LINK-Caribbean Magazine

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee That Rocks! Born out of a sheer desire to make a difference and provide an exceptional product Ricardo Forbes launched the Rocksteady Coffee Co. in 2012. Taking ownership of the full process of coffee production Rocksteady ethically farm, manufacture and distribute a single origin, gold standard, gourmet 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee product. Whilst Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is recognized as one of the world’s best coffee’s attracting a premium price Ricardo saw that there was a lack of diversification and the industry had been experiencing a steady decline in the quality of the blue mountain coffee he was seeing in the market. Living in Canada at the time, Ricardo saw the opportunity to return to his country of birth and follow his vision to produce a premium gourmet specialty coffee in terms of taste and packaging at a fair price. What set’s Rocksteady apart is their single origin approach. Having purchased a derelict coffee farm in the heart of the infamous Jamaican Blue Mountains, they were able to bring the farm back to life, providing jobs for the local community through growing and manufacturing the coffee within the Rocksteady farm and manage the consistency of the flavour. But when it came to scale up his business angel investment was seen as a natural fit in view of the nature of his product, “Rocksteady Coffee is a premium product that requires time and patience before going to market” he explained. “Angel Investment is much more manageable for me to scale up”. Ricardo first applied for an investment readiness grant under the LINK-Caribbean programme which he used to increase marketing and promotion of the company and to develop an e-commerce website powered by the Shopify platform enabling customers to shop directly.