Not too long ago, on a cold and wintry Saturday afternoon (not altogether dissimilar from our current weather conditions), I was one happy puppy when I discovered that our local coffee shop, the Roasting Plant, carried Blue Mountain Coffee from Jamaica.
Blue Mountain, you see, was where I fell in love with the smooth and aromatic taste of Jamaican coffee – or more specifically, the coffee that is grown and harvested at the Old Tavern Coffee Estate, situated high up in the mountains just a short drive north of Kingston (we stayed nearby at Strawberry Hill).
Perhaps it was the good-natured charm of the hostess, Dorothy Twyman, who ran her estate in a rather intimate and unassuming manner, that won me over -- or the beautiful mountainside covered with coffee fields, overlooking mist, river streams, and waterfalls... whatever the case, the experience of visiting the coffee farm will forever remain an incredibly special, not to mention tasty, experience for me.
My one regret was that I didn’t bring back more bags of those delectable coffee beans – word on the street is that they are some of the best (and priciest!) coffee around!