88+ Jamaica Blue Mountain Saint Cloud Estate Grand Cru by Terres de Café

Tasting notes of the Curator

This coffee has a nose with notes of fresh tobacco, butter, milk chocolate and red fruits. In the mouth it has notes of dark chocolate, fresh tobacco, red fruit jam, stone fruit and cocoa. It has a juicy and round cup with a balanced and smooth taste, bright and clean acidity, and almost no bitterness. It also has hints of sweet herbs and nuts.

Pairings and Suggestions

This Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee pairs perfectly with maple bacon pancakes or jerk chicken for breakfast or brunch. For dessert it goes great with carrot cake or other sweet treats. It can also be enjoyed on its own as an after dinner coffee to end your meal on a high note.

The Story Behind Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is a rare delicacy, a true culinary treasure with a story as rich as its flavor. It all began in 1723 when King Louis XV sent three coffee plants to the French colony of Martinique. Five years later, Sir Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica, received a gift of one coffee plant from the Governor of Martinique, and from that one Arabica coffee plant, an exquisite coffee was introduced to the world.

The coffee thrives in the fertile, volcanic soil, regular rainfall and, most importantly, under the island’s misty cloud cover, to shade it from the burning sun. The Blue Mountains, located north of Kingston on the eastern side of the island, rise to elevations of 2,350 metres. The Arabica Typica bean is mostly cultivated there, and the coffee grown at altitudes of up to 1,800 metres in the Parishes of Portland, St Andrew, St. Mary and St Thomas.

This combination of factors results in coffee with exceptional sweetness and aroma, rich flavor, and full body with mild acidity. Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is considered the best coffee in the world, and even the “Champagne of Coffees”, due to its scarcity and exclusivity. The area where the coffee plants are cultivated is strictly controlled, and exportable annual production varies between 400 metric tons & 1,000 metric tonnes, equivalent to 0.1 % of Colombian production.

Jamaica Blue Mountain is virtually the only coffee in the world to be packed in iconic wooden barrels, instead of bags, highlighting its scarcity and exclusivity. The Jamaican coffee industry was in chaos by the 1890s, and the government passed legislation to provide instruction in the art of cultivation and curing by sending certain districts, competent instructors. Quality control was a challenge for the next fifty years, with some improvements in the early forties.

In 1944, the Jamaican government established a Central Clearing Coffee operation where all coffee for export had to be processed, and in 1950, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board (or the JCIB) was created to improve, control and maintain the quality and reputation of Jamaican coffee. The JCIB was recently amalgamated in 2018 with other Jamaican commodity statutory bodies to form JACRA (Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority).

As influential as ever, every barrel of coffee must go through JACRA for quality control where the green coffee is rigorously inspected before it is exported. This can take time and cause delays, but it is worth the wait for this rare and exclusive delicacy. Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is a true culinary treasure, a rare delicacy that is well worth the wait.

Storage Instructions

Store this product in an airtight container away from direct sunlight in a cool dry place for optimal freshness.