Bringing Coffee Home ?s

[mkm4bama]

We are excited about bringing some wonderful coffee home. Are you able to get coffee beans on property or where do most of you buy them at? We will be at CSS and want to make sure we plan for this. Thanks and I start my single days dance tomorrow!!!!!

[BruceandBrendaPA]

We always get them in town. The price in the gift is way to high! VER PAY FULL PRICE anything. Even the gift shop will barter with you if you pay cash. If you go in town with the shuttle, the Couples tour guide can tell you where to get the best price. At times we even had them help get us a better price. We always bring enough to allow for 1 pound a month till we get back home. Make sure any coffee you but has a certification seal on it. Otherwise it could be high mountain instead of blue mountain. Still good but not the real thing. We have 37 days till we return home to CN and I have only 1 pound left. Cut it to close this year.

[BrendaandBruce.PA]

We usually bring about 10 lbs of blue mountain coffee home. We feel Jablum is the best brand. We get the best prices in town. We have never paid more than $16 a pound. The more you buy the better the price. Coffee on the resort is more expensive. We love CSS and we will be there this April.

[robin1373]

I am pretty sure you can get coffee at the resort. I am pretty sure it is cheaper to get it at the airport or off resort.

[dirtleg]

I don't mean to be a wet blanket here, but we have been disappointed in the coffee we have brought back from Jamaica in the past. We always bought the official stuff with the Jamaican, blue mountain seal of authenticity and all, but it just did not measure up to what we hoped for when we brewed it back home. I love a good cup of coffee and coffee at breakfast at CSA is to die for. But we are going to forego bringing coffee home this year. I will probably get several lessons in this thread on how to make good coffee, that's cool, but I already know how to brew coffee at home. I make a pretty good pot of coffee everyday, if I say so myself. The difference is the coffee, and the stuff we have brought home from Jamaica has just not measured up to what they serve in Jamacia, or what we can buy here. It does not even look like good rich coffee in the bag, it does not have that dark color and wonderful aroma that good coffee has when you first open the bag. Anyone else been disappointed in the coffee purchased in Jamaica? Maybe I just need a beach and palm trees to make it taste like proper Jamaican coffee.

[jerseygirl43]

We always buy coffee at the airport....it is true Blue Mountain...but much cheaper than at the resort.

[rjammin]

I don't mean to be a wet blanket here, but we have been disappointed in the coffee we have brought back from Jamaica in the past. We always bought the official stuff with the Jamaican, blue mountain seal of authenticity and all, but it just did not measure up to what we hoped for when we brewed it back home.

Wow dirtleg, I thought it was just us who felt this way and that maybe we just didn't know how to make it right.
We've brought at least 2-3 pounds of Jablum home every year since 2003 and it doesn't even come close to how it tastes at Couples. We've attributed that mainly to the fact that everthing tastes better in Jamaica and have tried brewing it every way possible and it still just tastes OK... not fantastic.
If anybody can offer hints on how they make it taste as good as it does at Couples, please post how you do it. We still have a pound of beans from last April....probably not too fresh anymore.lol

[Midnight Cocktails]

I'm with dirtleg....perhaps we are not cut out to be Baristas?? Not even close to being the same when you get home! Plus at $30/lb it should get up and brew itself I get the real deal in 17 days!!!

[Juli]

Is there a limit to the amount of coffee you can bring in through customs? Does it require you to answer "yes" to the food question and is that a problem?

[Chris]

You're limited to the amount you can carry, within the allowances and within what are considered non-commercial amounts. Even the allowance isn't a problem as long as you're willing to pay the duty. Then again, there's that whole weight limit thing....

[Shartalin]

I heard on this board that Couples serves the high mountain most of the time unless you request the blue mountain at breakfast and they make it in a coffee press not a regular pot. Not positive but maybe that's the difference in taste, or perhaps you prefer the high mountain.

As a coffee fanatic I will make sure I look into this when I go. Why buy bags of Blue Mountain if I prefer High Mountain, or maybe I will need to invest in a coffee press when I get home.

[Midnight Cocktails]

We only use a french press on the blue mtn we bring home & still just not the same....

[gelaine]

you will appreciate a coffee press.......

[redinthehead]

Maybe the difference is the water or the fact that we're just not in Jamaica.

[beej&cc]

Just got back Mar 8th from our first time in Jamaica and CSS - loved both
As for coffee, the small store has lots in 1/2 lb and 1 lb bags of both beans and grounds. At $21 / $41 it's pricier than at the market where you can get a pound for about $21 in some shops, but we used our resort credit so I brought back 3 lbs plus a bottle of "coffee rum creme liqueur" ($26) and it didn't cost me a cent.
As for how much coffee you can bring back - the sky (or your weight allowance) is the limit.
Hope this helps.
John

[rhallva]

I have been bring home authentic Blue Mountain beans off and on since 1989 and I have never been able to make it at home in a way that tastes even close to what I enjoy in Jamaica.... it is not even the equal of the High Mountain coffee served at breakfast at most of the resorts. I am with Dirtleg on this one too.
Everything just tastes better in Jamaica.

[Softiee26]

I would agree, it doesn't taste the same back in the states and pretty sure it's the water. I have tried different water types here as well and can't quite get the same taste. Not saying it's not good just not how it is when at CN.

[mkm4bama]

We always buy coffee at the airport....it is true Blue Mountain...but much cheaper than at the resort.

Were you able to buy beans in the airport or just ground?

[rhallva]

Beans are available vacuum packed at the airport.

[IowaFan]

For reference sake I am a coffee snob. I have bought roasted beans at the Couples gift shop and roasted and un-roasted (green) beans at the airport coffee shop. I was not impressed.

Wallenford and Mavis Bank are the two most prominent coffee farms in Jamaica. The only Jamaica Blue Mountain beans I’ve seen in Negril or at the airport are from the Wallenford farm, and much of their coffee is milled at sea-level in Kingston; not a good practice. Mavis bank is milled and stored at altitude which is much better.

The Jamaican green beans I purchase online in the States are from Mavis Bank and they are vastly superior to the Wallenford beans purchased in Jamaica. If anyone has purchased Mavis Bank beans in the Negril area please let me know, I would love to be able to pick some up while on vacation.

[BettyinToronto]

We consider ourselves coffee snobs too and I usually buy for my hubby's Christmas stocking a pound of JBM and it costs me about $80.

In September 2011 we brought home some of the coffee they put in your room. My husband swears the package said Blue Mountain not Mountain High. (We'll have to check that out). We then bought 6 pounds of beans at the Couples gift shop. Price was $34 but we were told it was on sale for $29 Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat before 1pm. Then at the airport we bought one pound of Jablum for $29. Same price as at Couples....well I guess not really because it was tax free.

We consumed the room coffee first and it was yummy. Then we opened the Jablum and didn't really like it. So hubby bought a 2lb bag of Kona blend at Costco and we've been drinking that for two months. (We only drink the good stuff on Fri & Sat nights). It was weak IMHO. Then on Friday night we opened one of the Couples 1lb bags and it was great! So rich and smooth compared to both the Kona & the Jablum.

We are back in September of this year and I'm not sure how much coffee we will be bringing back this time. But we do have the $300 resort credit for early booking so we'll probably buy again at the gift shop.

Bringing home the coffee is just the icing on the cake from a fabulous trip at CN.