RALPH GOES MOCHA-LOCA
Jamaica’s capital city has come along way since businessman Patrick Sibblies opened the Coffee Mill on Barbados Avenue, circa 1999, and ventured overseas, moving the business to China in 2006. Based on the amount of coffee locations in the Corporate Area it might be reasonable to deduce that Jamaicans have become certified java lovers. Locals are not drinking enough, however. A recent survey, according to Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters’ Association, indicates 0.25 kg per person per year compared to up to 12 kg per person per year in other countries. (Still, we reckon the late principal of Old Tavern Coffee Estate Alex Twyman’s face would crease in a smile to see his son David and granddaughter Ava popping into Cannonball Café for a flat white. He would nevertheless scold habitues for daring to flavour his coffee with condensed milk!)
Meanwhile Grant, whose association represents 5,000 coffee farmers and
102,000 coffee farm families, is resolute about returning Blue Mountain Coffee to its former glory. He’s, thankfully, not alone! Equally enthused are the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), Jamaica Promotions Company (Jampro), and their overseas mission and the All Japan Importers of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, who joined forces to celebrate the third anniversary of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day on Saturday, January, 9, 2021.
This celebration came against the anniversary of the date when the largest shipment of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee left the port of Kingston to Tokyo, Japan, on January 9, 1967, following the first direct shipment from Jamaica to Japan in the 1950s by the late politico Keble Munn, then of the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory.
The beans planted over the last 67 years are long perked and now pour 70 per cent in Japan, 20 per cent to the United States and 10 per cent in Europe and the rest of the world.
This year’s celebration, according to Grant, is further amplified “in light of unprecedented challenges experienced by our members, farmers, partners and other stakeholders, caused by the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also created a new normal. The coffee sector last year experienced decline in the value added and roasted business, which saw reduction in sales of approximately 90 per cent due to the closing down of the country and the tourism sector. This resulted in an overstocking of our inventory of approximately 750, 000 pounds of coffee valuing an estimated $1 billion”.
The plan post-saturday’s celebrations of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day (#Jbmcoffeeday), Grant disclosed, is to intensify the JCEA’S efforts and marketing strategy to preserve and grow existing markets, find new markets globally, and to launch a local campaign to create a coffeedrinking culture in Jamaica.
Thursday Food in support of the initiative sipped the world’s best coffee at Café Blue, Constant Spring Rd; Cannonball Café, Sovereign
North; Jablum Coffee House, Oxford Road; Ragamuffin Hostel & Coffee Bar, 74 Lady Musgrave Rd; and at Blue Mahoe Estate Cafe, 30 Haining Road.
The Jablum Coffee House experience was infused with a shot of Hollywood royalty courtesy of Hollywood A-lister Ralph, who went live on social media from the coffee house’s Oxford Road address. New, faster, less expensive coffee options from Jablum were also added to the already extensive product line-up as the brand looks to the future.