Tag: jamaica coffee festival

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Dealers want January for Jamaica Coffee Festival

img_20190302_144410_1-1017301785.jpgSome dealers want the Jamaica Coffee Festival 2021 changed from March to January to align with the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day.

“The coffee dealers want January and that makes sense for us,”said a source who wouldn’t give their name due to the sensitive stage of negotiations. “Coffee dealers are considering pulling out and doing our own thing next January.

It sounds like a no brainer to align a local festival with a Day that’s promoted in Japan and Jamaica for coffee. The coffee festival is however produced by an arm of the Ministry of Tourism and their mandate is to drive visitors to the island during slow periods like March.

The Coffee Festival produced by the Ministry in its third consecutive year but there were previous intermittent staging in the past.

Since the 1960s, Japan was the main buyer and marketer of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. The January date signifies the first real shipment to the Asian country. The inaugural  Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) Coffee Day was celebrated in 2019.

There is also International Coffee Day held in October. That occasion is used to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage, with events occurring globally. The first official date was 1 October 2015, as agreed by the International Coffee Organisation and was launched in Milan.

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What does Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee taste like

Tones of chocolate, nut and spice without bitterness. That’s the classic taste profile of Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM).  In other words three distinct layers of tastes. The profile can vacillate slightly with more curated brands offering a transition between chocolate, spice and fruit. 

The complexity and smoothness gained a reputation since the 1960s as a coffee that stood world’s apart from your typical cup. Context is important. The 60s was an era before Starbucks, when instant coffee was largely prevalent. Additionally, the average coffee drinker opened a can of dark roasted ground beans. The industry at the time was set on delivering the cheapest cup. That often meant dark very bitter brew. Besides if people had an issue they just added sugar and milk.

Within this era of mass bitter coffee was a beverage from Jamaica that could be consumed black! A brew that allowed the subtle layers of tones to cover the palette of its drinker. No doubt this resulted in it being a delicacy which fetched a premium price.

Then came Starbuck cafes. Its entry largely killed the canned bitter coffee market and resulted in shifting the value chain from cheap to tasty beans. It resulted in the world adopting farming, harvesting, producing and brewing practices that were standard in places like Jamaica and other high end quality coffee nations. The result commodity beans are more flavourful.

Nowadays it is commonplace to source beans from around the world with satisfying taste profiles. But most cannot get the Jamaica Blue Mountain balance of chocolate, spice and fruit. Usually commodity coffees are nutty. Or spicy. Or fruity. It is very rare that they get contrasting tones in one like a quality JBM.

So what does Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee taste like: It tastes like quality.

 

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When is Jamaica Coffee Festival 2020

Ok, So the festival is March 7, 2020. Important to note is that it is free on entry in the Blue Mountains. Any price one sees for the festival on flyers relates to bus transportation but entrance is free ( at least it was in 2019). That means if you drive or walk to the festival there’s no cover.

The festival organisers 8 hours ago (December 10) started calling on exhibitors to apply. They mean business. Maybe they want to match the Rum Festival also held under the Tourism Linkages unit to boost gastronomy. The Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee festival was cool but the rum festival was on fire: Entertaining with comedian bartenders, informative with sugar displays and you got drunk.

The coffee festival can be described in one word. Coffee. And that’s really all you got with various brands setting up stalls. The year was encouraging but next year will/should build on missed opportunities. The biggest missed opp was that festival goers wanted more local innovation from the coffee companies.

They wanted coffee but not just coffee. Everyone served the dark beverage (and it all tasted like your grandfathers brew). They didn’t want fancy Italian name drinks either, they wanted a wow factor. And it was absent.

Don’t get me wrong, the stalls were pretty and the music was fat and the event was well done. But no dealer or coffeefile had a wow factor.

What should the wow factor be this year. That’s really for the suppliers to say. Were I to exhibit I would just set up a cupping stall doing basic coffee 101.

It would start with a quick cupping of rubbish instant coffee. Then transition to dark muddy coffee. Then transition to medium coffee with just chocolate tones. Then transition to fruity coffee with chocolate tones. At the end of the 4th cup you say WOW that’s good coffee. Of course, I can hear people say that’s a boring cupping class. Bear in mind the most popular stall at the rum festival was the cupping to understand good rum from bulk. Why not the same for coffee but done by really cool locals who know the craft.

That will give the festival goers an experience or as I rather say some theatre.

