Posted by admin | Coffee | Posted on July 16th, 2009
Blue Mountain coffee comes from the mountains of Jamaica. Blue Mountain coffee is known for its mildness and a distinct lack of bitterness. Over time, it has become the most expensive coffee in the world, and the most sought after. Besides making incredible brewed coffee, the Blue Mountain coffee bean is used as a base for the famous Tia Maria coffee liqueur.
The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are located between Kingston and Port Maria. Rising to an impressive height of 7,402 feet, the climate is cool and misty, and gets a lot of rainfall. The soil is rich and drains well… an ideal situation in which to grow coffee. Coffee beans were first brought to Jamaica in 1728 by the Governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes.
Once the beans are harvested, they are pulped and washed. The beans are then dried and cured for at least twenty weeks. Next, the beans go through a sorting process. Only a very few countries besides Jamaica allow the coffee beans to age at least six weeks. Aging improves consistency among the beans. Before exporting, the coffee is checked for appearance, and some is taste tested to insure quality.
As with other varieties of coffee around the world, there are several different grades of Blue Mountain coffee. For Grade 1, which is the best quality, 96% of the beans must fit a 17/20 screen size. No more than 2% of the coffee beans can have significant defects.
For Grade 2, 96% of the beans must fit a 16/17 screen size. No more than 2% of the beans may have any significant defects. There is also a Grade 3, a Blue Mountain peaberry, and a Blue Mountain Triage, which is a combination of the top three grades.
There is quite a lot of interesting trivia about Blue Mountain coffee. Many commercial coffee blends add a bit of Blue Mountain coffee to enrich the quality of their blend. Due to the strength of the Blue Mountain coffee beans, more cups of coffee can be made for the money. And even James Bond loves Blue Mountain coffee. The author of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming, lived in Jamaica for a part of every year. In his book, “Live and Let Die,” he has James Bond sitting to breakfast declaring, “Blue Mountain coffee, the most delicious in the world…”
In 1988, Jamaica lost a great deal of its coffee industry, due to damage from Hurricane Gilbert. It is just recently that production has been restored to previous levels for this unique coffee.
Out of all the coffee lovers in the world, Japan is the largest importer of Blue Mountain coffee. They invest a lot into the coffee industry, and they import approximately 80% of the Blue Mountain coffee crop every year. The rest of the world wrangles over the remainder. And is it worth the fight? Anyone who has tasted it would say yes. Blue Mountain coffee is sweet, smooth and mellow… all in all, an excellent cup of coffee.
Posted by admin | Coffee | Posted on February 8th, 2009
best coffee beans available all over the world, roast them to perfection, season with an advanced social conscience and a mission to help change the world, flavor with a very savvy sense of marketing and business and you might end up with one of the most successful specialty coffee businesses in the world. Ask the founders of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the specialty coffee business that started as a small café in Waterbury, Vermont back in 1981 and recorded nearly $350 million in sales in fiscal 2007.
The road to success for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been a series of excellent business decisions coupled with right-place-right-time social policies. The Green Mountain label stands for excellent coffee combined with a mission to make a difference in the world. That mission imbues everything that the company does, from sourcing their coffees to point of sale and beyond – the company even uses recycled/recyclable packaging materials. Mission and social responsibility aside, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters owes its success to one factor – the amazing flavor.
The Green Mountain brand is built on high quality specialty coffees. The company began as a small café in Vermont, with a commitment to serving specialty coffees roasted on premises. It wasn’t long before restaurants and shops in town started asking to serve Green Mountain’s coffee. When skiers who had tried Green Mountain’s specialty coffees while on vacation started asking if they could order coffee and have it sent to their homes, the company added its mail order business, and things just grew from there. These days, you can buy Green Mountain Roasters specialty coffees in your supermarket or order it online, sign up for Café Express to have Green Mountain coffee delivered to you automatically, drink Green Mountain coffee at many of your favorite restaurants, and buy Green Mountain coffee pre-packed into Keurig K-cups – Green Mountain sells the most varieties of coffees in K-cups of any of the Keurig partners.
The connection with Keurig is not the first strategic market placement decision that’s paid off for Green Mountain. Many avid fans got their first taste of Green Mountain’s specialty roasts at a most unexpected place – local convenience stores like 7-11 and Store 24, Gas-n-Go shops and other on-the-run coffee pickup spots where the last thing you expect is excellent coffee. As the various convenience stores have expanded their repertoire to include self-service coffee bars – and the technology for making good coffee has improved – Green Mountain has often been the coffee served.
Who Is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters?
