Is the Jamaican Blue Mountain flavor coffee beans real? Identification of taste characteristics of authentic Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee

There is a kind of coffee that even a small partner who has never touched coffee before can say. This kind of coffee bean has appeared frequently in all kinds of film and television works. In Hong Kong dramas in the 1980s and 1990s, whether it was a senior clerk in the office or A sir who caught a thief, his eyes shone instantly at the word Blue Mountain Coffee.

Blue Mountain Coffee is so famous that people who have never drunk "instant-boiled water" can confidently say, "give me a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee." Blue Mountain Coffee is famous in part because of its high price. As a result, some merchants have played word games with coffee consumers, marking "Blue Mountain flavor" and "Blue Mountain matching" words, making careless consumers think they are buying Blue Mountain coffee beans. So why can the price of Blue Mountain coffee beans rank after the Panamanian summer?

Blue Mountain Coffee Bean is produced in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. Whenever the sun shines directly on the sea, the bright blue light is reflected in the Blue Mountains, so it has the name "Blue Mountain".

The highest elevation of the Blue Mountains can reach more than 2000 meters, but not the whole Blue Mountains can grow coffee beans. In order to protect the environment, the government has set up protected areas above 1700 meters above sea level in the Blue Mountains and banned the cultivation of coffee. In addition, with the increase in altitude, the temperature will also drop, too high altitude, means a great increase in the possibility of frost, and frost may cause indelible damage to coffee trees.

In the Blue Mountains, coffee can be grown across four administrative regions of Jamaica, namely Portland, St. Mary, St. Thomas and St. Andrew. Coffee grown in Jamaica is also divided into three grades according to the altitude planted: Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaican Alpine Coffee and Jamaican preferred Coffee. The Jamaican official authorities stipulate that coffee beans that can be included in the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee grade must be planted between 1000 and 1700 meters above sea level. Therefore, less than 40% of the Jamaican coffee beans passed this regulation can be classified as Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

In addition, the Jamaica Coffee Industry Authority has a very strict classification of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, which is divided into four grades according to the particle size of coffee beans and the probability of defective beans: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and round beans.

Among them, Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans not only need to meet the planting altitude between 1000 meters and 1700 meters above sea level, but also need to meet the size of 17x18 mesh and the defect rate of no more than 2%. After layers of rigorous screening, there are very few coffee beans that can meet the grade of Jamaica Blue Mountain 1.

However, there are so many coffee gluttons in the world, and the demand for Lanshan No. 1 coffee beans is so large that the demand far exceeds the supply, which is why the Lanshan No. 1 coffee beans are expensive.

Some articles on the Internet read: there is no authentic Blue Mountain Coffee in China. In fact, the production of authentic Blue Mountain coffee is low and the price is high, but it has not gone to the point where there are no authentic blue mountain coffee beans in China. As a result of Japan's financial assistance to the Jamaican coffee industry in the last century, Japan has the preemptive right to buy Blue Mountain Coffee, monopolizing more than 80% of Blue Mountain coffee beans, which ended after 2009. coupled with China's rising purchasing power, it is not difficult for coffee lovers in China to drink authentic Blue Mountain coffee.

As one of the classic top coffees, Blue Mountain Coffee is also found on the bean list of Qianjie Coffee. The coffee on the front street is Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans from Clifton Farm.

Clifton Farm, now managed by the Sharp family, is the oldest coffee plantation in the region, with a history of more than two centuries. At the same time, Clifton Farm is located on Mount Catherine, where coffee is grown at the highest altitude in the nearby area. In addition, Clifton Farm is the only coffee plantation in the Blue Mountains region of Jamaica that has Rainforest Alliance certification.

Front street coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans

Producing area: the Blue Mountains of Jamaica

Manor: Clifton Farm

Altitude: 1310 m

Variety: iron pickup

Treatment method: washing treatment method

The traditional Blue Mountain Coffee has a rich nutty and dark chocolate flavor, with a balanced sweet and sour taste and a mellow taste. The blue mountain No. 1 coffee beans of Qianjie Coffee use the method of washing. After selecting the ripe coffee fruit, remove the peel and pulp, wash the pectin layer and then dry it in the sun. The coffee beans treated in this way taste clean and best reflect the customs of the coffee producing areas.

It is not only the Clifton Farm that grows and produces Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee. By comparing the washed Blue Mountain No.1 Coffee from many different estates, Qianjie believes that the Blue Mountain Coffee from Clifton Farm has a strong flavor and mellow taste, and can be regarded as one of the outstanding representatives of the region.

Raw coffee beans exported from the Blue Mountains are still reproduced in wooden barrels, and only Jamaica is the only coffee producing area in the world to do so. In the front street coffee store are blue mountain coffee raw bean buckets and a certificate of origin of Jamaican blue mountain coffee signed by Clifton farm. All these are sufficient to prove that every Blue Mountain coffee bean in Front Street Coffee really comes from the Blue Mountain area of Jamaica and meets the strict standards set by the Jamaican authorities for the Jamaican Blue Mountain one.

When Qianjie Coffee received the raw beans of Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee from Clifton Farm, it could be observed that the raw beans of Blue Mountain Coffee were blue-green, uniform in shape and with a long fragrance. When baking, taking into account the traditional blue mountain flavor of nuts, chocolate tone, mellow taste, so the use of a moderate degree of deep baking.

Due to the deep roasting degree, Qianjie recommends a thicker grinding degree and lower water temperature when brewing this Blue Mountain coffee to avoid the bitter taste caused by excessive extraction.

Filter cup: KONO filter cup

Water temperature: 88 degrees Celsius

Amount of powder: 15g

Ratio of powder to water: 1:15

Grinding degree: the pass rate of Chinese standard No. 20 screen is 80%.

Hario V60 and KONO filter cups are usually used in Qianjie coffee when producing hand-brewed coffee. The KONO filter cup has a smooth wall and 12 short ribs at the bottom. When the coffee filter paper is wet, it can stick to the filter cup wall closely to limit the air flow, so that the water and coffee powder can have longer contact soaking time in the filter cup and ensure the extraction time and extraction rate of rough grinding. In this way, the coffee powder can be fully extracted, enhance the mellow taste and make the taste more concentrated.

First inject 30 grams of hot water and steam for 30 seconds, inject fine water from the central point and slowly circle to 125 grams, wait for the water level in the filter cup to drop to 225 grams around the powder bed, and the total extraction time is about 2 minutes.

The first stage of hot water injected during coffee brewing is used for steaming, thus stabilizing the extraction of the latter part of the coffee flavor. The time required for steaming depends on the baking date of the coffee beans and the state of the coffee powder, usually about 30 seconds. Due to the delivery of Qianjie coffee within 5 days of freshly roasted coffee beans, it has been 4 to 7 days after the bean cultivation period.

Qianjie also provides grinding service for friends who do not have grinding equipment at home, but as the coffee beans are ground into powder, the exhaust activity intensifies and the flavor substances dissipate. Therefore, Qianjie suggests that friends who have grinding equipment at home should buy whole beans and grind them now so that they can taste a better flavor.

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