FOOD FUNDA: Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Sunday 15 July 2012

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Almost every story of Blue Mountain coffee begins with Governor Lawes (or, as in the first chapter of this effort, with Mathieu de Clieu). Lawes, a man who was married five times, each time to a different, well-connected, widow, is well known for introducing coffee to Jamaica in 1728, but its cultivation did not take off immediately. In 1752 exports amounted to a mere 60,000 pounds.It was in the late 1700’s that coffee boomed. There were well over 600 plantations at the turn of the century, but by 1850 there were only around 150 left.