Expanding Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee in the EU

Jamaica and the Coffee Market

Expanding Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee in the EU Windward Commodities 30th June 2022

3.2. A Tale of Two Coffees In the 1990’s and early 2000’s the industry was driven by a balance between production of premium Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) and lower priced Jamaica High Mountain (JHM) grown at lower altitudes and outside the blue mountain areas. However, JHM, which once made up almost 25% of total cherry production, has declined to less than 2% of the total. From an export perspective, the problem is one of pricing. Although less expensive than JBM, it still requires a price many times higher than other specialty coffees to be commercially viable. This makes it too expensive as a value offer into major multiple retailers and, for the premium segment, buyer feedback is clear - if they are going to pay substantially more for coffee, they want to pay for the ‘real deal’ in the form of JBM. This, coupled with the dynamics of the EU market, the collapse of production, and lack of profitability at a farm level makes JHM unviable in the EU.

10 | Time to Wake Up and ‘Cup’ the Coffee