Mavis Bank: The Village and Its Coffee Factory (JABLUM)

Mavis Bank is a small village in St Andrew parish, in the Blue Mountains about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Kingston, built up around a coffee factory that has run there since 1923. That factory, now known by its JABLUM brand, remains the district's main employer.

Where Mavis Bank is

Mavis Bank sits in the hills of St Andrew, near the Portland parish border, and had an estimated population of 1,787 at the 2009 count, according to Wikipedia. Wikipedia traces the name to Mavisbank House, a historic building in Scotland, after which the local coffee estate was named; the village then took its name from the estate.

Founding and early history

The Munn family's coffee farming in the area goes back to 1885, and the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory itself was built in 1923 by Victor and Edna Munn on 12 acres, according to the Jamaica Observer and the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association. After the Second World War, management passed to Keble Munn, described by the exporters' association as Jamaica's first Certified International Cup Taster. Under his leadership the factory made its first export in March 1953: three barrels of green coffee shipped to Tokyo. The Jablum roasted brand followed in 1982.

How ownership changed

The Munn family ran the factory until 1998, when it went into receivership and the Development Bank of Jamaica took a 70% stake, the Jamaica Observer reported in 2023. In 2011 it was bought by Orchard Plantation Coffee Factory Limited, a joint venture between Jamaica Producers Group and Pan Jam Investment. Michael Lee-Chin's Specialty Coffee Investments Limited has owned it since 2016, and in 2020 the company added the historic Wallenford brand to its portfolio.

What the factory processes, and for how many farmers

Sources differ on the scale of Mavis Bank's farmer network. The Jamaica Observer reported in 2023 that the factory serves about 4,000 farmers across Portland, St Thomas and St Andrew. The Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association's own profile instead puts the number at roughly 6,000 local farmers, supplying about one million pounds of green beans a year. Both figures come from sources close to the industry, and this guide cannot say which is more current.

Coffee arrives as cherry and is washed, dried on concrete drying floors known locally as barbecues, finished by machine, aged in the warehouse for up to nine months, hulled and hand-sorted by a team the Jamaica Observer describes as more than 50 women, before certification and packing into barrels or 60-kilogram bags.

How Mavis Bank's coffee reaches buyers

The factory sells under several names: the Jablum brand launched in 1982, the Wallenford brand acquired in 2020, and a value line called True Brew, alongside ground and instant coffee and single-serve cups introduced in 2021 with a reported $5 million investment. The Jamaica Observer reported in 2023 that roughly 65% of output still leaves as green beans for export, with 35% roasted domestically, and that the company aims to shift that balance toward 50:50 over time. The factory holds HACCP and Safe Quality Food certifications, according to the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association.

Does Mavis Bank Coffee Factory receive visitors?

This guide could not confirm from a reliable source whether the factory runs a regular public tour program. Readers planning a visit should check current arrangements directly with the factory before traveling. For an overview of how estates and works generally fit together, see the estates and coffee works directory.

Mavis Bank lies across the Yallahs River valley from the RSW Estates and Sherwood Coffee Works, and its history sits alongside that of other coffee-growing districts described in St Andrew: Blue Mountain coffee above Kingston. For how cherry becomes exportable green coffee more generally, see from cherry to cup.