According to COffee Industry Board Head Christopher Gentles, licensing and branding could position Jamaican dealers to sell their coffee in 21 countries, but on a broader scale the new rules are designed as well to ensure financial and technical competence and integrity of the coffee dealer and/or coffee plants in the production of the "world's finest coffee".
The 2009 coffee licensing regime was implemented under the Coffee Industry Regulation Act (CIRA), with the stated aim of ensuring the development of the coffee industry to international standards.
"The idea is that if the coffee dealer understands the dedication and financial requirements of running a coffee farm, he will make financial and policy decisions that benefit excellence in coffee production and will the farmer in the long run," the CIB head said.
Registered trademarks owned by the Coffee Industry Board are for the protection of the brand and improvement of the brand equity for future generations of Jamaicans, he asserts.
"The registration of brands in 21 countries around the world, and the hiring of watch services is an expensive business but very necessary in order to prevent the brand from misrepresentation by unscrupulous individuals, who seek to sell a lesser quality coffee than Jamaica Blue Mountain, in order to enjoy short-term profits."
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is grown and pulped only within the legally and geographically prescribed area defined as the Blue Mountains, and has to be certified as such by the CIB.
Other brands, for which the trademark licencing comes at a lower price, include Jamaica High Mountain Supreme, the premium brand for 'lowland' coffee, produced at a lower elevation than the Blue Mountain brand.
High Mountain Supreme is the third most expensive and widely traded coffee in the world and must be produced by licensed dealers certified to operate in high mountain regions at elevations of 1,000 feet above sea level, or higher.
The coffee also has to pass a taste test.
Rohan Marley - chairman of the 52-acre Marley Coffee farm in Chepstowe, Portland, who in June, attracted the ire of the CIB quality control unit for what appeared to be an attempt to leverage the Blue Mountain name to sell his product ahead of his licence application being approved - said the tough stance adopted by the board was making it harder for nascent businesses like his to take off.
Marley also acknowledged that licensing the branded name was "the only way to protect the coffee production coming out of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica", but said the regime should not be so stringent as to create a barrier to market entry.
"Being a Marley, I 'overstand' trademark infringements throughout the world. Unfortunately, the CIB's push to protect the brand has made trading a harder road for the smaller farms," said Marley, son of reggae icon, Bob Marley.
The board should come up with "ways that a smaller farmer like myself can still benefit from our production," he added.
"We have one of the best coffees in the world so we must have strict regulations on how we treat the second most sought after commodity outside of crude oil."
Coffee farming, according to Gentles, is an expensive venture and those without the required resources should consider staying out of the business.
It takes, he said, $3.5 million to grow 1,000 boxes of cherry coffee.
"The costs of mistakes are high and this is no game for weak-kneed amateurs."
Putting three acres of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee under production requires investment of some $1.5 million, and it will be three years before the first crop.
A coffee dealer would have to have at least 60-80 acres, said Gentles, to meet the required minimum production to qualify for a licence.
But dealers are also allowed to make up volume through cherry purchases from other farmers.
The sector includes 23 licensed dealers, 17 of whom are Blue Mountain certified, while three of them deal high mountain coffee.
Largest purchasers
An estimated 7,000 farmers sell their beans to eight companies. Wallenford Coffee Company and the Mavis Bank Cooperative are said to be two of the largest purchasers.
Well-known coffee producers include Salada Foods, Wallenford, Mavis Bank Central Factory and Coffee Traders Limited, which are industrial sized coffee dealers with large amounts of capital, and boutique operators such as RSW Estates.
Whatever the size of the farm, "only the excellent products will be certified as our premium Jamaican coffee," said the CIB head.
A dealer's licence is restricted to trade in roasted coffee beans and coffee products. The CIB is the only entity allowed to export green beans for reasons of quality control.
A cess, ranging from US$53 to US$91 per box, is paid on cherry coffee and on green and roasted coffee sold both locally and abroad, earning the CIB so far this year US$36 million from 356,000 boxes processed.
Jamaica's coffee industry, measured by exports, was valued in 2008 at US$26.5 million.
