Jamaica is known for exporting bananas, rum and sugar cane. But did you know that one of the world’s finest green coffees is also grown on the Caribbean island?
Coffee experts around the world agree: few coffees strike such a perfect balance of wonderfully rich aromas with a full, harmonious body and an elegant, almost imperceptible acidity as Jamaica Blue Mountain. The single-origin coffee made from 100% arabica beans is one of the best coffees in the world. Due to its special quality, this coffee releases nutty notes with hints of chocolate and sweet, floral nuances in the cup – almost regardless of which preparation method you use.
The perfect preparation for this special kind of coffee
Jamaica Blue Mountain tastes particularly good when prepared as filter coffee. To bring out the wonderful interplay of nutty, chocolatey and floral aromas to the full, we recommend brewing the coffee with a pour-over coffee dripper. If you don’t have a traditional coffee dripper to hand, it also tastes great when prepared with a French press.
What makes Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee so special?
The coffee beans owe their special character to the climate in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. Due to the humid, north-east trade winds, the region’s climate is much cooler than on the rest of the island. Thanks to very low fluctuations in temperature, heavy rainfall all year round, and dense cloud cover with little sunlight, the coffee cherries grow more slowly than usual. Surrounded by lush forests and grown at altitudes of between 900 and 1,700 metres, the cherries mature for 10 months rather than five. This longer ripening period yields particularly large, firm berries with a wonderfully full flavour.
Did you know?
The first coffee plants in Jamaica were farmed in the 18th century – and by 1814, the Caribbean country’s annual coffee exports already totalled around 15,000 tonnes.
However, the longer ripening period and limited availability also make Jamaica Blue Mountain one of the most expensive coffees in the world. Average prices for the coffee are around $100 per kilogramme. What’s more, only experienced pickers can harvest the coffee beans on the region’s steep slopes – and Jamaica Blue Mountain remains the only green coffee in the world to be traditionally packed and exported in small wooden barrels. These factors also contribute to the coffee’s comparatively high price.
