Why is there no pure Blue Mountain Coffee on the market?

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There is no pure blue mountain coffee on the market because there is no direct import of blue mountain coffee beans.

The world-famous Blue Mountain Coffee, produced in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, has been in short supply because of its low caffeine content (less than half of other coffees) and outstanding taste, catering to modern people's concept of healthy consumption.

Blue Mountain coffee beans are known as "golden beans". They are only produced in the Blue Mountains in western Jamaica, which are more than 1800 meters above sea level. Here, the mountains are steep, the air is fresh, there is no pollution, it rains all the year round, and there is a great temperature difference between day and night. Coupled with the unique new volcanic soil, the coffee beans produced here are slightly sour and mellow. The same coffee tree species taste very different whether they are planted in Hawaii, Kenya, Papua New Georgia or anywhere else with a similar climate.

The most important coffee bean trading organization in the world is the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which has 50 members of exporting countries and controls 99 per cent of global coffee production. According to industry insiders, coffee beans traded through the International Coffee Organization have strict quotas, as do Blue Mountain coffee beans. Before 2009, China basically did not import blue mountain coffee beans in bulk.

According to the official English website of the International Coffee Organization. It was found that in 2003, 85% of the output of Lanshan coffee beans was supplied to the Japanese market and 15% to Europe and the United States. Mr.Denisseudieu, a staff member of the market situation department at the headquarters of the International Coffee Organization in London, said that there are several kinds of blue mountain coffee beans according to their quality. the top blue mountain coffee beans generally do not enter the market, and most of them are booked by the royal family and tycoons, while the blue mountain coffee beans in circulation are "Blue Mountain" brand coffee beans guaranteed by the Jamaican government, with an annual output of about 40, 000 bags and 170 tons. Most of these beans flow into Japan. With a small number of entry into European and American markets, China has no quota for importing blue mountain coffee beans directly from Jamaica, nor has any record of blue mountain coffee beans being exported to China.

Secret: you are drinking "Blue Mountain" coffee

According to a survey, there are indeed many Blue Mountain coffee beans in circulation in the international market. Countries such as Japan, due to the advantage of quotas, often process coffee beans and sell them to other countries and regions in the form of finely ground coffee powder or 0% coffee beans. For example, enterprises in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Chinese mainland buy Blue Mountain coffee beans from Japan every year. Since such transactions are unofficial, the number is hard to know.

Since China does not have a quota for direct import of blue mountain coffee beans, where does the blue mountain coffee on the market come from? Could it change hands from Japan, Europe and the United States?

However, according to a survey from a coffee bean trading network in Japan, COPPER Blue Mountain coffee beans (whose quality belongs to the medium to upper grade of blue mountain coffee beans) currently sell for US $340 / lb (about NT $12370 / 454g), while it usually takes 7 grams of coffee powder to make a cup of coffee. At this price, the cost of making a cup of Blue Mountain coffee alone is RMB190, plus normal wear and tear, various labor and machine costs. The cost of Blue Mountain Coffee will not be less than 220 yuan.

Huang Li, an obsessive coffee enthusiast, said he drank COPPER Blue Mountain coffee ground on the spot at a boutique coffee shop in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, for HK $280 a cup. Obviously, if a cup of Blue Mountain coffee costs 200 yuan, it is not even enough to pay for coffee beans.

What kind of coffee is 200 yuan per cup of Blue Mountain Coffee? According to Shen, the owner of a well-known coffee shop, there are three kinds of Blue Mountain Coffee on the market. One is Blue Mountain Coffee, which costs about 200 yuan, which does not contain a real Blue Mountain coffee bean. It is mainly made from cheap beans from Brazil and Guadeloupe. The other Blue Mountain Coffee, which costs about 250-350 yuan per cup in upscale coffee shops, is a top "Blue Mountain" coffee, mainly made from Cona beans from Hawaii or Jamaican alpine beans mixed with other coffee powders. The third is the so-called "Jamaican mixed Blue Mountain" coffee, which is imported from Japan and is a mixture of 30% Blue Mountain Coffee and 70% of the best Jamaican Alpine Coffee. You can drink it in five-star hotels and high-end clubs, but the price is more than 450 yuan per cup because it contains real blue mountain beans.

Why is it named Blue Mountain Coffee even though it is not Blue Mountain Coffee? Almost all people in the industry know that "there is no pure Blue Mountain Coffee on the market". It is named after Blue Mountain Coffee, but because Blue Mountain Coffee is so famous that consumers want to drink it. Therefore, the cheap blue mountain coffee beans from Brazil and Guadeloupe, which are used to make "Blue Mountain Coffee", are also in short supply.