Nestled in the Blue Mountain range, in the parish of St Andrew in particular, Mavis Bank Coffee Factory (MBCF) stands as a testament to the resilience of one of Jamaica’s leading export commodities that is renowned the world over — Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) Coffee.

Started in 1923 by Victor and Edna Munn on 12 acres, the founding of MBCF was a representation of the Munn family’s legacy in the coffee-growing industry as well as its commitment to the farming communities in the Blue Mountain. The Munns’ roots in the coffee business extends as far back to 1885 with the farming of the coffee plant.

However, the company would begin to see growth in the post-World War II era when the management of the entity passed from Victor to his nephew, Keble, Jamaica’s first Certified International Cup Tester, who oversaw the company’s first export of three barrels of green coffee beans to Tokyo, Japan, in March 1953. This would mark a milestone not just in the life of MBCF, but also the wider coffee industry as Japan would eventually become the largest export destination for JBM coffee.

But two years after the first export, disaster struck when fire destroyed MBCF’s main factory. It was, however, rebuilt within the same year. From thereon, the company remained under the stewardship of the Munn family, eventually passing to Edgar Munn who pioneered the company’s e-commerce website at the beginning of the dot com boom.

“The ownership continued under the Munn family until about 1998 when the company was placed into receivership [by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ)],” MBCF Managing Director and CEO Norman Grant shared with Jamaica Observer during a recent tour of the factory premises.

The DBJ would hold a 70 per cent stake in company and the Munn family the remaining 30 per cent until both found a buyer in Orchard Plantation Coffee Factory Limited — a joint venture company equally owned by Jamaica Producers Group and Pan Jam Investment Limited — in 2011. Under this joint venture MBCF experienced improved operational efficiencies and the addition of acreage to farmlands.

One of the innovations of that joint venture was the introduction of the “more sophisticated, premium luxury” roasted coffee Jablum Gold.

As part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, MBCF in 2012 invested $100 million in a waste management systems to reduce its operation’s impact on the environment. The new technology would convert the waste into manure.

In 2016, the company again changed hands when the current owner, the Michael Lee-Chin-owned Specialty Coffee Investments Limited, purchased the operation from Orchard Plantation Coffee Factory Limited.

Major achievements over the last 100 years include ascertaining Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Safe Quality Foods (SQF) certifications.

“The establishment of Jablum in 1982 was a major achievement as well, as we were the first company to really start marketing the Blue Mountain Coffee as a value-added product,” Grant noted.

He added: “And that company started to really increase value added in a significant way, and that is where the game-changing in the coffee industry really started.”

By introducing the Jablum brand then, MBCF began the diversification of coffee exports from green beans to roasted coffee. While the company now exports a ratio of 65 per cent greens to 35 per cent roasted beans, Grant pointed out that the aim is to attain a 50:50 ratio in export and gradually move towards 65 per cent roasted beans to 35 per cent green.

In 2020, MBCF acquired the Wallenford brand.

From berries to beans

The story of MBCF would now be complete without sharing the process of manufacturing coffee from cherries to beans. It was here that Grant’s investment in, and passion for, the production process came to the fore; not only from a strategic level as CEO, but as an employee who has grown through the ranks of the company, a native farmer in Mavis Bank, and one who has been trained as a Certified International Cup Tester.

Chronicling the journey of coffee to the island, Grant pointed out that the commodity was first discovered in Ethiopia before being introduced by British-born Governor of Jamaica Sir Nicholas Lawes in the 1720s while experimenting with arabica beans in Temple Hall, St Andrew.

Once the coffee bean is planted, it takes six to nine months to become a seedling, which is then transplanted on farms where it takes another three years to mature into a coffee tree. That coffee tree can last between 10 and 15 years, the MBCF CEO pointed out.

The coffee plant then bears green berries which ripens into bright red. Coffee beans must be collected within 24 hours after being reaped and upon reaching MBCF, they are floated in water, washed and then left to dry in a concrete area called the barbecue and then in mechanical driers.

“Currently, the company buys from 4,000 coffee farmers who grows the coffee in regions specified by law as the Blue Mountain regions. These regions, numbering between 80 to 90 districts, are located in three parishes — Portland, St Thomas and St Andrew — and what we do at Mavis Bank is have contractors who go out and collect the coffee after it has been selected and hand-picked. The farms are within the radius of between one to three hundred miles away from the factory, and these are in very hilly terrain,” Grant explained to Business Observer.

Like a bottle of champagne from France, iberico ham from Spain, tequila from Mexico, or parmigiano reggiano from Italy, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is aged. Just after drying the coffee beans, they are placed in sacks in the MBCF warehouse for up to nine months to become mellow and develop notes unique to the hilly locale.

In preparation for the market the beans are hulled — removing a dry, trashy outer layer — and then hand-picked by over 50 women who spend their days removing “foreign objects and minor defects to look 100 per cent perfect”. Thereafter, the coffee beans are quality tested and certified, then packed in barrels with the capacity for 30 kilogrammes, 50 kilogrammes and 70 kilogrammes or 60 kilogramme bags before being sent to the Coffee Industry Board for further testing.

For demonstration of the quality test, Grant sniffed and slurped from six cups of ground coffee brewing in hot water.

“During this process I’m analysing if it’s clean, is the aroma great,” he outlined before a spontaneously exclaiming, “Whew! This is excellent…Beulah, this is nice.”

Unlike Jamaica’s Spanish-speaking neighbours who are used to a darker roast of coffee, MBCF roasts its beans to a medium, bringing out balanced, less acidic notes similar to dark chocolate.

Whereas MBCF exports both green and roasted coffee beans, it sells ground coffee both locally and abroad under three brands — Jablum, Wallenford Coffee, and True Brew — offered in various sizes and packaging. The company has also produces an instant coffee.

Innovation and new developments

In 2021 the company invested $5 million in its single serve coffee cup production. Grant informed Business Observer that as MBCF rolls out the new product, it has embarked on a marketing campaign which involves providing coffee makers to corporates who have ordered the single cup products.

He also revealed plans to reintroduce the Jablum bottled beverage to the market.

Given the synergies between Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee and the tourism industry, MBCF has partnered with a number of stakeholders in the hospitality sector to promote the commodity, namely Chukka Caribbean Adventures, Falmouth Pier, Island Village, Dolphin Cove, and ROK Hotel. MBCF has also revamped its e-commerce website.

“We wanted to make Jablum Blue Mountain Coffee intrinsically linked to the tourism because we want every tourist who comes to Jamaica to leave with a pack of coffee,” Grant said.

“So all of this is to strategically position Jablum into global brand; that is the charge that our chairman, honourable Michael Lee-Chin, gave as we focus on our 100th anniversary,” he continued.

As the company observes this significant milestone in its history, the CEO said plans are in train to recognise, honour, and appreciate its over 250 employees, 4,000 coffee farmers, the founding Munn family, and current owner Lee-Chin.