Why not ask the company themselves? According to their press releases:
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was ranked No. 1 on the list of “100 Best Corporate Citizens” in 2006 and 2007, and has been recognized repeatedly by Forbes, Fortune Small Business, and the Society of Human Resource Management as an innovative, high-growth, socially responsible company.
Is the coffee really as good as all that? With the fastest growing sales in the industry, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters stands by quality as a watchword. They send coffee sourcers throughout the world to taste and test the crops at coffee plantations in Africa, Asia and South America, bringing back the best that they find. Unlike the biggest chains that must be able to buy in large enough volume to supply hundreds or thousands of stores with any variety they choose, Green Mountain has no issues with selling limited edition coffees, often as single origin coffees.
Green Mountain Coffee Sourcing
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is also popular with “socially conscious” consumers who love the company’s environmentally and community-friendly policies. The company makes every attempt to source directly from growers around the world, and is one of the leading buyers in the Fair Trade coffee market. Green Mountain buyers work directly with coffee growers whenever possible. It is their commitment to high quality coffee and improving the world that has spurred the roasting company’s success.
Favorite Green Mountain Coffee Blends
If you’ve never tried Green Mountain Coffee, one of the best ways to get a real feel for the brand’s variety of flavors is to order one of the company’s variety samplers. If you’d rather pick and choose your own sampler pack, here’s a list of all-time favorite Green Mountain Coffee Blends.
Breakfast Blend – The #1 all time favorite and best seller, lighter roast, rich taste and medium acidity
Nantucket Blend – Exotic blend, full-bodied with a hint of floral and fruit, bright acidity and complex flavor
Dark Magic – An extra bold dark roast specially blended and roasted for espresso
Wild Mountain Blueberry – Seasonal flavored coffee that has become one of Green Mountain’s most popular coffees ever
Posted by admin | Coffee | Posted on December 23rd, 2008
Widely considered to be one of the worlds best, if not the best, coffees, Jamaican Blue Mountain is a rich, smooth roast. This aromatic and flavorful coffee has to be experienced to be believed.
The Beginning of Jamaica’s Coffee Trade
The history of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is just as rich and interesting as the coffee itself. According to one legend, King Louis XV of France sent three coffee plants to French colony Martinique around 1723. Just one of the three plants survived, and this particular coffee plant was given to Sir Nicholas Lawes, a former Jamaican Governor, approximately five years later. Once this coffee plant arrived on Jamaican soil, a coffee crop was quickly established thanks to soil rich in nitrogen, potash, and phosphorous. Less than ten years later, coffee exportation had already begun. More than 600 coffee plantations had been established by the early nineteenth century.
It is believed that all of the coffee plants grown in Jamaica today are descendents of that single plant, of the Arabica typica variety, that arrived in Jamaica from France, via the island of Martinique.
The Blue Mountains Factor-why does that Coffee Taste so Good?
The fantastic Blue Mountain taste is achieved by a combination of three different factors: altitude, a special kind of rich, nutrient-laden soil called volcanic soil, and the treatment processes undergone by the beans once they are harvested.
The hub of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee production is, of course, Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, a magnificent mountain range that rises more than seven thousand feet above sea level. The high altitude, dense cloud cover, and low annual rainfall of the region all serve to slow down the maturation rate of the coffee crop. In this region, crops take up to ten months to mature, whereas in most other parts of the world, the average time taken is five to six months. The longer maturation time produces beans that are larger and have a more concentrated and complex flavor.
Like every other mountain in the islands of the Caribbean, Jamaica’s Blue Mountains are the peaks of extinct volcanoes. Throughout centuries of eruptions, the soil created on the peaks of the Blue Mountains has become extremely nutrient-rich due to the decomposition of plant life, and the deposition of accumulated biomass. This extraordinarily rich soil is an important ingredient in producing the exceptional quality coffee beans that go into every cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.
This is not the entire story, however. There is one more important factor, without which Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee would not be as highly-regarded as it is today. The production and distribution of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is rigorously regulated and protected by the Jamaican government to ensure that every bean roasted and every cup brewed is of the highest quality.
For example, only coffee grown at an altitude of between 3,000 and 5,500 feet is allowed to bear the name Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. If the coffee plants are grown between 1,500 and 3,000 feet, the coffee is known as Jamaica High Mountain Coffee, and plants grown below 1,500 feet are Jamaica Low Mountain or Jamaica Supreme Coffee. These regulations ensure that all Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is grown at the special altitude that delays maturation of the coffee plants and produces that complex and rich flavored coffee. In addition, there are geographical requirements as well as elevation requirements, in that to bear the Jamaican Blue Mountain, the coffee plants must be grown in one of only four parishes in the region.
