Japan’s
Crave for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
June 26 - 2021
Coffee Geography Magazine
As
director of Japanese coffee importer Ataka Trading Co, Kamiyoshiwara has
visited Jamaica's coffee plantations in person. But Blue
Mountain Coffee means so much even to Japanese fans who are unlikely ever
to visit Jamaica that they have set aside a day, January 9, in its
honor.
"Jamaican
coffee was first imported to Japan in the early 1950s, at the very start of the
economic recovery after the war years and as some people finally had enough
money again to buy premium coffee," he said.
"In
those days, Blue Mountain Coffee was promoted by small-scale roasters in Japan
as the coffee that the British royal family drank, so it was the one that
everyone hoped to be able to have," Kamiyoshiwara added.
"But
it was also important as we associate Jamaican coffee with a high-quality
import that was available again and meant that the worst years after the war
were behind us."
Initially,
imports had to come from the UK and it was not until 1952 that the first
shipment direct from Jamaica was unloaded in Japan. Its popularity soon caught
on and imports grew steadily for the next 30-plus years until, by the late
1980s, Japan was importing fully 90% of the coffee bearing the Blue Mountain
logo.
Despite
its popularity in Japan, the Jamaican coffee industry has experienced a number
of major setbacks in recent decades. Most plantations were devastated in a huge
hurricane that hit the Blue Mountains in 1988 and crippled production.
Ataka
Trading is one of six Japanese companies that make up the Association of
Japanese Importers of Jamaican Coffee and were instrumental in the 2018
naming of January 9 as Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Day in Japan.
The
date is significant, Kamiyoshiwara said, as it was the day on which a cargo
ship left Kingston port carrying 1,400 bags of Jamaican coffee, more than 60%
of the entire 1967 crop. It was such a significant deal — for both countries —
that it was the lead story in Jamaican newspapers the next day.
A Jamaican
newspaper in 1967 reported (top right) about the shipment of 1,400
bags of Jamaican coffee
Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters' Association, praised the
efforts of 5,000 coffee farmers and 102,000 coffee plantation families for
their hard work in a year that has proved significantly more challenging
because of the coronavirus pandemic and called on them to redouble their
efforts in the year ahead.
"Let's
sip and share a cup of the world's best coffee, the King of Coffees, and
experience this sophisticated coffee experience," he said. "Jamaica
Blue Mountain Coffee, the winning bean and a coffee of unmatched quality."