Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

Ok so the jamaican coffee arrive yesterday however, unknown to me, is that the lady Diane had also ordered some coffee. She had ordered a pound from one of those organic/worker friendly plantations so when she opened the package containing jamaican blue mountain she assumed it was sent in error and was going to return it.

Jamaca blue mountain who?


Link please

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is a classification of coffee grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The best lots of Blue Mountain coffee are noted for their mild flavor and lack of bitterness. Over the last several decades, this coffee has developed a reputation that has made it one of the most expensive and sought-after coffees in the world.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is protected worldwide as a certification trademark meaning that only coffee certified by the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica can be labeled as such. It comes from a recognized growing region in the Blue Mountain region of Jamaica and its cultivation is monitored by the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica.

The Blue Mountains are generally located between Kingston to the south and Port Maria to the north. Rising to 7500 feet, they are some of the highest mountains in the Caribbean. The climate of the region is cool and misty with high rainfall. The soil is rich with excellent drainage. This combination of climate and soil is considered ideal for coffee.

Additionally, only coffee grown at elevations between 3,000 and 5,500 feet may be called Jamaica Blue Mountain. Coffee grown at elevations between 1,500 and 3,000 feet is called Jamaica High Mountain, and coffee grown below 1,500 foot elevation is called Jamaica Supreme or Jamaica Low Mountain. (All land in Jamaica above 5,500 feet is a forest preserve, so no coffee is grown there.

Finding tea (spit) totally and utterly repulsive, I consider myself a true afficionado of coffee, and can vouch that Blue Mountain is the second best coffee in the world.

Recently, I was turned onto "Machu Picchu" blend coffee, from Cafe Direct (one of those sandal wearing, hippie fair trade coffee producers that the Lady Diane would appear to prefer).

It is better than Blue Mountain, IMO.

There, I've said it.

I did a google search for "Machu Picchu" and found the only vendor to be in the UK.

Love love love this coffee. In my younger days, I wasn't much of a coffee drinker. My friend heard I was going to Jamicia - she mentioned how much she loved the coffee. I was like - whatever.

Being on vacation and staying up into the wee hours each night at breakfast I did order coffee and it was incredible - I brought suitcases full of coffee back - while others try to smuggle drugs; I smuggled blue mountain coffee.

Who was the vendor for Jamaica Blue Mountain, Dys? That store in Old Town? (And, save me a cup of that... I've never tried it.)

I actually have had Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, and I have to say
that I prefer Kona from Hawaii.

Aside from that, Austrian (Viennese) coffee is the best in my view..aehm taste.

I read an article in the LA Times not long ago by Russ Parsons on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee. I only have one page of that saved and the article would require a fee to read at this point.

Anyway, he said that it didn't matter if you had jamaica blue mountain if it was roasted poorly and not fresh..

I remembered that a favorite coffee purveyor of mine, Peet's, used to have JBM on their shop's blackboard, and I like their roasting 'philosophy' and the freshness of their coffees. So, I looked up JBM there, and they are out of it right now, but made suggestions for others, one of them being Kona, CJane.
Another was Panama Esmerelda..

Gag, the prices -
This is one page of their fairly extensive website:
http://www.peets.com/site/search.asp?search=jamaica%20blue%20mountain

LOL LordE, yes, I prefer the sandal-wearing hippies who are honestly trying To help native workers get a fair wage for their labor. I admit, there are hippies that are just as dishonest as the Shrub, but most of the organizations are well monitored and quite open about their policy, expense breakdown, and local connections. OxFam is one that comes to mind.

Osso emailed me with the article about the necessity of high quality roasting. It made perfect sense--as any of us know, once something is burned, the taste is forever tainted, no matter what you do.

CJ--I have had Kona coffee--it's wonderful, but how do you know where to buy a good quality product? Do you have a link?

Diane, I was in Hawaii in October and loaded up on coffee there

You might want to try here

Coffeemans King Kona Coffee
200 3rd St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

if their Kona is good enough.

Thanks, CJ! We'll try it next time we need to stock up.

Oh, I tried that Kona coffee. 5/11 coffee is about the same






That's 7/11 coffee at 10:55.

Diane and Dys and I need to find someone here who roasts their own coffee fresh and well.

I know that Peet's Kona and my local grocer's beans are apt to be two different animals.

The expensive prices on that Peet's link are for the Reserves - I'll have to read more about what that means.

JLN mentioned buying the Mexican mix 9or some name like that) at Sunflower and liking it for various reasons.

four years ago, long before the cancer pinchered him, Gary offered me the last of the Jamaican Blue Coffee he had in his freezer. We made it up in a french press he had in great big white mugs.

There were bagels and I made my scrambled eggs,

scrambled eggs youu should know by now are less than cooked eggs with milk and more like custard

with just a little fresh ground tellicherry pepper ground fresh over them.

The coffee tasted like coffee.

but then I think this is music click

Joe(pass the apple butter)Nation

Here's the first page of the LA Times article. Alas, I haven't yet imbedded in my mind that if I want to save their articles, I need to convert them to Single Page.

I've tended to like his articles (I should check them more often).


The new coffee connoisseur

Think you know how to make a great cup of coffee? Think again. It's all about the best beans, a careful roast and optimal brewing.
By Russ Parsons, Times Staff Writer
October 25, 2006

IT was bound to happen sooner or later; I suppose the only wonder is that it took so long. After dinner a couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me for a cup of coffee. And that's when I realized I had no earthly idea how to make one.

