The characteristics of Blue Mountain Coffee Variety Iron pickup Blue Mountain Coffee is suitable for roasting

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The Blue Mountains of Jamaica is a special regional product, which is only found in the Blue Mountains of the Central American island country of Jamaica. Just like Longjing tea in Hangzhou, only the tea on the mountain of Longjing Village on the edge of the West Lake is authentic Longjing.

According to the quality theory of agricultural products, the initial judgment of coffee producing countries on the quality of raw coffee beans is the same. Mainly are: varieties, growth environment and treatment methods.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is a small quantity and good quality "Typica", which is one of the best varieties in Arabica.

The most famous boutique coffee in the world, such as Rose Summer of Panama, Kona of Hawaii, Yega Sheffield and Sidamo of Ethiopia, are all iron pickups. This variety of beans generally show pleasant flavors such as roasted hazelnut, cream chocolate, caramel and honey, and there will be varying degrees and rich aromas of acidity, fruit, and even flowers, depending on the origin.

Jamaica Island is located in the coffee belt of the Northern Hemisphere, the Blue Mountains are located in the east, surrounded by the beautiful Caribbean Sea, the highest peak is 2256 meters above sea level, has fertile volcanic soil, fresh air, no pollution, humid climate, foggy and rainy all the year round (average precipitation is 1980 mm, temperature is about 27 degrees), unique geographical environment, for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, provides a superior growth environment.

The annual harvest time of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is from June to November, which is generally picked by hand, followed by washing, peeling, fermentation, dehydration, drying, storage, shelling, multiple screening (including manual selection), polishing, packaging and other procedures, in order to get a high quality blue mountain coffee raw beans. Before 2009, the annual output of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee in high-yield years was about 1000 tons. In recent years, due to pests and droughts, the production capacity of coffee trees in the Blue Mountains has declined sharply, and the bean shape is generally small.

Blue Mountain raw beans are all packed in 15kg, 30kg and 70kg standard buckets, each with the estate information, production batch number and barrel number registered by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Authority (CIB). The lid is covered with a black ink emblazoned with the LOGO pattern of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and a number indicating the grade of beans inside. There will also be a uniform printed circular certificate of products in the barrel, which is basically the same caliber as the lid. With the application of new technology, in recent years, when the raw beans of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee are exported, a green grain insurance bag will be added to the bucket to maintain the moisture content of raw coffee beans. Jamaica is the last country in the world that still uses traditional wooden barrels to transport coffee.

CIB is the highest-ranking coffee management official in the world, under the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, providing technical support, brand promotion, quality supervision and other services for the entire Jamaican coffee industry, from seeds to raw and cooked bean products, with specialized personnel responsible for each step. CIB stipulates that only coffee beans produced from the hillside to the top of the Jamaica Blue Mountains above 2200 feet can be called Jamaica Blue Mountains, and then the appearance size of coffee beans as the basic standard, the beans are divided into NO.1, NO.2, NO.3 three grades, plus a PB (Peaberry, that is, round beans). Even manors or production enterprises within this range should have a complete production line process, including production scale, technical standards, sales capacity and the latest achievements in agronomy. combined with environmental protection farming technology and strict quality supervision, the products can meet all the high-standard parameters of the products, and finally present the fresh, hygienic, high-quality products from beginning to end. In addition, enterprises voluntarily accept the unified management of CIB in order to obtain the quality recognition certificate issued by the Coffee Industry Bureau of Jamaica.

Second, how to distinguish between real and fake Blue Mountain Coffee?

In China, the so-called Blue Mountain coffee is plentiful. Almost all drinks called Blue Mountain Coffee are on the menu as long as they open a cafe, and fake Blue Mountains are sold openly even in five-star hotels.

Jamaica Blue Mountain has a unique and rich aroma, elegant flavor, sour, bitter and mellow, but the market price is on the high side because of the strong demand and scarce production all over the world. Some unscrupulous domestic merchants rely on consumers' inability to distinguish the authenticity of coffee from its appearance, taste, and aroma, lose their basic integrity, have no bottom line, and pass low-quality coffee as authentic Jamaica Blue Mountains. with the so-called "super blue mountain", "blue mountain flavor", "blue mountain blend" and other coffee, in fact, there is no hair in a blue mountain coffee at all. Although there have been irregular crackdowns from the central media to local market regulators, they have had little effect.

Here, I tell my friends that anyone who scrapes the edge of the menu in the name of Blue Mountain dare not call it "Jamaica Blue Mountain" openly, and it can be concluded that all of them are fake. When a cup of Blue Mountain coffee is made into a cup of Blue Mountain coffee, the raw material cost of beans will be 5-10 times higher than that of a cup of ordinary coffee. Therefore, according to the market price of coffee beans, the price of an authentic Blue Mountain in a cafe is unlikely to be less than 80 yuan, except that the boss is Comrade Lei Feng. On the other hand, the Blue Mountain Coffee sold on a certain treasure website and other Internet platforms is even more difficult to distinguish between true and false. In fact, there are not many qualified importers and sellers in China, which mainly depends on the brand, qualification and reputation. Authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain cooked bean products all have the "LOGO" logo authorized by Jamaica Blue Mountain.

