From Cherry to Cup: How Blue Mountain Coffee Is Processed

Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is a washed coffee. Ripe cherries are picked by hand, floated to remove poor fruit, pulped, washed free of mucilage and dried as parchment. The parchment rests for weeks before hulling. The green beans are then graded, sorted, inspected by JACRA and exported, with the main grades packed in wooden barrels.

The steps at a glance

1. Picking ripe cherry by hand
2. Floating and collecting the cherry
3. Pulping
4. Removing the mucilage and washing
5. Drying on barbecues and in mechanical dryers
6. Resting in parchment
7. Hulling and polishing
8. Grading and sorting
9. Inspection and cupping
10. Packing and export

Picking and floating happen on or near the farm. The later steps take place at a licensed coffee works, and final inspection and export are handled by JACRA. The sections below follow the same order. Practice varies between estates and factories, so treat the timings as typical ranges rather than fixed rules.

What is being picked?

A coffee cherry is the fruit of the coffee tree. It normally holds two seeds with flat facing sides, and these become the beans. Now and then a cherry develops a single round seed instead, called a peaberry. JACRA names Arabica Typica as the dominant variety propagated in the Jamaican coffee industry, and licensed nurseries raise Typica and other recommended seedlings for farmers.

When is Blue Mountain coffee harvested?

The reaping season runs from late in the year into the next. The importer Royal Coffee gives October through February. A Daily Coffee News report from the Blue Mountains in 2023 described the season opening around Heroes' Day, a national holiday in October. Timing varies from year to year with the weather. In 2025, JACRA's senior director of coffee told the Jamaica Observer that changing rainfall since around 2012 had affected how the crop matures.

Because the slopes are steep, cherries are picked by hand. InterAmerican Coffee notes that only ripe, red cherries are collected. Jamaican coffee is measured in boxes of cherry, and JACRA defines one box as 62 pounds of cherry coffee.

JACRA issues certificates of registration to growers and keeps a Register of Registered Growers and Registered Properties. Registered growers must keep records and supply information on request, including how much coffee they expect to reap and to whom they sell it.

Weather can cut a harvest short. The Jamaica Observer reported in 2025 that Hurricane Beryl, Tropical Storm Rafael and other events had cost the industry about 100,000 boxes, and that damaged roads had kept some farmers from reaching their crop at critical times. The same report described output as roughly halved, from about 500,000 boxes to between 200,000 and 250,000.

Floating and collection

Cherries are floated in water soon after picking. Sound, dense cherries sink. Damaged or defective fruit floats and is removed. Collectors then visit depots daily to gather the freshly floated cherry. At the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, trucks collect it from agents known locally as selectors.

JACRA inspects cherry as well as green coffee. An inspection form in the 2018 regulations records samples for immature, borer-damaged, dry, floating, stale and green cherries.

Pulping

Pulping removes the skin and most of the fruit from the beans. It is done by machine, as soon as possible after the cherry arrives. InterAmerican Coffee notes that pulping often begins late in the afternoon, so that coffee picked that day can be pulped quickly.

Pulping takes place at coffee works. Some estates run their own, while other farms deliver to central factories and buying stations. Any business that processes, cleans or otherwise prepares coffee berries for sale needs a Coffee Works License from JACRA. Every licensed works that processes Blue Mountain or High Mountain coffee, or blends of either, must keep a record of where that coffee came from. The Coffee Industry Regulations of 1953 named coffee works at Moy Hall, Silver Hill, Mavis Bank, Langley and Wallenford. For today's farms and factories, see estates; for the background, see history.

Removing the mucilage and washing

After pulping, the beans are still coated in a sticky, sugary layer called mucilage. It is removed before drying, and the beans are washed clean. The result is wet parchment: beans still inside their papery parchment skin.

Fermentation is the traditional way to loosen mucilage before washing. Jamaica's 2018 regulations list fermenting among the processes carried out at coffee works. Processors check for over-fermented coffee, which is treated as a defect. Fermentation times vary between producers.

What happens to the pulp and wastewater?

