cexshun --- have you heard of Tom over at Sweet Maria's ?
This is what he has to say about JBM Mavis Bank:
Ah Jamaica, a great place to visit. But what about that incredibly expensive coffee? The world's best? The world's most overrated? Well, I can say for sure that it is not the world's best coffee. It is an excellent mild, lush coffee ... sometimes. But it is can also be downright bad. In these cases, it's nothing short of a crime to pay those prices for coffee. On top of that, a lot of coffee sold as Jamaican is not true Jamacia Blue Mountain, or is blended. If you pay $12 per lb for Jamaican coffee, it cannot be true Blue Mtn. but either the lower grown Jamaica High Mountain, or most likely a blend that contains a small percentage of JBM.
The history of coffee in Jamaica is epic ...In 1728, Sir Nicholas Lawes, the then Governor of Jamaica, imported coffee into Jamaica from Martinique. The country was ideal for this cultivation and nine years after its introduction 83,000 lbs. of coffee was exported. Between 1728 and 1768, the coffee industry developed largely in the foothills of St. Andrew, but gradually the cultivation extended into the Blue Mountains. Since then, the industry has experienced many rises and falls, some farmers abandoning coffee for livestock and other crops. In order to save the industry, in 1891 legislation was passed "to provide instructions in the art of cultivation and curing coffee by sending to certain districts, competent instructors." Efforts were made to increase the production of coffee and to establish a Central Coffee Work for processing and grading. This effort to improve quality, however, was not very successful: until 1943 it was unacceptable to the Canadian market, which at the time was the largest buyer of Jamaican coffee. In 1944 the Government established a Central Coffee Clearing House where all coffee for export had to be delivered to the Clearing House where it was cleaned and graded. Improvement in the quality of JamaicaÕs coffee export was underway. In June 1950 the Coffee Industry Board was established to officially raise and maintain the quality of coffee exported.
The Blue Mountain region is in the Eastern part of the island, and only coffee grown within can be called JBM. Jamaica High Mountain refers to coffee grown outside the true region. Wallenford and Mavis Bank are the two most prominent names (you will see Old Tavern frequently too). Moy Hall is a co-op created from one of the older farms, and one of the 4 certified sources along with the above-mentioned in 1951. But these are not farms, they are coffee mills that purchase coffee from the surround JBM small farms and mills it. Wallenford ...I won't buy it after learning much of the coffee is milled at sea-level in Kingston --not a good practice( of course, if the cup is good i will buy it regardless of my biases). Mavis bank is milled and stored at altitude. They have really improved the output, with a true zero-defect preparation. But remember, the cup is mild, mild, mild. If you are new to roasting, and determined to roast JBM, try the smallest amount in an order with a really good Central (a Panama, Guatemalan, Costa Rican), a really good Yirgacheffe, a really good auction lot Kenya, a Papua New Guinea estate coffee, a premium small-farm Colombian. And if, in the larger scheme of things, a very good JBM cups simply as a clean, mild cup, soft but uninspiring next to these muscular coffees with pronounced cup character, well, remember that I told you so! -Tom
Notes: Something good is going on at the Mavis Bank Mill. They invested in all new equipment, and the coffee samples are showing up looking good. The problem is, some lots are better than others, and the Jamaican crop is really not a year-round offering (although someone will happily sell you Jamaican at any time of the year). Coffee cannot be stored in Jamaica for a very long time without being damaged by the heat and humidity. So it is important to buy from a carefully cupped lot (the first arrivals are not always the better ones) and then get it shipped promptly out of Jamaica to a milder climate. Beware of imposters; Jamaica High Mountain is not Jamaica Blue Mountain, and many coffees are actually blends that contain little Jamaican. It's fun to roast Blue Mountain and find out what this highly touted coffee is all about when it is fresh ... and why it ranks among the better Mexican coffees in terms of cup quality. True Blue Mountain is an unusual coffee; it has good body, and some very interesting mild nutty flavors with herbal notes that remind me sometimes of chamomile, sometimes of spice. There are only 4 trade names that can legally call their product Blue Mountain coffee: Wallenford, Mavis Bank, Old Tavern and one other I can never remember. True Blue Mountain is actually grown at higher altitudes than most other island coffees, and much of Mavis Bank's farms are at 5000 feet. Nonetheless, it has the soft cup profile. But remember, this is an "island profile" coffee; smooth, mild, balanced ...and oh so so so expensive. Don't expect huge fireworks in the cup - the character of Jamaican coffee is about it's mild balance and subtlety in flavor. I think this lot of Jamaican is the best I have ever had in terms of up quality and preparation of the green coffee. Personally, I will not consider offering any other Jamaican coffee, especially Wallenford. I have seen too many insect-damaged coffees from that source, and cabbage-like flavors in the cupping samples. This lot represents the last coffee to leave the island before Hurricane Ivan roared past the island. We were afraid that the crop would be seriously damaged, and there would be long-term affects. As it turns out, the trees were damaged and the crop this year will be smaller ... but the farms and mills escaped serious injury. When this lot arrived, I was happily surprised with the cup; it is a mid-to-late crop picking (ideal) and had plenty of time to "rest" before being prepared for shipment. It is a mature coffee. Roasted to a lighter City stage it has more top end in the cup but the Full City (a few snaps of 2nd crack in the air roaster) had a marvelous aftertaste, sweet, a little rootbeer, allspice ... yes, mild overall because all Jamaica is! Over-roasted Jamaican ends up like all other coffees; carbony. Try to avoid this so you can sense the other cup flavors...