In China, just looking at the packaging is not necessarily reliable. Because the cost of counterfeiting packaging is too low. If you want to taste the authentic information of Jamaica Park and know the sources of import agents and bakers, you can log in to www.ciboj.org to check if necessary.

In terms of flavor, Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is extracted by hand, siphon or other means, as long as it is roasted correctly, no miscellaneous flavor, no astringency, bright and refreshing acidity, shallow bitterness, moderate mellow and good back sweet. The flavor of dark chocolate, caramel, honey and sucrose is obvious and long in the aftertaste, especially the very good oolong tea hanging cup.

How should the Jamaican Blue Mountains be baked?

The fresh raw beans of Jamaica Blue Mountain in the current season have a moisture content of about 13%, a defect rate of less than 3%, uniform and full particles, dark green, a waxy texture and a clean smell of grass.

Attention should be paid to the adjustment of firepower and the grasp of time rhythm when baking Jamaica Blue Mountain with semi-direct fire gas roaster. No matter what kind of machine is baked, as long as it is heated evenly, the dehydration stage can be steamed over low heat, and when the moisture is almost removed, the bean body shrinks to Douchi shape, gradually increases the firepower and explodes violently, which indicates that the aroma of beans is more open and full, and it is not easy to produce incomplete caramelization problems such as entrainment and astringency. At the same time, the machine that can adjust the throttle should increase the air circulation in the furnace for a short time. Take away the smell of coffee beans when they burst and the smell of fireworks produced by baking. After cracking and weakening, turn off the heat, turn off the air door, stew incense, glide, continue to accelerate ripening with the remaining temperature of the furnace and transform the sugars and lipids contained in the coffee beans, which can increase the caramel and honey sensation of the blue mountain coffee beans. When the explosion is completely over, observe whether the folds on the bean surface are stretched out and become bright and smooth, and whether the smell of oolong tea and roasted pecans gradually appears, and the beans can come out. This according to the machine insulation and other functions, generally in an explosion at the end of 15 seconds-30 seconds or so to end the bean.

This is a regular way of baking fresh beans. In fact, in all the cooked bean roasting plants in Jamaica, Blue Mountain coffee beans are roasted far beyond our imagination, usually in City or even City+.

Here, I do not evaluate whether the baking depth is good or bad, only like it or not. However, according to the flavor characteristics of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, medium roasting is already the lowest line.

It is said that many Japanese manufacturers or bakers like some aged beans, and Jamaica Blue Mountain is no exception. For baking that has been stored in Jamaica Blue Mountain for more than 2 years, it is necessary to test the baking operator's ability. Because of the loss of organic acids and the gradual oxidation of lipids, the baked beans are easy to show the stale flavor of cooked Pu'er, seriously with the smell of rotten wood, affecting the quality, elegance and balance of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Under special conditions, properly stored, although the moisture content is reduced, the supplementary method of baking can minimize the smell of various defects caused by being stored for too long. But in the end, baked beans are not as good as fresh beans and can not be stored. After baking, they should be drunk as soon as possible. As to the experience of Chen Dou baking, due to the limitation of space, interested friends can discuss it with me alone.

Fourth, what kind of extraction can highlight the elegance of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee?

Medium roasted (Medium Roast) Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, suitable for individual coffee. However, at present, there are so many tools and methods that can be used to make a single product. What is the most suitable way to extract the Jamaican Blue Mountains in order to retain its charm to the greatest extent?

100% pure Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee acid, sweet, bitter and mellow are perfectly balanced, especially its rich and unique tropical fruit aroma and refreshing high-quality fruit acidity, the light bitter taste is short and does not retain in the mouth, into the throat into a sweet aftertaste, lingering around the tongue for a long time, mellow chocolate, honey, caramel throat rhyme, even more unfinished. However, tasting a cup of Blue Mountain is not just for a cup of coffee, more people want to get this cup of coffee other than the culture and process. So that the taste of vision, smell, taste at the same time get the most perfect enjoyment, so that coffee lovers all over the world are fascinated by it! Her caffeine content is very low, only about 1x3 of ordinary coffee, which meets the health requirements of modern people. As a result, the World Coffee Organization believes that Blue Mountain Coffee is "the only coffee in the world that cannot find defects."