Another unique aspect of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is that pulped and washed coffee beans are allowed to age for a full six weeks, which is a particularly unusual part of the preparation process. Finally, before export of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is allowed, it is checked for appearance and taste, to ensure that every single batch of coffee is of the highest quality.
How to Best Enjoy Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
Once you have made the effort to purchase one of the very best coffees in the world, it would be almost criminal if you did not ensure that your coffee is properly stored and brewed!
Storing your coffee properly requires that it be sealed in an airtight container, away from any foods with strong odors or flavors, such as curry powder and other spices. Refrigeration in an airtight container is the ideal way to store ground beans.
You can keep your coffee tasting great by cleaning your coffee pot immediately following each use. Never use detergent or other cleaners in your coffee pot, this can affect the taste. Simply empty the pot, brush and rinse thoroughly with hot water. Additionally, give the pot a rinse with hot water before making a fresh batch of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, and enjoy.
Posted by admin | Coffee | Posted on November 8th, 2007
and age when ‘environmentally responsible’ has become the latest buzzword in marketing for many corporations, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Vermont is refreshingly different and sincere. For Green Mountain, social and environmental responsibility is not a trendy marketing move. It is a key concept that has been part of the company’s core commitment and values from the time when it was housed in a tiny storefront café. The company considers itself a steward, responsible for helping to preserve the Earth’s natural resources for future generations and their history of socially responsible business and corporate decisions reflect their commitment to making the world a better place for us all.
For 25 years, we have been on a deliberate journey to create and sustain a values-driven company that views profit as a means to achieve a higher purpose.
Thus begins Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s statement of corporate responsibility. That higher purpose is, simply stated, to leave the world a better place for having been here. Green Mountain has taken that commitment seriously, starting small and growing their responsibility to the planet as the company has grown. In an open letter written in 2006, Green Mountain president Bob Stiller talked about the evolution of that commitment, starting as early as 1983, when the little café in Rutland, Vermont decided that composting was a socially conscious decision – and the right thing to do. In 1984, the employees – less than ten at the time – began informally taking on environmental projects, including a recycling program. In 1986, Green Mountain introduced its first Organic coffee, and in 1989, the company’s Environmental Committee developed Earth-Friendly coffee filters that are dioxin free.
Fair Trade and Sustainable Coffee
Over the years, Green Mountain and their corporate officers have made decisions in keeping with the company’s overall mission. Each step on the path may have seemed small at the time, but each step has built on the ones that came before to make Green Mountain Coffee Roasters one of the most socially responsible companies in the world. In fact, Green Mountain has been named one of the Top 100 Most Socially Conscious Corporations by Business, Inc. for two years running. The company’s production plant has been certified organic since 1997, and they remain committed to offering high quality, completely organically grown coffee as a major part of their offerings.
In addition to their commitment to organically grown coffee, Green Mountain supports sustainable coffee production methods as a member of Fair Trade associations. Currently, Green Mountain offers 45 different Fair Trade certified coffees, accounting for over 20% of their sales. By contrast, Green Mountain’s largest competitor in the specialty coffee business, Starbucks, called itself Fair Trade friendly in 2001, when only 1% of the coffees that the company bought were Fair Trade certified. Five years later, Starbucks had only managed to increase the Fair Trade percentage of their coffee sales to 6%.
Fair Trade is important in the discussion of environmental responsibility because coffee growers who are certified with the Fair Trade label have made a commitment to using environmentally friendly and sustainable growing methods, despite the fact that those methods yield less coffee per acre. In return, they are guaranteed a price for their coffee beans that provides a fair wage for their labor. By committing their resources to buying Fair Trade certified coffees, Green Mountain essentially has put their money where their mouth is to support the most viable method of encouraging global change in the coffee market.
Responsible Energy Use, and More
Green Mountain does not confine its stewardship policies to coffee sourcing and production, though. The company’s earliest efforts at being environmentally responsible were decisions to compost waste and recycle materials, and over the years, the corporation has continued to make responsible energy and conservation decisions. Green Mountain tries to use renewable energy sources when possible, and offsets their use of carbon fossil fuels by buying renewable energy credits from a variety of sources. Their efforts and purchases help support the development of alternative energy sources like the wind power technology being developed by Vermont’s Native Energy company.
In a similar manner, Green Mountain’s recognition that disposable coffee cups lead to increased solid waste led to the company’s development of an eco-friendly disposable paper coffee cup. Unlike most coffee cups, which use petroleum products for water-proofing, the Green Mountain cups are made entirely of natural and renewable materials. Green Mountain estimates that their new cups have kept over half a million pounds of petrochemicals out of landfills so far. The accomplishment has been recognized by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, who awarded the 2007 Sustainability Award to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.