Coffee pickers on a steep slope in Jamaica's Blue Mountains

JACRA Certified Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee: What the Certification Means

By Barrington & Sara, owners of One Happy Coffee

By Barrington & Sara, One Happy Coffee

If you have shopped for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee for a while, you may have seen the letters JACRA on a bag, a certificate or a seller's page and wondered what they mean. The short version is that JACRA is the reason genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee can be trusted, and every 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee we sell is JACRA certified.

Here is what that certification is, what it checks, and how to use it when you buy.

The short answer: JACRA is the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority, the government body that regulates Jamaica's coffee industry. Coffee can only be exported as Jamaica Blue Mountain® coffee after JACRA has inspected and approved it. "JACRA certified" means the coffee in the bag has passed that check.

What is JACRA?

JACRA is a statutory body set up under Jamaica's Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority Act of 2017. In 2018 it took over the work of the Coffee Industry Board, which had looked after Jamaican coffee for decades, along with the boards for cocoa, coconut and spices. So if you have an older bag or certificate that mentions the Coffee Industry Board, it is the same system under its earlier name.

For coffee, JACRA does three main jobs:

  • It owns the name. Jamaica Blue Mountain® is a certification trade mark owned by JACRA and registered in Jamaica and dozens of other countries. Nobody can use it on a bag without JACRA's permission.
  • It licenses the people in the chain. Farmers, processors, roasters and exporters who handle Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee are licensed by JACRA.
  • It inspects the coffee before it leaves Jamaica. Green coffee is checked before export, and only coffee that meets the standard may be shipped under the Blue Mountain name.

What JACRA certification checks

Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee can only come from a defined area of Jamaica's Blue Mountains, in the parishes of St Andrew, St Thomas, Portland and St Mary. Coffee grown elsewhere on the island, however good, is not Blue Mountain coffee. Jamaica High Mountain coffee, for example, is grown outside that area and is sold under its own name.

Before export, JACRA's inspection looks at where the coffee came from and at the beans themselves: their grade, their size and their quality in the cup. Coffee that passes may be exported as Jamaica Blue Mountain® coffee. Coffee that does not, may not. That is why the name means something, and why it is one of the most closely regulated coffees in the world.

Ripening coffee cherries on a branch in Jamaica's Blue Mountains

Why it matters when you buy

Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is grown on steep slopes, picked by hand and produced in small amounts each year, so it costs more than almost any coffee on the shelf. That makes it one of the most imitated names in coffee. Bags marked "Blue Mountain style", "Blue Mountain type" or "Jamaican blend" sit next to the real thing and can look much the same.

JACRA certification is the line between the two. A blend can contain some JACRA certified Blue Mountain coffee mixed with other beans, but only a bag of 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is all certified Blue Mountain coffee. That is why we always print the percentage on our blends, such as Jablum Premium Blend, which is 30% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and 70% Jamaica High Mountain coffee.

How to check a bag for yourself

  1. Look for "100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee" on the front, not "blend", "style" or "type".
  2. Look for the Jamaica Blue Mountain® name and a named Jamaican producer, such as Wallenford, Jablum or Coffee Roasters of Jamaica.
  3. Check who you are buying from. An authorized reseller can tell you exactly where the coffee came from and who roasted it.
  4. Be honest about the price. If a pound of "100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee" costs about the same as supermarket coffee, ask why.

We go through each of these in more detail in How to Tell if Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Is Real.

Our JACRA certified Jamaica Blue Mountain coffees

Every 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee we carry is JACRA certified. That covers:

We are an authorized online reseller for these brands and a Certified Distributor of Jamaica Blue Mountain® coffee. You can see our certificate on our home page.

Frequently asked questions

What does JACRA stand for? The Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority, the Jamaican government body that regulates coffee and several other crops.

Is JACRA the same as the Coffee Industry Board? JACRA took over the Coffee Industry Board's work in 2018. Older certificates and packaging may still name the Coffee Industry Board.

Are Jamaica Blue Mountain blends JACRA certified? The Blue Mountain coffee inside a blend may be, but the blend as a whole is not 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. Check the percentage on the bag.

Can JACRA certified coffee be roasted outside Jamaica? Yes. JACRA certifies the green coffee before it is exported, and some genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is roasted abroad from those certified beans. A good seller can tell you where the green coffee came from.

Is all your Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee JACRA certified? Yes, every 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee we sell. Our blends and our Jamaica High Mountain coffees are labelled as what they are.

Taste it for yourself

The best way to understand why the name is protected is to taste it. Try our free Jablum sample (you just pay shipping), or browse every 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee we carry. If you have a question about any bag, ask us through The JBM Concierge chat, on WhatsApp, or at info@onehappycoffee.com.

Barrington & Sara

Back to blog