How Blue Mountain Coffee Is Processed, From Cherry to Export

Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee's reputation is usually explained by its mountains, but a large part of the work happens after picking. The cherries are processed by the washed method at licensed coffee works, rested, hulled, sorted by hand and graded before the green coffee is exported under the regulator's control. This page walks through the steps, using the WIPO case study on Blue Mountain coffee and Jamaica's 2018 JACRA regulations, and explains which steps are legal requirements and which are tradition.

Step 1: selective picking

Blue Mountain coffee ripens slowly in the cool, cloudy conditions described on our growing area page, so the harvest stretches over months and the same trees are picked several times. WIPO's case study describes experienced reapers selecting the bright red, ripe cherries. Picking only ripe fruit matters because unripe and overripe cherries carry defects through to the cup. Jamaican law backs this up: regulation 18 of the 2018 JACRA regulations bars commercial picking, sale or purchase of coffee made up entirely of green berries.

Step 2: delivery to a licensed coffee works

Growers deliver cherries to licensed dealers and coffee works. Under the 2018 regulations, a registered grower shows a certificate of registration and gives a signed receipt naming the quantity and the property where the coffee was grown (regulation 14), and dealers record every purchase, including the grower's registration number and the property, and keep those records for at least seven years (regulation 15). Coffee works that process Blue Mountain or High Mountain coffee must record the source of the coffee (regulation 23). This paper trail, explained on our JACRA certification page, is what ties a lot of green coffee back to the mapped growing area.

Speed matters too. WIPO describes the wet beans reaching government-authorised processing facilities within 24 hours, because cherries left too long start to ferment in uncontrolled ways.

Step 3: pulping, fermenting and washing

Blue Mountain coffee is a washed coffee. The skin and most of the fruit are removed by a pulping machine, the sticky layer of mucilage left on the parchment-covered beans is broken down, typically by fermentation in tanks, and the beans are washed clean. The washed method tends to produce a clean, clear cup, which suits the mild profile Blue Mountain is known for. Our washed coffee page explains the general method and how it differs from natural and honey processing.

Step 4: drying

The washed parchment coffee is then dried; WIPO describes the beans as sun-dried. Drying has to be thorough and even, because coffee that is too moist can grow mould and coffee that is dried too fast or unevenly loses quality. Regulation 18 again sets a floor: it bars trade in coffee dried in the double husk and in coffee not dried to the Authority's standards.

Step 5: resting

One of the more distinctive features of Jamaican practice is the rest after drying. According to WIPO, the beans are stored and cured in wooden silos or jute sacks for at least eight weeks, a step it says brings out flavour-enhancing compounds. Resting also lets moisture even out through the lot before milling.

Step 6: hulling, polishing and hand sorting

After resting, the parchment and silver skin are removed by hulling and polishing. WIPO describes skilled workers, traditionally women, then hand-sorting the beans to remove defects, calling hand sorting a lynchpin of the quality of Jamaican coffee. It is slow, labour-intensive work and part of why Blue Mountain coffee costs what it does; see why Blue Mountain coffee is so expensive.

Step 7: grading and cupping

The green coffee is then graded by bean size and defects into the export grades described on our Blue Mountain grades page, with peaberries separated out. Quality is also checked in the cup. JACRA told the Jamaica Information Service in 2026 that it has two Q graders, cuppers licensed by the Coffee Quality Institute, who test coffees, including Blue Mountain, before export. Cupping does not prove origin on its own, but it catches defects and lots that do not taste as they should.

Step 8: export under JACRA custody

Green coffee approved for export stays in JACRA's physical custody, while the licensed dealer keeps ownership, and JACRA exports it on the dealer's behalf (regulation 22). This central control has deep roots: WIPO notes that from 1944 all export coffee had to pass through a Central Coffee Clearing House to be cleaned and graded. Blue Mountain coffee is traditionally shipped in wooden barrels, a custom dating back to the first shipments to Japan in 1953 (see the history of Blue Mountain coffee). The barrel is tradition, not proof: anyone can put coffee in a barrel.

What happens after export

Most Blue Mountain coffee leaves Jamaica green and is roasted by the buyer, so roast level, freshness and brewing are in the hands of roasters and drinkers abroad. A carefully processed lot can still be spoiled by a heavy roast or long storage. For the last steps, see how to brew Blue Mountain coffee.

Which steps are law and which are tradition?

Disclosure: this site is published by Mamre Blue Coffee, a Jamaica Blue Mountain estate (see about us), so we rely on official and independent sources for the facts on this page.