All Inclusive Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is world-renowned for it mild flavor and absence of bitterness.
The name "Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee" is a globally-protected certification granted by Jamaica's Coffee Industry Board for coffees originating in Jamaica's Blue Mountain region, between Port Antonio on the north and Kingston on the south.
The all inclusive Jamaica Blue Mountains rise 7,500 feet above the sea and are among the highest mountains in the Caribbean area.
The Blue Mountains are vertiginous and spectacular, with narrow roads clinging to the mountainsides and snaking through valleys cut by rushing streams.
Looking across the valleys it is easy to spot coffee estates dotting the opposite mountainsides.
Some of them are but an acre or two in size; some twenty or thirty acres; but this is mainly an area of small coffee growers who lovingly tend their plots - about 6,000 of them in the eastern part of Jamaica, which lies above 1,500 feet elevation.
The region's climate has a high rainfall and is misty and cool, with rich soils ideal for growing coffee.
Because of the misty haze which shrouds the mountains (and gives them their blue appearance), shade trees are not necessary in this area, so the coffee can ripen slowly and fully develop its unique taste characteristics.
The yields are not very high (about 50 - 60 kilos per acre) and the mountainsides where the coffee is grown are incredibly steep, so tending the coffee plants and harvesting the beans is very difficult.
Moreover, in years when there are severe hurricanes the harvest plummets.
Larger growers have their own pulperies (and process their smaller neighbor's coffee beans) to remove the red "cherry" fruit from the coffee beans; and the beans are then shipped to large coffee mills near a Jamaica all inclusive resort in Kingston for sun-drying and finishing in large mechanical driers fired with timber.
Jamaica's Coffee Industry Regulation Act stipulates what coffee may be labeled "Blue Mountain", and it is quite specific with regard to the allowed geographical area and altitude.
Only coffee which is grown at elevations of 3,000 to 5,500 feet in the eastern parishes of St.
Mary, Portland, St.
Thomas, and St.
Andrew can carry the Jamaica Blue Mountain label; coffee grown in the western parishes between 1,500 and 3,000 feet elevation is labeled "Jamaica High Mountain; and coffee grown below 1,500 feet elevation is called Jamaica Low Mountain or Jamaica Supreme (all the land in Jamaica which is higher than 5,500 feet in elevation is forest preserve, so no coffee can be grown there).
The Coffee Industry Regulation Act further defines different grades of coffee based upon factors such as appearance, size, and permissible defects.
Over the past few decades this coffee has become one of the most sought-after and expensive coffees in the world, with over 80% going to Japan.
Besides its use for making brewed coffee, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans are made into Tia Maria coffee liqueur, sampling of which is the high point of Jamaica all inclusive vacations.
The name "Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee" is a globally-protected certification granted by Jamaica's Coffee Industry Board for coffees originating in Jamaica's Blue Mountain region, between Port Antonio on the north and Kingston on the south.
The all inclusive Jamaica Blue Mountains rise 7,500 feet above the sea and are among the highest mountains in the Caribbean area.
The Blue Mountains are vertiginous and spectacular, with narrow roads clinging to the mountainsides and snaking through valleys cut by rushing streams.
Looking across the valleys it is easy to spot coffee estates dotting the opposite mountainsides.
Some of them are but an acre or two in size; some twenty or thirty acres; but this is mainly an area of small coffee growers who lovingly tend their plots - about 6,000 of them in the eastern part of Jamaica, which lies above 1,500 feet elevation.
The region's climate has a high rainfall and is misty and cool, with rich soils ideal for growing coffee.
Because of the misty haze which shrouds the mountains (and gives them their blue appearance), shade trees are not necessary in this area, so the coffee can ripen slowly and fully develop its unique taste characteristics.
The yields are not very high (about 50 - 60 kilos per acre) and the mountainsides where the coffee is grown are incredibly steep, so tending the coffee plants and harvesting the beans is very difficult.
Moreover, in years when there are severe hurricanes the harvest plummets.
Larger growers have their own pulperies (and process their smaller neighbor's coffee beans) to remove the red "cherry" fruit from the coffee beans; and the beans are then shipped to large coffee mills near a Jamaica all inclusive resort in Kingston for sun-drying and finishing in large mechanical driers fired with timber.
Jamaica's Coffee Industry Regulation Act stipulates what coffee may be labeled "Blue Mountain", and it is quite specific with regard to the allowed geographical area and altitude.
Only coffee which is grown at elevations of 3,000 to 5,500 feet in the eastern parishes of St.
Mary, Portland, St.
Thomas, and St.
Andrew can carry the Jamaica Blue Mountain label; coffee grown in the western parishes between 1,500 and 3,000 feet elevation is labeled "Jamaica High Mountain; and coffee grown below 1,500 feet elevation is called Jamaica Low Mountain or Jamaica Supreme (all the land in Jamaica which is higher than 5,500 feet in elevation is forest preserve, so no coffee can be grown there).
The Coffee Industry Regulation Act further defines different grades of coffee based upon factors such as appearance, size, and permissible defects.
Over the past few decades this coffee has become one of the most sought-after and expensive coffees in the world, with over 80% going to Japan.
Besides its use for making brewed coffee, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans are made into Tia Maria coffee liqueur, sampling of which is the high point of Jamaica all inclusive vacations.
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