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Source
Showing posts with label coffee addicts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee addicts. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
'Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee farming not for weak-kneed amateurs'
Coffee dealers who want to sell their products under the Jamaica Blue Mountain or Jamaica High Mountain brands, must under new regulations enter into a trademark agreement with the Coffee Industry Board (CIB) for US$2,500 (J$222,500).
There are also new requirements for record keeping by all coffee producers and dealers, and the filing of audited accounts each year, delivered to the CIB within 90 days of the close of the financial year.
But the much harder part is that each coffee farm must deliver a provable minimum 6,000 boxes of cherry per crop year to qualify for a dealer's licence, which some producers say is too onerous a condition and will squeeze small farmers from the market.
To them, head of the CIB Christopher Gentles has a simple message: toughen up.
"New dealers need to know what they are getting into. Coffee production is a fragile operation," Gentles said.
The board is rolling out a programme of reform that addresses quality, and licensing and registration of producers/ dealers and their products. Gentles and his team have stepped up the policing of coffee imported and distributed, the products sold from grocery shelves, as well as thecoffee exported to world markets - all of which must be licensed to ensure that quality is maintained and the equity in the brands are not diluted.
The dealers with whom the board has had several workshops and site visits, have until July 31, 2011 to restructure operations to satisfy the new requirements for licensing.
Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, a small producer of organically grown Blue Mountain coffee, to get around the volume requirement, says she is negotiating a special licence with CIB for the small quantities of beans she roasts, for export to Europe - similar to a special licence granted to about five 'specialty coffee' dealers.
But Rowan-Campbell sees the new licensing programme as a plus for the industry, as does Gordon Langford of RSW Estates, who said it would help reduce counterfeiting and theft.
Unaware of new fee
Langford, whose current licence expires July 31, said he was unaware of the new US$2,500 fee, but was much more concerned that the 6,000 box requirement would force him to cobble purchase deals and compromise the quality coffee he produces.
The new regime will require production of 60,000 pounds of cherry, with each box holding 10 pounds, but Langford said it far exceeds last year's output of 23,100 pounds of cherry, or 150 barrels each holding 154 pounds.
Gentles says the new guidelines are designed to reduce the "incompetent short-term trader mentality" that has influenced the culture in the purchasing of cherry coffee in the past.
Read More...
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There are also new requirements for record keeping by all coffee producers and dealers, and the filing of audited accounts each year, delivered to the CIB within 90 days of the close of the financial year.
But the much harder part is that each coffee farm must deliver a provable minimum 6,000 boxes of cherry per crop year to qualify for a dealer's licence, which some producers say is too onerous a condition and will squeeze small farmers from the market.
To them, head of the CIB Christopher Gentles has a simple message: toughen up.
"New dealers need to know what they are getting into. Coffee production is a fragile operation," Gentles said.
The board is rolling out a programme of reform that addresses quality, and licensing and registration of producers/ dealers and their products. Gentles and his team have stepped up the policing of coffee imported and distributed, the products sold from grocery shelves, as well as thecoffee exported to world markets - all of which must be licensed to ensure that quality is maintained and the equity in the brands are not diluted.
The dealers with whom the board has had several workshops and site visits, have until July 31, 2011 to restructure operations to satisfy the new requirements for licensing.
Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, a small producer of organically grown Blue Mountain coffee, to get around the volume requirement, says she is negotiating a special licence with CIB for the small quantities of beans she roasts, for export to Europe - similar to a special licence granted to about five 'specialty coffee' dealers.
But Rowan-Campbell sees the new licensing programme as a plus for the industry, as does Gordon Langford of RSW Estates, who said it would help reduce counterfeiting and theft.
Unaware of new fee
Langford, whose current licence expires July 31, said he was unaware of the new US$2,500 fee, but was much more concerned that the 6,000 box requirement would force him to cobble purchase deals and compromise the quality coffee he produces.
The new regime will require production of 60,000 pounds of cherry, with each box holding 10 pounds, but Langford said it far exceeds last year's output of 23,100 pounds of cherry, or 150 barrels each holding 154 pounds.
Gentles says the new guidelines are designed to reduce the "incompetent short-term trader mentality" that has influenced the culture in the purchasing of cherry coffee in the past.
Read More...
