Blue Mountain Coffee: Touched by Heaven
May 25, 2010
The Jamaican mountains are home to one of the world’s most prestigious Coffee types–the Blue Mountain coffee. For those unfamiliar with the Jamaican topography, it is an island that is covered with a lot of mountain ranges. One of these regions is known as Blue Mountains.
Much has been written and said about how ideal it is to grow coffee beans in this region. The simple facts are that these are some of the tallest regions in the Caribbean, the weather is usually tepid to cool with plenty of rain and the soil is extremely fertile. Mother Nature has combined all these elements to provide a rich ground to cultivate this most sought-after of coffees which many have described as smooth and naturally sweet.
Blue Mountain coffee is both sacred and scarce in Jamaica. Sacred in the sense that only the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board reserves the right to grade and classify these types of beans. Being the overseer of the production and processing, the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board has come up with different classifications for their coffee. Class 1 graded beans are the most popular as it pertains to being consistent with its specified size and bearing only two percent defect.
As for its scarcity, the geographic locations where these types of coffee beans grow is somewhat limited. Also, Jamaica is a land that is often visited by natural calamities that sadly contributes to the destruction of these crops. These are primarily the reasons that you can expect to pay a bit more for this type of coffee plus the fact that each bean is hand picked.
The coffee that is exported from Jamaica are usually green beans, but only with respect to the beans being unroasted. Majority of the beans are actually bluish green and many attribute the bluish hue to the mist the covers most of these plantations. Truly, these beans touch the heavens.
When shopping for or buying Blue Mountain coffee, here are a couple of tips:
- Do not expect to find it in supermarkets. The price is much higher so it is not ideal for inventory. However specialty coffee stores do carry them as do many mail-order websites. It is recommended to buy them over the internet.
- Distinguish between 100% Blue Mountain as against Blue Mountain blend. This is one of the tricks some vendors try to pull to bring down the price of each bag. 100% Blue Mountain is exactly what it is, pure. The Blue Mountain blend meanwhile is a combination of very few parts Blue Mountain and majority common beans. There is no law dictating the percentage of pure Blue Mountain in blends, so the ratio might be as little as one percent. This aspect cannot be overemphasized because clever packaging and design can easily deceive the eyes.
Blue Mountain coffee has received its share of recognition and accolades from gourmets and merchants. To the country of Jamaica and her farmers, these coffee beans are revered. One need only look to the Blue Mountains to see the splendor of the heavens showering their blessing on the earth and it is easy to understand why.
Simon Wu
http://www.articlesbase.com/hobbies-articles/blue-mountain-coffee-touched-by-heaven-140239.html
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Critique on Coffee Shop Playlist. Song suggestions welcome!?
I need a in depth critique on this playlist for a coffee shop, song suggestions welcome. No pop crap though. Chill music. Base song suggestions off songs you see in playlist. No swears in songs.
Playlist:
Arcade Fire – Haiti
Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies)
The Band – The Weight
The Beatles – Come Together
The Beatles – Get Back
The Beatles – Yesterday
The Beatles – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
The Beatles – Across The Universe
The Beatles – Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
The Black Keys – All You Ever Wanted
The Black Keys – So He Won’t Break
Bob Marley – Stir It Up (Original)
Bon Iver – Beach Baby
Bon Iver – Skinny Love
Bon Iver – Blindsided
Bon Iver – Creature Fear
Bon Iver – For Emma
Bon Iver – Re: Stacks
Bright Eyes – First Day of My Life
Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky
Coldplay – Yellow
Coldplay – The Scientist
Coldplay – Clocks
Coldplay – Strawberry Swing
Coldplay – Speed of Sound
Dana Fuchs & Jim Sturgess – All You Need Is Love
Dave Matthews Band – Crush
Dave Matthews Band – #41
Dave Matthews Band – Satellite
Dave Matthews Band – Ants Marching
Delta Spirit – People, Turn Around
Department of Eagles – Too Little Too Late
Fleet Foxes – Blue Ridge Mountains
Fleet Foxes – Oliver James
Fleet Foxes – Mykonos
Fleet Foxes – Drops In the River
Fleetwood Mac – Landslide
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader
Grizzly Bear – About Face
Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others
Grizzly Bear – Knife
Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine
Iron & Wine – Jezebel
Iron & Wine – Gray Stables
Iron & Wine – Freedom Hangs Like Heaven
Iron & Wine – My Lady’s House
John Lennon – Watching the Wheels
John Lennon – Imagine
John Lennon – Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
Kings of Leon – Manhattan
Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis
Marc Cohn – Ghost Train
Marc Cohn – Silver Thunderbird
Marc Cohn – Dig Down Deep
The Morning Benders – Heavy Hearts
The Morning Benders – When We’re Apart
The Morning Benders – Worth the Fight (Bonus Track)
My Morning Jacket – Look At You
My Morning Jacket – Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 1
My Morning Jacket – Librarian
My Morning Jacket – Gideon
Oasis – Wonderwall
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – Relator
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – I Don’t Know What to Do
The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me
The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Radiohead – House of Cards
Radiohead – Karma Police
The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses
Ryan Adams – Everybody Knows
The Shins – Sleeping Lessons
The Shins – Australia
The Shins – Pam Berry
The Shins – Phantom Limb
The Shins – Sea Legs
The Shins – Red Rabbits
The Shins – Turn On Me
The Shins – Black Wave
The Shins – Spilt Needles
The Shins – Girl Sailor
The Shins – A Comet Appears
Spoon – The Underdog
Steve Miller Band – The Joker
Sting – Seven Days
The Swell Season – Low Rising
T.V. Carpio – I Want to Hold Your Hand
Talking Heads – And She Was
Tyler Ramsey – These Days
White Rabbits – They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong
White Rabbits – Company I Keep
White Rabbits – The Salesman (Tramp Life)
The White Stripes – We’re Going To Be Friends
That’s quite a beautiful playlist. Wow. No real critiques…
Some suggestions:
Iron & Wine-"Peace Beneath the City", "Boy with a Coin", "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"
My Morning Jacket-"Bermuda Highway", They also do a brilliant cover of "Rocket Man", "I Just Wanted to Be Your Friend", "Downtown"
Spoon-"Sister Jack"
The White Stripes-"In the Cold, Cold Night"
Radiohead-"Bodysnatchers", "Morning Bell", "All I Need"
Peter Bjorn and John-"Young Folks", "Ancient Curse"
Devandra Banhart-"Lover", "So Long Old Bean", "I Remember", "Samba Vexillographica", "Seahorse"
Dr. Dog-"The Old Days", "I’m Standing In the Light"
The Postal Service-"Sleeping In", "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"
Neutral Milk Hotel-"King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1", "Holland 1945"
Joanna Newsome-"The Book of Right-On"
M. Ward-"Blake’s View", "Hold Time", "Rave On", "Shangri-La"
The Avett Brothers-"Die, Die, Die"
Amy LaVere-"Killing Him"
She & Him-"Got Me", "This Is Not a Test"
Sufjan Stevens-"Chicago (Multiple Personality Disorder Version)", "Pittsfield", "The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake", "We Won’t Need Legs to Stand"
Beirut-"The Canals of Our City", "After the Curtain"
Cat Power and Steve Shelley-"The Sleepwalker"
The Submarines-"Xavia"
Ron Sexsmith-"Brandy Alexander"
Jeff Buckley-"Hallelujah"
Bon Iver-"The Wolves (Act 1 & 2)"
By "some", I obviously meant "too many". Yikes. I get carried away when it comes to music.
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