WEST INDIAN COFFEES. 159 



Jamaica — The coffee plant was first introduced into 

 Jamaica in 1730, a special act of Parliament being passed 

 m that year to encourage and foster its cultivation. 

 The island is famous for the production of fine coffees, 

 those grown on the regularly conducted plantations 

 rivalling the best products of any country. It is divided 

 into two kinds, " Blue Mountain " and " Plain-grown," 

 the latter being graded commercially as " Ordinary " in 

 contradistinction to the former, which is always choice. 

 " Blue Mountain Jamaica" is a bold, well-developed bean, 

 bluish almost translucent in cast, very solid and attractive 

 in style and appearance, and developing a characteristic 

 peculiarity^ that of opening and exposing a whitish hull 

 or silver-skin down the furrow when roasted, while the 

 liquor is heavy, round, full and rich, fragrant and aromatic 

 to a high degree. It is packed for export in barrels and 

 large casks, the bulk of the choicer grades being com- 

 pulsorily exported to England, where it commands a 

 higher figure relatively than Java and other equally fine 

 coffees. Nearly all the coffee plantations on the Island 

 of Jamaica being mortgaged to London brokers and 

 dealers, the contracts containing a clause or stipulation 

 compelling the planter to dispose of their crops through 

 the holders, who, by the harsh terms of the contract, not 

 only secure the best of the product and the interest on 

 the money advanced but also the commissions or profits 

 on its sale. 



"Ordinary" or plain-grown Jamaica is a large, whitish, 

 flat and broken-bean coffee, moist or spongy in the raw 

 state, and invariably stony and hully, being imperfectly 

 cleaned. The roast is usually either "quakery" or "nig- 

 gery," the liquor is strong, almost to rankness, and apt 

 to be "wild" or "grassy" in flavor, more particularly 

 when new, approximating close to a Travancore or 