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Saturday, July 4, 2009
Brewing at home lets coffee lovers control many variables that affect flavor
Brewing at home lets coffee lovers control many variables that affect flavor
[which cannot be done if they just drink at any of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Retailers or coffee shops]
[which cannot be done if they just drink at any of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Retailers or coffee shops]
Some people don't even notice the difference between instant coffee and brewed coffee. But to Coffee Addicts, Coffee Lovers, Coffee Drinkers; even the smallest detail in the preparation of coffee matters a lot. Of course some Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Retailers provided instructions in coffee preparations printed at the back of their coffee beans pack.
And so to some coffee drinkers, just for your information, i am posting here the article regarding the brewing of coffee at home for the very reason of controlling a lot of things that may affect the flavor of coffee.
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People who get into coffee tend to follow similar paths. They switch over from automatic drip to manual brewing to better control the process. They start buying whole beans and preaching the virtues of freshly roasted coffee.
Manual drip and press-pot (often called a French press) coffeemakers are popular among this set for a number of reasons: They're inexpensive, easy to clean, easy to use and relatively quick and consistent. But the best thing about both is they allow for easy manipulation of the variables that affect the taste of the coffee.
The principal factors are the water temperature, the "dose" of coffee (ratio of coffee to water), the size of the grind and the time that the water is in contact with the beans.
It's easy to learn the basics of these two methods. Press pots work by mixing hot water with ground coffee, letting it circulate and brew, then pressing a fine sieve down the beaker, filtering out coffee sediment.
Manual drip brewers — Melitta and Chemex are two brands — are one type of manual drip coffeemaker, so details about this method are generally applicable to other manual drip methods. With a manual drip, coffee is placed in a paper filter that sits in the top half of an hourglass-shaped glass vessel. Water is gradually poured over the grounds. The thickness and type of the paper helps control the way the water circulates through the coffee and drips into the holding vessel below. .
The grind
Dark-roasted, artisanal coffee beans are widely available these days, but a lot can go wrong betwixt bean and cup. First, whole-bean coffee remains fresh longer than ground, but since coffee is perishable, even whole beans should be refrigerated or kept in an airtight container in a dark place. Grind your own beans just prior to brewing.
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Grinding itself is a key to a good cup of coffee. Beans should be ground appropriately for your method of brewing: A coarse grind should be used when there is more time for contact with the water, a fine grind when there is less. For most grinders, grind 6 to 8 seconds for a French press, 10 seconds for a flat-filter drip pot (a little less if you have a metal filter), 20 seconds for a gold V-shaped filter or for a Neapolitan drip machine, 25 seconds for regular cone filters or steam espresso machines. If you buy coffee already ground, be advised that coffee labeled "drip" or "auto-drip" is more finely ground, while those labeled "perk," "electric perk" or "regular" are more coarsely ground.
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Only brew as much coffee as you can drink immediately. Reheating destroys all of the delicate, complex flavors of quality coffee. If you don't like the taste of your coffee once it's less than scalding, consider whether you could buy better beans. Quality coffees taste better as they cool.
.Amount
Generally speaking, for a strong, flavorful cup of coffee allow 2 tablespoons ground coffee per 6 ounces water. When using a French press, push the plunger down after about 3 minutes; longer steeping will result in over-extracted coffee. With drip pots, most coffee snobs claim to detect an off, paper taste when paper filters are used; gold or nylon permanent filters are thought to be worth the expense, but make sure they are cleaned properly or they, too, may add an off flavor.
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Water
Filtered water is ideal for making coffee. Though you can use tap water, even good-tasting tap water is adding flavors to your coffee that may not enhance it. When making coffee, always use cold, fresh water (water that hasn't already been boiled) and always boil it in a kettle or other vessel used only for that purpose.
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Temperature
The ideal temperature is between 190 and 200 degrees. Water boils at 212 degrees, but it cools rapidly when exposed to air. Controlling temperature is probably one of the most difficult aspects of these types of brewing methods.
Remember when using the Chemex that it's essential to keep the grounds wet so they stay in the proper temperature range. You also don't want to overfill the upper portion of the brewer.
.For a press pot, maintaining temperature is a little easier. It's a good idea to preheat the beaker by pouring in hot tap water or boiling water, then pouring it out just before you add the ground coffee. You also want to keep the top of the press pot on while you brew, to prevent heat from escaping.