Wet processing leaves pulp and nutrient-rich wastewater. The national park's management plan notes that coffee pulp is sometimes disposed of carelessly and can reach rivers, and that effluent from processing factories contributes to the eutrophication of rivers. JACRA's inspection form for licensed premises includes a section on the disposal of liquid, sludge and solid waste, and the former Coffee Industry Board issued guidelines for environmentally sustainable coffee farming.

Drying on the barbecue

Wet parchment is spread out on barbecues. Wallenford describes them as concrete slabs; the Jamaica Observer's account of Mavis Bank mentions asphalt. Sun drying takes about three to five days, weather permitting.

The parchment then goes into rotary or other mechanical dryers to finish. The target is cured parchment with a moisture content of roughly 10% to 12.5%. Blue Mountain Coffee Group, an importer, gives a typical bean moisture of 10.5% to 11.5% and a maximum of 12.5% for export coffee.

Resting in parchment

Dried parchment is not hulled straight away. It is stored in silos, bags or warehouses to rest. Wallenford describes the rest as a period of aging. Published resting times differ:

• Royal Coffee: about eight weeks.
• Wallenford: eight to ten weeks.
• InterAmerican Coffee: at least ten weeks.
• Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, as reported by the Jamaica Observer: 12 to 40 weeks.

Whatever the length, the rest comes before hulling, while each bean is still protected by its parchment.

Hulling and polishing

Hulling removes the dry parchment husk. Mills such as Mavis Bank also polish the beans to remove the thin silver skin beneath it. What remains is green coffee, ready for grading.

Grading and sorting

Green beans are graded by size and density. Screens separate No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 flat beans, and round peaberries are sorted apart. Machines remove defective beans and beans of contrasting color, and hand-sorters make the final pass. Blue Mountain Coffee Group notes that the screens and the gravity table, which sorts beans by density, also help to clean the coffee. Beans that fall short of the main grades can be sold as Select, a mixed grade. Specifications are on the grading page.

Inspection and cupping

Processors test their own coffee. At Mavis Bank, sample beans are roasted in small batches and checked in the factory laboratory. JACRA then inspects and tests green coffee before export, looking at size, shape, moisture, color and cup. Since June 2024, JACRA has used a warehouse in Kingston with an on-site laboratory for cupping and quality testing of export-ready coffee. JACRA describes the facility as a gatekeeper, there to make sure the necessary checks are done before coffee reaches shelves overseas.

Packing: the wooden barrel

The main grades of Blue Mountain green coffee are exported in wooden barrels. Importers list three sizes by net weight:

• 70 kg (154 lb)
• 30 kg (66 lb)
• 15 kg (33 lb)

JA Coffee describes these barrels as specific to Jamaican coffee exports, and InterAmerican Coffee says they are made from aspen wood. Not every grade travels this way. Blue Mountain Coffee Group lists Select in 60 kg jute bags, and Wallenford keeps graded coffee in 60 kg burlap bags for storage.

Export

Under the 2018 regulations, green coffee approved for export stays in JACRA's physical custody until it leaves Jamaica, and JACRA exports it on the dealer's behalf. The dealer keeps ownership. If the coffee is lost or damaged while in JACRA's custody, the regulations make JACRA responsible unless another party is shown to be at fault. Exported coffee is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. What the licenses and marks mean is explained on the certification page.

Japan is the main market. The national park's management plan says the majority of Blue Mountain coffee is sold to Japan, and Wikipedia gives a figure of over 80%.

Not all Blue Mountain coffee leaves Jamaica green. The Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, for example, roasts, grinds and packs coffee for its own brands; the Observer reports that it handles about two million pounds of coffee a year. Licensed special coffee dealers buy roasted coffee from licensed dealers and sell it under their own labels.

Roasting and brewing change the cup

Everything above describes green coffee. What reaches the cup also depends on roasting and brewing. Roast level has a large effect on sweetness, acidity and body, and the same beans can taste quite different at different roasts. Grind, water and brewing method add further variation. For flavor descriptions, see what Blue Mountain coffee tastes like.