Jamaica Blue Mountain Trouble Hill Farm

Trouble Hill Farm, owned and farmed by the same family for three generations, is located in Claverty Cottage, Portland Gap, at 4500 feet above sea level. Claverty Cottage is a small settlement located about 5 miles (8 km) from Blue Mountain Peak in the parish of Portland, Jamaica. This settlement has a sparse population of approximately 600 inhabitants. Accessible only by rugged 4x4 vehicles, the terrain is too steep at points for even donkeys to climb. But in this rugged landscape, where the cool mountain mists create a special micro-climate, the perfect conditions are provided for growing Jamaica Blue Mountain. 

Jamaica Blue Mountain is an appellation, much like the French have done with their prized wine regions. In order to be called Jamaica Blue Mountain the coffee must come from the parishes of Portland, St Andrew, St. Mary or St Thomas which are in eastern part of the island. This entire area is quite small as a growing region, only about 15,000 acres in its entirety. Roughly 85% of the tiny production is exported to Japan.

Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee has long held a reputation as being one of the world's best coffees and certainly one of its most expensive; whether deserving or not is of much conjecture. Perhaps twenty five or more years ago this may have been true, but today, with artisanal crops being grown in several parts of the world, it is certainly not alone. In September 1988 Hurricane Gilbert wreaked havoc on Jamaica, its people and its coffee industry, destroying 70 percent of the trees there. The hurricane, one of the most intense ever recorded, became a category 5 storm as it passed over the island. Winds were in excess of 155 mph and the mountains had 27 inches of rainfall. That singular weather event essentially ended quality coffee production which took nearly two decades to fully recover.  This past year, Jamaica was visited by Hurricane Beryl, making landfall on July 3, 2024. While the worst of the storm battered Jamaica's south coast, there was damage in the mountains causing a reduction in the already small crop that is typically produced. 

• Country: Jamaica
• Farm: Trouble Hill Estate
• Producer: Donald Salmon
• Region: Claverty, Portland Parish
• Varietal: Typica
• Grade: 1
• Processing: Fully washed, traditional fermentation
• Drying: Patio, 100% sun dried
• Altitude: 4500 average

Producer Donald Salmon, apart from running Trouble Hill, is the president of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association.  

Life in the Blue Mountains is changing, with relatively few young people leaving to seek a more modern lifestyle in cities both in Jamaica and abroad. The farmers at Trouble Hill have coffee growing in their DNA and are passionately committed to the continuation of producing one of the world’s best coffees through their hard work. It’s It is not every coffee that’s grown on a mountainside at 45 degrees!