Arabica, Robusta and Jamaica Coffee

The coffee tree is indigenous to Ethiopia, not Arabia as many tend to think and belongs to the genus Coffea of the Rubianceae, or madder, family.

The first English coffee house opened in Oxford in 1650 and by 1675 there were nearly 3000 coffee houses in England.

Johann Sebastian Bach is thought to have been a devoted coffee lover and wrote a secular work "The coffee cantata - Kaffe Kantate" in 1732 that includes an aria "Mm! How sweet coffee tastes! More delicious than a thousand kisses, sweeter by far than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee."

Seedlings produced by the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens, later classified as Coffea arabica var arabica account for most of the billions of trees now growing in South and Central America and the Caribbean.

The next most important strain of arabica (var bourbon) came from French plantations on the Indian Ocean island Reunion, originally called Bourbon.

The other commercially important species, Coffea canephora (usually referred to as robusta) is also a native of Africa and now accounts for 20% of world exports.

There are a number of varieties of both arabica and robusta. In Jamaica, only arabica is grown and according to the 1953/1983 Regulations "blue mountain coffee means: coffee seed that is grown in the Blue Mountain Area as described in the Schedule; and processed or manufactured at any coffee works specified in the Schedule and to which a license granted pursuant to regulation 5 relates."

The quality of the beans is graded into Blue Mountain No. 1 - 3, Pea Berry and Triage. Other grades of Jamaican coffee include: High Mountain Supreme, Jamaica Prime and Jamaica Select. In its wild state, the shrub grows to about 8 to 10 meters.

Although Jamaica does not have much of the world market in terms of production (International Coffee Organisation), the beans are well known for their exceptional quality and Blue Mountain coffee commands extremely high prices. Blue Mountain Peak stands approximately 2256 m (7402 feet) high, the average rainfall for Jamaica is about 198 cm (78 inches) and the average temperature is 27 C (82 F). Together with sunshine every day and good soil, it all contributes to not only great coffee but the land of "wood and water" presents an incredibly beautiful environment to live and work in.

A brief history of Jamaican coffee from the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board or the Jamaican Gleaner History series. It is interesting to note that coffee arabica was characterised by Linnaeus in 1753 by which time Jamaica had been growing coffee for 25 years.