Tucked within Jamaica’s high, misty Blue Mountains is one of the world’s most famous coffee-growing regions. Savvy coffee connoisseurs know that the name “Jamaican Blue Mountain” promises some of the finest coffee you can buy – but it’s important to know that labels can be misleading. What appears to be genuine Blue Mountain Coffee is often a blend containing lower-quality Jamaican coffees and just a small fraction of coveted Blue Mountain coffee. Furthermore, the market is flooded with fakes. So how do you know you’re getting the real thing?
At Difference Coffee, we only consider Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans certified by the Jamaican Coffee Board as Grade 1. This means they’re the largest, highest quality coffee beans of any grown in the Blue Mountains. Out of the many excellent coffees in this category, we then look only at those with the highest scores according to the Specialty Coffee Association’s 100-point system. Our rigorous search brings us to the most outstanding example of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in any given season.
With its signature smooth, rich, chocolately and beautifully balanced flavour, Jamaican Blue Mountain is Difference Coffee’s long-running best-seller. It’s famous as James Bond’s coffee of choice, and it seems many of our customers share 007’s impeccable taste!
WHAT IS BLUE MOUNTAIN COFFEE?
UNESCO inscribed the Blue Mountains of southeast Jamaica as a World Heritage Site for both its natural and cultural value. The extraordinary coffee that grows in the rugged, forest-covered mountains similarly represents nature and culture in harmony. The natural splendour of the landscape, with its mild climate and perfect balance of sunshine and rain, is ideal for growing world-class coffee. Meanwhile, the legacies of coffee estates in the mountains date as far back as the early 1700s. This means centuries of experience have gone into the evolution of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.
Growing coffee in the Blue Mountains isn’t easy. The terrain is steep and rugged, making harvesting a labour-intensive process. The coffee grown in the mountains also has a longer than average growing period, and is subject to rigorous quality controls. Only coffee grown in one of four parishes, within a certain range of elevation, is allowed to be called Blue Mountain coffee.
Take a sip of impeccably brewed Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and you’ll appreciate why it’s so prized. It’s mild, mellow and smooth, with notes of nuts and chocolate that are beautifully complemented by milk. These characteristics along with a limited supply result in Blue Mountain coffee always commanding high prices.
DIFFERENCE COFFEE'S JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN COFFEE
At Difference Coffee, we start by looking only at 100-percent genuine Blue Mountain coffee certified by the Jamaican Coffee Board. Next, we source only single-estate coffee, and make sure the beans are exclusively Grade 1 – the best, biggest, and most flavourful beans of all. We cup hundreds of coffees and select the best, which are also those with the highest SCA scores.
Previous lots of our Blue Mountain coffee have come from Gold Cup Estate, whose plantations are at some of the highest elevations in the island’s coffee belt. A newer discovery is Sir John’s Peak Estate, whose coffee beans proved superior to our tasters. Our ongoing search for the best Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee means we’re consistently able to offer the best beans of them all.
If you want to taste an amazing cup of coffee brewed from these are rare, single-estate beans that rank among the finest in the world, please take a look at our coffee shop page.
