[adsense]
Jamaica has a long love affair with coffee that all began in 1728 with Sir Nicholas Lawes. Lawes was the then governor of Jamaica, and began importing coffee from Martinique. It was found that Jamaica provided ideal circumstances in which to cultivate coffee, and a mere nine years later over 83,000 lbs. were exported! Initially, the coffee industry was developed in the foothills of St.Andrew before extending into the Blue Mountains (which Jamaica is largely known for). Unfortunately, along the way Jamaica experienced a lag in production, with many farmers turning to other cultivations and livestock, thus abandoning coffee. However, Jamaica soon tried to regain its coffee stand and began working hard at increasing its quality. In 1944 the government established a clearing house where all Jamaican coffee was sent to first and cleaned and graded before exportation.
The Blue Mountains in Jamaica are the location of Jamaica’s perhaps best known coffee – Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. The Blue Mountains are in the Eastern part of the island, anything grown outside of the Blue Mountains is called Jamaican High Mountain. No matter which region it comes from though, Jamaican coffee is a remarkably mild coffee. It’s also remarkably clean and soft, but lacks many other inspiring flavors often found in other country’s coffee. Remarkably despite this, Jamaican coffee can pull a whopping $12 per pound, making it one of the more expensive coffees you can purchase.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Key Jamaican Coffee Profile Notes
Varietals: Typica
Grow Regions: Eastern Jamaica, Blue Mountains
Growing Altitude: Between 600 and 2000 meters
Processes: Wet
General Cup Profile: Mild, Clean
Harvest Seasons: Between January and March