Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, is arguably the world’s best coffee, known for its distinctive flavour and unsurpassed quality. Its superior taste comes from the Coffee Arabica specie nurtured by the rich soil and the misty lushness of the slopes of the towering 7000 feet Blue Mountain Range which hugs the North East Coast of Jamaica.
After the introduction of coffee into Jamaica by then Governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes in 1728, the industry rapidly expanded to over 600 coffee plantations by 1814, spreading from the foothills of St. Andrew where it began, to the Blue Mountains and other geographic areas of Jamaica. Lowland and High mountains are also top quality coffee grown at lower elevations in Jamaica, but Blue Mountain Coffee is the cream of the crop. A premium brand, Blue Mountain Coffee is exported primarily as green beans to markets such as Japan and the United States but also increasingly, through a range of high end roasted brands, coffee liqueurs and beverages to markets around the world. Patrick Sibbles, entrepreneur behind the 30-year-old Coffee Industries Limited notes: “Jamaica produces the best coffee in the world, whether it’s Blue Mountain or Jamaica Prime”. And in fact Coffee Industries Limited won the Food Europe Award for two consecutive years for its Jamaica Mountain Choice brand. Coffee Mill of Jamaica also owned by Sibbles, opened its first shop in China on March 31, 2006, following the establishment of shops in Montego Bay Sangster’s International Airport, and New Kingston, Kingston’s business hub.
As Douglas Graham, one of the leading coffee entrepreneurs in Jamaica points out, Blue Mountain Coffee has more body, a better aroma and is sweeter than the rest. “Blue Mountain Coffee doesn’t need milk. It’s not harsh,” Graham says.
Graham’s Greenwich Farm Estate, established in 1976 sits comfortably on 109 acres of the Greenwich Mount section of the Blue Mountains. They farm, pick and export coffee mainly to Mitsubishi Foods in Japan. Greenwich Farm is also a roaster and producer of value added coffee which they sell both online and also to local restaurants, hotels and to the ice cream connoisseurs Häagen-Dazs. The quality of Blue Mountain Coffee is carefully managed by a Coffee Industry Board (CIB) to guarantee that only the best coffee from a specified elevation in the mountains, is designated “Blue Mountain Coffee”.
Certified by the International Standards Organization (ISO:9000), the CIB maintains rigid quality control measures in order to preserve the value of the product. This starts from careful selection of the coffee seedling and goes through to the farm and to the special processing practices, before the coffee is certified by the CIB for sale. “It is the meticulous care and attention to detail shown by roasters, such as Graham, who use special roasting technology and also the farmers who pay close attention to the coffee crop throughout its four year growing span that contributes to the product’s stellar quality,“ observes Arlene Daley, Corporate Communications Manager at the Coffee Industry Board, adding that, every serious roaster in Jamaica employs a cupper or have their staff trained as cuppers, to ensure that only the best Jamaican coffee reaches the market. Much of the processing of coffee beans is done in Jamaica by the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, a processing facility nestled in the Blue Mountains which was established in 1923 by coffee farmer Victor Munn.
Today, the factory remains Jamaica’s largest fully integrated processing facility where all aspects of the process - from berry picking to the final product - take place. As a result of the careful quality control and unique flavour, Blue Mountain coffee fetches premium price at specialty foods outlets, commanding up to US$30 or US$40 per pound. On average, Blue Mountain Coffee retails at a value of US$12.00 and upwards per pound compared to Colombian Coffee which is sold for US$0.80 cents per pound.
“It’s very balanced, subtle and smooth when compared to the Colombian Coffee,” says Mark Fletcher, a Jamaican coffee roaster. Fletcher along with his father, John, have owned and managed Country Traders for the past sixteen years. Starting off as distributors of value added coffee in 1991, the Fletchers saw the profit potential of roasting Blue Mountain Coffee and established Coffee Roasters of Jamaica in 1994.
“We’ve grown in that twelve years and our overall sales have multiplied four times over. Our yearly production stands at around 150,000 pounds and yearly turnover exceeds J$100-M,” Fletcher beams. “If you decide to invest in coffee, you have to pay close attention to it, or partner with someone already in the industry who knows the “how to” of the industry. Coffee has to be nurtured. It takes day-today care. You have to be committed,” says Fletcher.