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Other factors
Cleaning: If anything you use to make coffee (including your coffee mug) is coated with a fine brown film, then you're not cleaning thoroughly enough to remove coffee oils. These oils become rancid, negatively affecting the coffee taste. Wash glass in warm soapy water after every use. Wash metal parts in the dishwasher (if dishwasher-safe) or scrub thoroughly with dish soap and hot water. Hard-to-clean components such as stainless steel thermoses are best cleaned using a little powdered detergent and boiling water or a paste of baking soda and water.
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Storage: Store whole beans in an airtight, opaque container in a cool location. Beans can theoretically be stored in the freezer, but they must be thoroughly protected from freezer burn, other smells and the moisture-removing effect of the cold. If you're not willing to seal daily doses in individual, airtight containers, it's not worth it.
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Times food critic Laura Reiley and Scripps Howard News Service contributed to this report.
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Posted at St. Petersburg Times - Tampabay.com - June 24, 2009
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Review
The lush island of Jamaica produces some excellent coffee.
Reposted from About.com
Well-known coffees are characterized by the regions where they are grown. Climate and soil qualities can make subtle changes to the flavor of the resulting coffee.
The tropical island of Jamaica has ideal conditions for growing coffee. Much of the island is covered with mountainous regions, including the Blue Mountains which is the tallest range on the island. The Blue Mountains are a perfect blend of rich, hot climate, plenty of rainfall and high altitude. At nearly 7,500 feet above sea level, this is one of the highest coffee regions in the world. The constant mist covering gives the mountains a bluish cast, which is where the name comes from. It's not all rugged mountain peaks. Jamaica is also lined with amazing white beaches, too.
The Blue Mountains are also home to a 194,000 acre national park, created to preserve the national rain forests. This park is home to 800 species of plants and 200 species of birds, many of which are unique to the island. There are hiking trails all through the area.
Coffee is not native to Jamaica. Beans were brought to the island in 1728 by the governor at that time, Sir Nicholas Lawes. The arabica beans flourished and now coffee is a major export. Japan is the largest importer of Blue Mountain coffee (90%).
Blue Mountain coffee has a very clean taste, with a noticeable sweetness. The flavour is bold, smooth and rich. Because of the rather restricted geographical range where it is grown, Blue Mountain is available in limited quantities and can sometimes be difficult to find. In order to maintain the high quality of this coffee, Jamaica has established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board to oversee the production and processing. Most Blue Mountain coffee beans are grown by small farmers, rather than huge coffee estates seen in other regions.
I have not personally tried Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (yet), but I have many friends who just love it. If you have the chance to try some, you won't regret it.
Reposted from About.com
Well-known coffees are characterized by the regions where they are grown. Climate and soil qualities can make subtle changes to the flavor of the resulting coffee.
The tropical island of Jamaica has ideal conditions for growing coffee. Much of the island is covered with mountainous regions, including the Blue Mountains which is the tallest range on the island. The Blue Mountains are a perfect blend of rich, hot climate, plenty of rainfall and high altitude. At nearly 7,500 feet above sea level, this is one of the highest coffee regions in the world. The constant mist covering gives the mountains a bluish cast, which is where the name comes from. It's not all rugged mountain peaks. Jamaica is also lined with amazing white beaches, too.
The Blue Mountains are also home to a 194,000 acre national park, created to preserve the national rain forests. This park is home to 800 species of plants and 200 species of birds, many of which are unique to the island. There are hiking trails all through the area.
Coffee is not native to Jamaica. Beans were brought to the island in 1728 by the governor at that time, Sir Nicholas Lawes. The arabica beans flourished and now coffee is a major export. Japan is the largest importer of Blue Mountain coffee (90%).
Blue Mountain coffee has a very clean taste, with a noticeable sweetness. The flavour is bold, smooth and rich. Because of the rather restricted geographical range where it is grown, Blue Mountain is available in limited quantities and can sometimes be difficult to find. In order to maintain the high quality of this coffee, Jamaica has established the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board to oversee the production and processing. Most Blue Mountain coffee beans are grown by small farmers, rather than huge coffee estates seen in other regions.
I have not personally tried Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (yet), but I have many friends who just love it. If you have the chance to try some, you won't regret it.
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