Grades – Classifications of Blue Mountain Coffee
The Coffee Industry Regulations Act allows for five classifications:
Blue Mountain No. 1 – 96% of beans must have a screen size of 17/18. No more than 2% of the beans have significant defects.
Blue Mountain No. 2 – 96% of beans must have a screen size of 16/17. No more than 2% of the beans may have significant defects.
Blue Mountain No. 3 – 96% of beans must have a screen size of 15/16/17. No more than 2% of the beans may have significant defects.
Blue Mountain Peaberry – 96% of beans must be peaberry. No more than 2% of the beans may have significant defects.
Blue Mountain Triage – Contains bean sizes from all previous classifications. No more than 4% of the beans may have significant defects.
For some premium coffees, such as Jamaican Blue Mountain, a of polishing of the beans is done and a labor intense hand sorting of individual green bean is performed to revive bad or misshapen beans. This culminates the processing and is the standard for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee.
All green coffee beans shipped from its country of origin, are placed in burlap bags. After going through a stringent process at the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica, Blue Mountain coffee is the only green coffee beans shipped in barrels.