Why is Blue Mountain coffee so expensive?

A plot in the drama Ode to Joy led viewers to think Green Mountain was a knockoff of Blue Mountain. Green Mountain Coffee is a real brand from Vermont, founded in 1981, built on Keurig single-serve machines and K-Cups. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is a separate origin product, and its limited supply, strict altitude rules, and grading push prices far higher.

Blue Mountain No. 1 occupies the top grade among Jamaican coffees, and lower tiers are sold separately. Green Mountain took the convenient route, selling Arabica beans at lower prices with machines near cost and profit from K-Cups, about 12 dollars for a 24-count pack, or roughly 0.5 dollars per cup. The article also covers Blue Mountain flavor, pour-over parameters, and tasting methods.

In the TV drama "Ode to Joy," a conversation about "Green Mountain Coffee" and "Blue Mountain Coffee" led many viewers to believe that Green Mountain was a knockoff of Blue Mountain. In reality, there is indeed a coffee brand called Green Mountain in the United States, and it is completely different from Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. Starting from this plot, this article first clarifies the true background of Green Mountain Coffee: it is a brand from Vermont, USA, which broke into the office market with Keurig single-serve coffee machines and K-Cups, taking a convenient and affordable route. Then it turns to Blue Mountain Coffee, explaining why it is expensive, what grade Blue Mountain No. 1 occupies among Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees, and the flavor, pour-over parameters, and tasting methods of Blue Mountain No. 1 recommended by Front Street.

In the Chinese TV drama "Ode to Joy," there is a plot about Green Mountain Coffee: "I brought some Green Mountain Coffee back from the US." "It's called Blue Mountain Coffee, not Green Mountain Coffee." The characters in the show also believe that Green Mountain is a knockoff of Blue Mountain. Actually, Green Mountain Coffee does exist in the US. So what exactly is the story behind Green Mountain Coffee? In this article, Front Street will talk about it for everyone.

Green Mountain Coffee (Keurig Green Mountain)

Green Mountain does not refer to coffee from a certain place, but is a coffee brand from Vermont, USA, founded in 1981. Green Mountain Coffee launched the "Keurig single-serve coffee machine" and the matching "K-Cup coffee," allowing office workers to brew a rich cup of black coffee conveniently and quickly at any time, which made it very popular on the market. No need to grind coffee beans, no need to weigh, no need to clean, no residue at the bottom of the cup, exactly one cup each time, and never having to worry about whether too much material was added—it is more convenient than traditional coffee machines, and the coffee aroma is also richer.

Unlike Starbucks coffee's "high-taste" expensive coffee, Green Mountain Coffee sells lower-priced high-quality Arabica coffee beans. Green Mountain coffee machines sell for just over 100 dollars, basically at cost, and the brand mainly profits from selling K-Cups. A 24-count pack of K-Cups usually sells for 12 dollars, equivalent to 0.5 dollars per cup. Today, households and offices in North America consume more than 3 million K-Cups every day. Nearly one-third of Green Mountain's more than 2 billion dollars in sales revenue comes from the office market. Moreover, Green Mountain Coffee allows other beverage producers to produce K-Cup packaging, and these companies only need to pay Green Mountain a licensing fee of 6 cents per cup. In other words, Green Mountain Coffee has turned the K-Cup into an open platform for the beverage industry.

Green Mountain Coffee is undoubtedly a very successful sales model, but its visibility in China is not high because Green Mountain Coffee is exclusively supplied to the North American domestic market. Around the turn of the millennium, China's coffee culture was not as vibrant as it is now, and at that time the only name people could really mention was Blue Mountain Coffee.

Why is Blue Mountain Coffee so expensive?

In the past, we often heard claims like "Blue Mountain Coffee is too expensive to afford." "Only Blue Mountain Coffee from Japan is authentic." The formation of these rumors originated from the coffee contract signed between Jamaica and Japan in the 1970s.