I'm 51 years old and I've been cooking seriously for more than 25 years. I've written two cookbooks. I can make fresh pasta fine as a silk scarf and a consommé that sparkles like a mountain stream. Yet I didn't know how to make a really good cup of coffee. (And judging from what I'm usually served in restaurants, I wasn't alone ?- not that that's any excuse.)

It's not that I don't like the stuff. In fact, I'm something of a minor-league coffee geek, complete with a really good home espresso machine (Rancilio Silvia), top-quality grinder (Gaggia MDF) and a standing order at a local roaster (the Caffé d'Abruzzo blend from Supreme Bean in North Hollywood). I can talk tamp pressures and extraction times with most anyone.

But there's a difference between espresso and coffee, both in technique and aesthetic. Espresso is highly extracted and intensely flavored, intended to be consumed in two or three good slurps. Coffee is brewed more gently and meant for quaffing, the kind of drink you sit around with and sip over conversation.

And more and more of us are taking that sipping seriously. Though American coffee consumption overall has been in steady decline for the last 30 years, we're certainly drinking better coffee. The number of so-called gourmet coffeehouses increased from 500 in 1996 to 8,500 in 2001.

So, I figured, how hard can it be to make a great pot of coffee? Rooting around in my pantry, I found an old French press machine, and I thought I could improvise. And that's when the depth of my ignorance really hit me: What kind of beans should I use? Will the same ones I use for espresso be OK? Where do the best beans come from? And what about the "roast" anyway? How much coffee for the pot? How finely ground? How much water? How long do I let it steep before pressing?

So many questions, and judging from the amount of coffee left in my guest's cup, I got the answers to all of them wrong. After more than 20 years of espressos, whatever coffee-making skills I'd once had were long gone, vanished from my memory like the lyrics to a George Michael song.

But while forgetting "Careless Whisper" may be a blessing, I realized there was no way I could go any longer without being able to make a really good cup of coffee.

When stripped to its barest essentials, brewing a good cup of coffee is pretty simple. There are really only three variables ?- the beans, how they're ground and how the liquid coffee is extracted from them. But as with all simple things, every step must be done correctly. Any misstep is immediately obvious.

*

Begin with the beans

MY first stop was my local coffee roaster, where they have a pretty good selection of beans roasted on the premises.

The beans are at once the most complex part of the equation and the easiest to solve. At first glance, the choice seems bewildering. Walk into any moderately stocked coffee bean purveyor these days and you'll find more than a dozen choices spanning two or three continents and a range of roasts.

Coffee beans, like wine grapes, reflect the climate and farming culture of the places they are grown. And because coffee is grown in almost every tropical area ?- Africa, Indonesia, South and Central America, the Caribbean and even Hawaii ?- there is a seemingly endless list of place names.

Indeed, much of the romance of coffee is in the parade of exotic locales and comes with exploring their diverse products. Sumatran coffee is complex and medium-bodied; Ethiopian Harrar is wild and fruity; Brazil's Bourbon Santos is light and bright.

Unlike wine, though, where a handful of place names have become hallowed ground, recognized as producing the very best of the best, there really is no such sure distinction in coffee. Indeed, the quality and freshness of the roast will almost always trump provenance. A well-handled Colombian may be short on mystique, but it will probably make a better cup than the most hallowed estate-grown Jamaica Blue Mountain that was sloppily roasted or has been sitting around for several weeks.

And then there are the blends. Many names you'll find on coffee beans won't reflect a place at all ?- or at least not one that grows coffee (my Caffé d'Abruzzo beans are a prime example). These are combinations put together using beans from various areas that when ground together emphasize the strong points of each and minimize the weaknesses. To extend the wine analogy, these are like Bordeaux blended from a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, rather than a California Cabernet Sauvignon made from the pure essence of one grape variety.

When constructed by a good roaster, these blends can be among the best coffees you'll ever taste. But choosing one can be confusing, since each shop is free to name its blends whatever it feels like. One place's "Caffé Roma" can be made from the same beans as another's "Morning Sonata." On the other hand, it's a pretty sure bet that no two "Breakfast Blends" will be exactly alike.

There are different degrees of roasting as well. The darker the roast, the more earthy and chocolate flavors will be in the coffee ?- up to a point. Particularly when you're talking about the very dark roasts that are popular these days, the overpowering flavor is charcoal. Whether these roasts are popular because people prefer milky drinks such as cappuccino, or whether people prefer milky drinks because the roasts are so dark is hard to say. One thing's for sure ?- extremely dark roasts are not intended to be drunk straight.

Stay away from those very dark roasts called Italian or French. Because this heavy roasting brings the coffee's oils to the surface, avoid beans that are very shiny or appear to be covered with oil. Choosing a lighter-colored roast ?- even if it's called "dark roast" or "espresso roast" ?- will reveal the nuances of flavor in a good bean.

I once bought a two pound sack of Starbuck's dark roast (forget which) beans at Costco. They were all clumped together with burnies...

Exactly osso!

Since I use whole beans for my italian coffeemachine, it made some weird noises and stopped grinding after I poured some Starbucks beans into
it. That stuff is nasty and I won't buy anything Starbucks any longer.

And there may be places better than Peet's, but a lot of connisseur types of my acquaintance prefer it. I'm ready to learn about more good suppliers with good "principles" like Peet's, or local roasters.

I like the Bird friendly coffee growers' coffee that was packaged from my area in north northern California, but I haven't bought it that much for reasons related to my wallet.