Jamaica High Mountain Coffee: How It Differs from Blue Mountain

Jamaica High Mountain coffee is the island's other protected coffee name. Jamaica's 2018 regulations define "Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee" as the premium grades of Jamaican coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain area, so the difference from Blue Mountain is where the coffee grows, not the species or how it is processed.

How does the law define High Mountain coffee?

The Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority Regulations, 2018 set out two High Mountain categories alongside the two Blue Mountain ones. "Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee" means the premium grades from Jamaican coffee grown outside the Blue Mountain area. "Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Blend Coffee" means a blend containing not less than 30% High Mountain Supreme coffee by weight. Like Blue Mountain, the words "High Mountain" may not be used in the coffee trade without written authority from JACRA (regulation 21), and licensed coffee works must record the source of the coffee they process under either name (regulation 23).

WIPO's case study, describing the Coffee Industry Board before JACRA took over, listed three coffee types the board processed: Jamaica Blue Mountain, Jamaica High Mountain Supreme and Jamaica Prime. Only the first two appear as protected names in the 2018 definitions.

Where is High Mountain coffee grown?

Outside the Blue Mountain boundary, in Jamaica's central and western hills. Wikipedia describes High Mountain coffee as grown outside the Blue Mountain area at roughly 460 to 910 meters (1,500 to 3,000 feet), with coffee from lower elevations sometimes called "Jamaica Supreme" or "Jamaica Low Mountain". A 2023 study in the journal Insects describes High Mountain coffee as grown outside the Blue Mountain range from about 300 meters, and one of its two study farms, Baron Hall Estate in Clarendon, sat at about 567 meters and grew mainly Typica with some Catimor under guango shade trees.

As with Blue Mountain, elevation figures are descriptions rather than the legal test; the regulations define High Mountain by being outside the Blue Mountain area and of premium grade.

How much High Mountain coffee is there?

Not much, and less than there used to be. In June 2023 the Jamaica Gleaner, citing JACRA, reported 257,475 boxes of Blue Mountain coffee and 11,260 boxes of High Mountain coffee produced in the 2022–23 crop year as of April, and JACRA said almost 90% of recent production had come from the Blue Mountain region. The Insects paper notes that production has been falling especially outside the Blue Mountains, where prices are lower and some farmers have switched to other crops such as sugar cane, cocoa and bananas. The Gleaner also reported that farmers in the Blue Mountain region are paid almost twice as much as those elsewhere.

Does High Mountain taste different?

There is no official taste standard for either name, and well-documented comparisons are scarce. Both are washed arabica, mostly Typica, grown on Jamaican hillsides, so differences come mainly from elevation, farm and processing. Lower-grown coffee generally matures faster, which coffee buyers often associate with softer acidity, but any single lot can differ. Treat confident tasting claims about High Mountain versus Blue Mountain with caution.

Who grows High Mountain coffee, and what threatens it?

Mostly small farmers. The Insects paper reports that more than 80% of Jamaica's coffee farms are smallholdings, mostly family-run and reliant on manual labor, and that coffee leaf rust, the coffee leaf miner and the coffee berry borer are persistent problems. Its two-site study found no significant difference in berry borer activity between the High Mountain farm in Clarendon and the Blue Mountain farm in St Andrew, so lower elevation did not, in that study, mean a worse pest problem. The Baron Hall farm was also far larger, about 130 hectares against about 35 at Rosehill, a reminder that High Mountain coffee is not only a smallholder crop. Economics is the bigger pressure: with Blue Mountain coffee earning farmers far more, the incentive to keep High Mountain coffee trees productive has weakened.

How should High Mountain coffee be labeled?

• "Jamaica High Mountain" or "High Mountain Supreme", with Jamaica as the country of origin.
• "Blend" if it is a blend, which under the 2018 regulations needs at least 30% High Mountain Supreme coffee by weight.
• Never "Blue Mountain". A bag that mixes the two names, or uses "Blue Mountain" for coffee grown outside the defined area, is misdescribing it.
• A named source, such as the estate, works or exporter, just as for Blue Mountain coffee.

Why does the distinction matter to a buyer?

Because "Jamaican" on a bag is not the same as "Blue Mountain". A High Mountain coffee properly labeled as such is genuine Jamaican coffee and a legitimate product; the problem arises when it, or a lower-grown coffee, is sold as Blue Mountain. JACRA's 2020 enforcement drive specifically named both Blue Mountain and High Mountain as products being imitated, the Jamaica Observer reported.

For more on the labels, see "Blue Mountain style" and lookalike labels and how to spot fake Blue Mountain coffee. For the boundary that separates the two names, read the Blue Mountain coffee growing area. Other Caribbean coffees with a shared history include Haitian, Dominican and Puerto Rican coffee, and the overview is on our Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee page.