Words by: Martei Korley
Coffee connoisseurs, and foodies may be hip to the fact that Rohan Marley, a son of the legend himself, has undertaken one of his fathers dreams: A return to sustainable farming. But for the rest of us, this is about how the story goes..
The Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee has been highly priced throughout history and consistently ranges among the most expensive on the market. It first reached the isle as Louis XV of France sent three plants to Martinique in 1723. Two died en route and one only made it as far as Jamaica, which in hindsight seems to have been a good thing. Ninety years later the coffee economy was thriving with over 600 plantations scattered over the island. Emancipation soured the economical prospects for planters as the production was labor intensive, thus not being profitable when you actually had to pay the workers. The industry went into decline in the face of other emerging coffee economies and remained in a state of obscurity until the creation of the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board who turned things around. High in the Blue Mountains of great (coffee)lore, the Marley Farm produces fair trade coffee on Jamaica’s one and only certified organic coffee farm. The videos below give some insight into the venture on a geopolitical level and answers some of the frequently asked questions about the precious crop.