Coffee was first brought to Jamaica in 1728 by Sir Nicholas Lawes, the governor of the island. It quickly became clear that Jamaica’s climate was naturally suited to growing coffee and the plants became a valuable cash crop. After only a decade of cultivation, Jamaican farmers had already exported 83,000 lbs of coffee. By this time, coffee plantations were spread all across Jamaica, from Lawes’ home in Temple Hall to Manchester to the Blue Mountains.
This isn’t to say that the process was easy. To the contrary, the Jamaican coffee industry has faced countless challenges throughout its existence. Labor shortages, partially due to the abolition of slavery in 1838, caused all but 186 coffee plantations to close. To put that into perspective, there were roughly 600 in 1814. The 70,000 tons of coffee that had been produced every year was reduced to a mere trickle.
With the industry on the brink of collapse, the Jamaican government decided to intervene. In 1891, they began by sending government-appointed instructors to the country’s coffee producing regions to teach farmers better growing techniques. Legislators also attempted to create a regulatory agency that would standardize processing techniques and set quality standards. This would prove to be a difficult task, however. It wasn’t until the creation of the Central Coffee Clearing House in 1944 that this vision was realized. Now, all of the coffee leaving Jamaica would be cleaned and checked for quality. This would radically change the Jamaican coffee industry.
Because of this, the quality of Jamaican coffee beans skyrocketed. In particular, coffee grown in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica’s longest mountain range, began to be recognized as some of the finest. In fact, only a portion of the coffee grown in the Blue Mountains can be designated as such. True Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee must be made of Arabica beans grown within specific regions at altitudes of 3,000 to 5,000 feet. Currently, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is in high demand all over the world, from the United States to Europe to Japan. It is widely considered to be one of the best coffees in world.
