But even the largest estate owners in the region are considered small-scale by international standards, and many are small landholders whose families have farmed for two hundred years. Jamaica's coffee industry faces a series of problems, such as hurricane damage, rising labor costs, and the difficulty of mechanizing terraced farming. Many small estates and farms struggle to rationalize their cultivation.
Because Japan has consistently invested in Jamaica's coffee industry, most Blue Mountain coffee today is controlled by Japanese interests, and they have also obtained priority purchasing rights for 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. Now, 90% of Blue Mountain coffee is purchased by the Japanese. Since the rest of the world can only obtain 10% of Blue Mountain, demand always outstrips supply regardless of price.
Coffee from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region is divided into three grades: Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans, and Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans. Blue Mountain Coffee and High Mountain Coffee are each further divided into two grades. From highest to lowest quality: Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, High Mountain No. 1, High Mountain No. 2, and Jamaica Coffee. Generally, coffee grown at elevations between 457 and 1,524 meters is called High Mountain Coffee, coffee grown between 274 and 457 meters is called Jamaica Coffee, and only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain region above 1,800 meters can be called Blue Mountain Coffee. In price, Blue Mountain Coffee is several times more expensive than High Mountain Coffee. It is mainly distributed across five peaks: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.
Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee brewing flavor:
The aroma is very rich, with a lasting fruity note.
Bean:
Relatively plump.
Recommended roast:
Medium roast
Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee has a very low caffeine content—less than half that of other coffees—aligning with modern health concepts.
Pure Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee perfectly blends the unique acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and body of coffee into a strongly alluring elegance that other coffees cannot match. Fans of Blue Mountain coffee say: "It is the 'Beauty of Coffee' that combines all the virtues of good coffee." Jim, general manager of the American Peet's company famous for coffee and tea, described Blue Mountain coffee: "Its flavor is aromatic, smooth, and mellow, giving me a feeling as precious as a gemstone. It is precisely because Blue Mountain coffee's flavor is moderate and perfect that it is generally enjoyed as black coffee." Its liquid is golden in sunlight and goes down very smoothly. Coffee books say Blue Mountain is the only coffee in the world that combines acidity and bitterness in a way people can enjoy—you'll understand once you taste it.
The image below shows the location of Clydesdale on the map
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
