Big dreams for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee

For decades, tourists have been coming to Jamaica for the sun, sea, sand and other things beginning with the letter ‘s’. Add to that, there is music, food, etc. But Adam Stewart of Sandals International Limited, and other tourism stakeholders are not just sitting on their laurels, smiling. They want one more major reason for tourists to come.

So, they are stirring up the pull-factor potpourri, putting more coffee into the mix. “In this resort, we are building what’s never been done in the Caribbean before, never been done in Jamaica, an absolutely speciality Blue Mountain coffee experience in the centre of the hotel.”

Stewart said it would be an “elevated experience” in which guests would want to spend three to four hours. From there, patrons will journey from the property to the Blue Mountains, where they “will see, feel, smell, and take back home a piece of the rich journey of what is Jamaica”.

“The fact that [they] can jump from Ocho Rios and be in the Blue Mountains in an hour, makes the whole tour and coffee journey a reality,” Stewart said.

He was participating in the ‘Wake up with coffee’ panel discussion, moderated by Dr Terri-Karelle Reid, during the 2022 Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival ‘marketplace day’, held on the south lawn of Devon House on Saturday, April 2.

The chairman of the largest all-inclusive hotel chain in the Caribbean wants to go even further. Starbucks, the world largest coffeehouse chain, is on his mind. He wants them to “consume and buy” more Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

Stewart said that in pre-COVID times, “strong inroads” into the buying of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee for Starbucks “reserved stores” were being made. Such stores are Starbucks’ top 1,000 stores out of their 33,000 worldwide. He also said there was work on a blend of Jamaican High Mountain coffee in all Starbucks’ stores.

However, “The real dream of ours … which we are engaged with them currently, would be to have a roastery right here in Jamaica,” Stewart revealed. If we can roast, sell and distribute right here in Jamaica, that would be “a big dream come true”. Yet, the bigger dream is to sell Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee to Starbucks’ 33,000 stores, nine of which are set up here.

JAMAICAN COFFEE

Columbia and Costa Rica are the only two countries in the region where coffee is roasted for Starbucks. The Jamaican coffee that is consumed at Starbucks is sent from here to Seattle, Washington, to be roasted, and then returned to Jamaica, because of Starbucks’ “stringent brand standards”. This is quite a lengthy process.

Also on the panel were David Twyman of Old Tavern Coffee, Green Hill, Portland; Jackie Sharp, director, From Corporate to Coffee Traders Ltd; Marshalee Valentine of Jamaica Women in Coffee; and Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, who said the industry is “excited” with the prospects of Starbucks promoting Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. This sort of “cross-cultural branding,” when the product of a country can be branded with tourism, “is critical,” Bartlett also said.

Operating under the tag line ‘A Month-Long Celebration of The World’s Most Sought-After Coffee’, the fifth annual Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, a production of the Ministry of Tourism, through its agency, the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), was held from March 1-3.

“The festival was created in keeping with the ministry’s objective to foster strategic growth of culinary tourism as a product niche for Jamaica, and was first staged at Newcastle in 2018. The festival is designed as the Caribbean’s premier coffee festival, offering an immersive experience from farm to cup (and plate), while demonstrating our rich tradition of coffee production from the Blue Mountain region,” the TEF said.

editorial@gleanerjm.com