Before the 1960s, Jamaican coffee beans were already very popular throughout the specialty market. In 1969, Jamaica was severely affected by hurricanes, and many industries fell into difficulty, including the coffee industry. At this time, Japan's UCC company provided financial assistance to Jamaica's coffee industry and introduced scientific ecological cultivation methods. The Jamaican government, in gratitude, signed a 30-year contract with Japan, agreeing to supply 90% of the quota of high-quality Blue Mountain coffee to Japan, with the remaining 10% allocated to Europe and the United States. After the contract between the two sides expired, it coincided with the global economic crisis, Japan's economic downturn, and declining purchasing power. In addition, Jamaican coffee farmers were unwilling to continue being monopolized by Japanese merchants, so they significantly raised the prices of green coffee beans. Up to now, Japan's purchases of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee have dropped from the previous 90% to less than 60%.

Now, with coffee culture flourishing, we can already import Blue Mountain coffee beans directly from Jamaica. At Front Street, you can drink authentic Blue Mountain coffee. Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 is sold at 158 yuan per 100 grams per pack, and drinking it directly as pour-over is 60 yuan per cup, which is a relatively affordable price.

What grade does Blue Mountain No. 1 belong to?

Blue Mountain No. 1 is the highest grade among Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees. Professional and meticulous processing methods produce extremely high-quality Blue Mountain beans, making it a Jamaican national treasure-level product.

Before export, Blue Mountain green beans are packaged and sent for testing, and the coffee beans produced in Blue Mountain are graded according to various standards. CIB is the earliest institution to use scientific and objective methods to evaluate and grade coffee quality, combining green bean size, color, uniformity, defect rate, moisture content, and cupping performance for grading. Blue Mountain coffee is divided into four grades: Blue Mountain No. 1, Blue Mountain No. 2, Blue Mountain No. 3, and Blue Mountain Peaberry. Blue Mountain No. 1 is the highest grade.

Top-grade Blue Mountain No. 1 green beans must meet specifications of above 17 screen size, a defect rate below 3%, a moisture content of about 13%, and in cupping present rich coffee aroma, a smooth and balanced taste, low acidity, and a lasting sweet aftertaste. To ensure that Blue Mountain coffee beans maintain better quality until roasting and to avoid moisture from seeping in during transportation, Jamaicans insist on using handcrafted wooden barrels as the carriers for Blue Mountain green beans. The wooden barrel has also 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, the mellow and toasty taste of Indonesian Mandheling coffee, and Blue Mountain naturally also needs to highlight the classic Blue Mountain flavor. Front Street uses a medium-dark roast to maximize the chocolate and nutty aromas of the coffee while retaining soft acidity and sweetness, making the overall taste more balanced.

How do you drink authentic Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee?

Authentic Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee has a dense and full aroma and a rich, changeable taste. Front Street recommends tasting it best as pour-over black coffee. In addition, the variety of Blue Mountain coffee is the ancient Arabica variety Typica, with a relatively low caffeine content and an elegant, pure flavor, so even friends drinking coffee for the first time can easily accept it.

The parameters for brewing Blue Mountain No. 1 at Front Street stores are :

Dripper: KONO dripper

Water temperature: 88 degrees Celsius

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Coffee powder: 15g

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

When Front Street brews coffee beans with bitterness as the main note, it prioritizes the KONO dripper in order to highlight the coffee's rich body. The upper part of the KONO dripper fits the filter paper better. Compared with the V60 dripper, the extraction method is mainly immersion extraction, increasing the overall concentration of the coffee to enhance its body. Similarly, the KONO dripper is also suitable for brewing Brazil Queen's Farm coffee beans and Golden Mandheling coffee beans.

At Front Street, first wet the KONO dripper, then align and place the filter paper so it fits the dripper better. After pouring out the water in the sharing pot, add 15g of coffee powder, bloom with 30g of water for 30s, then begin pouring in a small stream in a circular motion around the center. Once it reaches 125g, start分段. Wait until the coffee powder bed drops to half the height of the dripper, then begin the second pour using the same method until 225g. Once all dripping is complete, the dripper can be removed.

Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee tastes of the sweet fragrance of dark chocolate, the sweetness of caramel, and a soft, elegant acidity. Each flavor is balanced, and the mouthfeel is smooth, rich, and mellow, with a very typical Blue Mountain flavor.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Studio (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

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