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Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

By Dr. Mark Clayson

World famous Jamaican mountains

Type in Blue Mountain on your google search bar and you will find results on a website that offers e-cards for those special holidays, occasions or that spur of the moment greeting to a dearly beloved. There’s a search result for a ski resort in Ontario, Canada and one for a Mississippi band. But the mere mention of Blue Mountain to a coffee lover and you’ll get one answer; Blue Mountains are the home of one of the best tasting coffee beans in the world.

Named after the bluish haze of mist that veil its ridges and summits, the Blue Mountains which peak at 7,402 feet are located in the regions of Jamaica. They are ensconced between Kingston and Port Maria in its south and north respectively and are said to be the highest in the Caribbean.

When the territory was discovered in 1494 by Columbus, heavy forests occupied these mountains. These, however, were gradually cleared by the settlers for cattle ranches. The lower slopes were turned into grasslands while some sections were used for farming of spices and vegetables. These slopes are also the haven of the celebrated and well-renowned Blue Mountain coffee beans.

The chronicle of Blue Mountain roasts

It was Sir Nicholas Lawes, a Governor that first introduced coffee seedlings from Hispaniola to the mountains of Jamaica in 1728. With the rich soil, the cool and steamy climate and the occasions of high rainfall in the region, the place is considered to be ideal for coffee cultivation.

By the 19th century, the world established an interest on blue mountain coffee beans and Jamaica was pronounced the leading coffee producer. With this prominence, Jamaica’s Coffee Industry Board was established to monitor the agriculture of coffee and to nurture the Blue mountain coffee industry. The Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee bean carries with it a globally protected certification mark. The Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica maintains control on the use of the Blue Mountain coffee label.

The board has established certain criteria to specify what coffee may be allowed to carry the trademark. A Coffee Industry Regulations Act was promulgated for this purpose. Regionally, it asserts that the coffee beans grown and plucked from the parishes of Saint Thomas, Saint Andrew, Saint Mary and Portland may have the benefit of using the label. Further, mountain elevations were also considered. Those grown from 3,000 to 5,500 feet elevations are considered Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee beans. Those in the range of 1,500 to 3,000 are known as Jamaica High Mountains and the ones below that are specified as Jamaica Low Mountain or Jamaica Supreme.

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi,

Nice post. Many people take exception to neighbors cats using their garden or yard as a toilet, a mixture of used coffee grounds and & orange peel put round plants and in beds you want left alone will provide a pungent smell that cats do not like and so will find someone else's garden to use. To get rid of ants put used coffee grounds onto the ant hills, this will have to be done for each hill as the pesky things will move to another home.