The island nation of Jamaica is known for its soulful, festive music, its hot vacation spots and its coffee. The reputation of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees among connoisseurs has pushed it to the top of the price list, ranging on average from $26 to $40 a pound. To understand the price, one must shed some light on the process resulting in this uncommon grind.

Roughly bordered by Kingston to the south and Port Maria to the north, the Blue Mountains of Jamaica rise to 7,500 feet above sea level, making them the highest point in the Caribbean. The rich, dark soil, rainy climate and good drainage make the region excellent for coffee production. While coffee is not native to Jamaica, it is now the chief export of the country.

The quality of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is so fiercely regulated that the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica even restricts the geographic area that can produce it to the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Thomas, Portland and St. Mary. The Board has also trademarked the distinguished name all over the world so that not just any grind can try to pass as Jamaican Blue Mountain.

The Coffee Industry Regulation Act established a system of three grades of Jamaican Blue Mountain based on the screen or size of the bean. The term screen refers to the literal screens of various dimensions used to sort the beans according to their size. The theory behind this practice is that beans grown in higher altitudes are larger and make better-tasting coffee than those grown in lower altitudes.

The screening process also eliminates maragogipe, or elephant beans, a mutant strain of large, green beans that originated in Brazil. They are porous and generally adopt the flavor of the soil they grow in, and while mixed opinions exist about their worth, they are considered an intolerable defect for purposes of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee production.

A minimum of 96 percent of the beans must be of a consistent size and color, ideally a bluish-green shade. No more than two percent may diverge ever so slightly from the rest, but things like sour and black beans and any kinds of foreign matter are entirely objectionable. Jamaican Blue Mountain producers enforce rigid standards to maintain the quality coffee lovers the world over have come to expect.

The illustrious name, sweet, full-bodied flavor of Jamaican Blue Mountain have made it one of the most famous and sought after coffees on the planet, and the effort put into its careful cultivation and processing, along with the fact that it can only be grown in limited quantities, no doubt contribute to its high price. It will remain a treasured commodity as long as coffee drinkers world wide continue to demand it.