However, the natural fruit acid in coffee is easy to decompose when cooked at high temperature, and the rich aroma is easy to volatilize at high temperature. The traditional siphon pot has the advantages of stable quality, easy extraction, inconvenient moving of utensils, complicated steps and troublesome cleaning after use. Most importantly, the high-quality acidity and tropical fruit flavor of the Jamaican Blue Mountains, cooked at a higher water temperature, can easily lose the volatile aroma of the Jamaican Blue Mountains and wear away the supple and sour taste of the coffee. Hand brewing coffee can adjust its grinding degree, water temperature, water powder ratio, steaming time and other variables, in order to obtain the best extraction state of coffee, at the same time has a very good performance, convenient face-to-face demonstration and communication with consumers. Therefore, I first think that the best extraction method of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is hand brewing.

Fifth, the main points of hand-made Blue Mountain Coffee?

According to the production standards of Hangzhou Coffee Dream College and Shixia boutique coffee, through continuous tests, after making a basic judgment on the freshness and roasting degree of coffee beans, we believe that the main variables that affect the flavor and extraction of hand-brewed coffee are as follows:

1. Degree of grinding. The coarser the coffee powder is ground, the easier it is to lack of extraction, and it is easy to show sour quality and tea feeling. The finer the grinding, the easier it is to extract too much, showing bitterness, as well as defects in the bean itself or poor baking.

2. Water temperature: there is a positive correlation between coffee extraction and water temperature. The lower the water temperature is, the easier it is to lack of extraction, and it is easy to have a light and thin sense of tea. The higher the water temperature, the easier it is to extract too much, and the overall flavor is easy to show bitterness, as well as defects in the beans themselves or poor roasting, and, more seriously, the aroma of coffee will be quickly lost.

3, steaming time: coffee powder structure such as sponge, through hot water pre-soaking, can quickly dissolve water-soluble substances in coffee, the longer steaming time, the easier to dissolve more things, including unwanted salty, bitter, astringent and other throat-biting inorganic salts, the easier it is to over-extract. The stuffy time is too short to have the effect of steaming, and it is easy to lack of extraction. It is worth noting that the amount of steaming water, with water and powder at 1:1 is appropriate, too much breakdown of the powder layer, affecting the thermal insulation, thus reducing the extraction effect.

4, gouache ratio: usually the gouache of hand-brewed coffee is easier to operate than around 1:15. The so-called gold extraction ratio, in my personal opinion, is a theoretical value. If the grinding is finer and the coffee itself has fewer defects, it is also possible to enlarge the scale appropriately, but in practice we find that the limit value should be between 1 13-to 1:17.

5. The whole time of brewing. Take the amount of single cup not less than 2:30 seconds as the benchmark (including steaming time). Due to the overall small amount of water needed to brew a single cup, the flow can not be prolonged until 2:30 to complete the full brewing, therefore, the minimum brewing time for a single cup should not be less than 1:30 seconds. No matter how many cups, the whole process should not be more than 3 minutes. If the time is too long, it is easy to extract too much, especially the dissolution of caffeine is proportional to time, which can easily affect the sensitivity of drinkers to caffeine absorption.

In addition, attention should be paid to the auxiliary details such as the height of the water from the flour, the edge of the flour, the warm cup and so on, so as to minimize the unstable factors that may affect the extraction flavor.

Tidbits of the visit to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica

In 2010, together with my partners from the Hangzhou coffee industry team, I was invited to visit manors, companies and managers throughout the industry chain of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, from the Jamaica Coffee Industry Authority (CIB), Jamaica's most famous coffee estates (such as Gold Cup,), coffee roasting plants, and many other institutions related to the Jamaica Blue Mountains. During this period, Mr. Christophe Ginter, then Director of the Coffee Industry Bureau of Jamaica, accompanied us throughout the meeting or banquet with Mr. Howard, Chairman of the Coffee Industry Bureau, Mr. Tufton, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Jamaica, and Mr. Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica. After the signing ceremony of the introduction of raw blue mountain coffee beans to China for the first time, the Jamaican National Assembly held a separate meeting to listen to the report of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries on the leapfrog cooperation. Jamaican national television, newspapers and other major media competed to report it. The news has been on the front page of the official website of the Jamaican Coffee Industry Bureau until today.

Jamaica is a country full of legends. Although it has an area of only 11000 square kilometers and a population of more than 1.7 million, it is rich in "flying man" and football has a place in Central and South America. Reggae music also represents the greatest achievement of Jamaican immigrant culture. Jamaican Blue Mountains, sugar, rum, cigars, Jamaican hot sauce and so on have become the country's iconic products. In particular, the vast and pure Caribbean Sea around the island has become a romantic and unique seaside tourism resource for Jamaica, and it has become a holiday resort for European and American countries.

In 2012, I set foot on Jamaican soil again on business, and it was great to meet my old friends in Jamaica. If you are interested to know more about the story between me and Jamaica, please follow my Weibo and personal Wechat public platform. My long story, which is intertwined with love, business and amorous feelings, spanning Jamaica and China, is in the process of being written.