Jamaica’s Blue Mountain Coffee is considered as some of the world’s finest coffee. It’s the aroma, the balance, flavor and acidity of the coffee that make Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee stand apart. Jamaicans take pride in their Blue Mountain coffee.
Jamaica’s Blue Mountain Coffee is renowned for its delicate sweet flavor, which comes from the Arabica bean. Other contributing factors to its distinctive taste include the cool air, soil quality and bountiful rainfall in the Blue Mountains, where the coffee is grown, was well as expertise handed down from generation to generation.
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is considered to be among the best of the gourmet coffees in the world. To ensure the quality, the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board set standards for the coffee beans and the processing in order to carry the ‘Blue Mountain Coffee’ label. The coffee must be grown in a specified region of the mountains at an elevation of between 2,000 and 4,500 feet. 90% of Jamaica’s Blue Mountain coffee production is exported to Japan.
The first coffee seedlings were brought to Jamaica from Hispaniola in 1728 by the Governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes. The mountain slopes were cleared to establish coffee plantations and by the first quarter of the 19th century, Jamaica was the leading coffee producer in the world. Today many of the coffee estates have been shut down. Although some coffee estates remain, most of the beans are grown on small plots by local farmers. The process of hand picking ripe berries then drying, curing and roasting the beans is time consuming. Each farmer has his own ‘secret’ process and is happy to explain why his is the very best. Visiting a local coffee farmer in Jamaica is an excellent opportunity for coffee connoisseurs to sample a variety of roasts and to purchase a truly unique product.