But at the festival in 2019, the evidence was clear, Starbucks avoidance by patrons was palpable. The hype for this brand on the flat in the city did not transition in the cool blue mountains.

Festival goers just kept walking by the green mermaid goblin logo in search of local innovation. My solution for Starbucks for the 2020 festival. It is easy….but you’d have to pay me to consult. It however would involve scaling back and focusing on farmers. I probably said too much already.

Again people want local innovation.

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Brands to expect at Jamaica coffee festival 2019

The Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee festival 2019 takes place in the hills of the world renowned Blue Mountain this weekend. Everyone will congregate on historic grounds in Newcastle but what brands will come out in full force.

Expect all the large ones including Jablum, Wallenford, Coffee Traders, Country Traders, Jamaica Standard Products, and so on.

In terms of cafe popups expect Cannonball, Cafe Blue, Jablum & Wallenford, Coffee Roasters, Island Blue and of course Starbucks and more.

People should be most excited about the surprises: The smaller brands coming out in force to increase marketability and exposure such as Plantation Blue and Bawk coffee.  But we shall see this weekend at the coffee festival.

The festival under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism aims to get locals and foreigners to experience three days of Jamaican food, coffee and culture along the Blue Mountain Culinary Trail. There will also be indigenous arts and crafts showcases, live Reggae music performances and tours to some of Jamaica’s best kept secrets.

Can’t be there but want to experience quality coffee. There’s always next year.

Click to buy

jablum gold 4

 

 

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Is Jablum Gold worth the money

Jablum Gold is the premium version of Jablum.

But even the Gold standard sometimes tastes like hot water but costs three times that of Dunkin Donuts. Truth, is that the hot water effect tends to occur in Jablum Gold ground coffees more often than the beans. 

So my advise to persons wondering about quality. Just avoid the ground coffees. But what about Jablum Gold whole beans. Is it worth the cash?

Cupping coffee is what we do. We do these reviews to keep the companies honest and to let caffeineocrats know what to avoid and when to avoid it. We don’t need sterile labs. We prefer cupping where it counts, at home in the hills of the Jamaica Blue Mountains.

Follow the process of popping open a box of Jablum Gold and cupping via a chemex pour-over.

History: Jablum Gold entered the market about 8 years ago as the curated version of its Jablum classic beans. In other words Jablum Gold sought to address concerns that Jablum was inconsistent with its taste. That the beans tasted like hot water. Like hot almonds. Anything but luxury coffee. So Jablum Gold entered the market with fatter better beans with more flavour. It always amazes me that the company maintained this elaborate packaging to this day.

Packaging: The steps to unbox the coffee is reminiscent of the theatre involved in unboxing a watch. Pop the top apart and it reveals two sleeves: One arms to the left and the other to the right. It reveals a blue burlap bag which further reveals a shiny blue sealed bag.

Aroma: Open with a pair of scissors shows fat swollen beans which smell of brown sugar. There are other spices but brown sugar dominates in a good way.

Preparation: Grind in between fine and medium.

Brewing method: Chemex, in an attempt to enhance crispiness and fruit essences. It’s based on previous knowledge that Jablum coffees generally enhances light chocolate tones and almond tones without much or any fruit. Comparatively utilising a french press would enhance the chocolate tones and mute any hints of fruit.

Taste: Black currant which quickly transitions to deep chocolate and transitions to cream soda with low to medium acidity, and then leaves the palette with a smooth finish.

Conclusion: 7.9/10 with Starbucks daily blend 6/10. So consider Jablum Gold for that affordable luxury.

Update: Just cupped a September 2019 bag. The roasted rare peaberry beans smelt great but tasted like hot water. What can I say, the taste profile is hit or miss.

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Jamaica Coffee Festival

Ok, So there the coffee festival planned for the first weekend in March. To be precise its March 7, 2020. Interested , well it depends on whether you yearn for coffee or earn from coffee. Over the last two years, the festival was held over two days with the first day, dedicated to business Development workshops For Farmers.

It was really the perfect day for overseas and locals roasters and traders to meet with local farmers and processors. After all we all want the access to the holy grail–Green beans. You can barter with the farmers or play hard ball with the licensed processors.

The main event is in the Jamaica Blue Mountains on the soldier camp of New Castle . If you see an entry fee its really for transport . Last year, transport cost J$1,500 or about $12 USD from Mona.

 

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