Blue Mountain cowboy coffee

At Section (alt. 4.000 feet), located on the mountain pass between Buff Bay and Kingston, there is a small coffee house, which has been a family business for over 100 years. The man who built the business was the honourable James Dennis and his legacy is now being continued by Hopie. When I arrived Hopie was roasting coffee beans in a Dutch pot over an open wood fire.

I paid for accommodation and meals for the duration of my stay.

I was lucky enough to see a tiny rasta bird, also know as the Jamaican tody (Todus todus). This bird is beneficial for the coffee producers because it provides some pest control by eating the coffee berry borer, a small beetle who lives inside the coffee fruit.

Charles J. Sharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography.

Mountain spring water, straight from the source.

The view from the coffee roasting shack was meditative.

Dinner in the mountains

Preparations for the evening meal started in the afternoon by boiling a pot of beans on the wood fire.

In the kitchen Hopie made dumplings for boiling. In a second pot Hopie boiled banana for the bean stew.

The seasoning of the one-pot bean soup/stew consisted of coconut milk powder, seasonings from an instant soup package, some butter, spring onion, parsley and scotch bonnet pepper. Hopie also added okra.

Everything comes together in one pot: boiled beans, banana, dumplings, okra and the seasoning.

Sunday morning

Best moment of my journey. A mug of freshly made Blue Mountain coffee in the morning. The proces is quite easy. The coffee is made cowboy style. In a coffee pot hot water is simply poured over the coarse grind. The coffee is then poured in a mug.

While I was drinking my coffee breakfast was prepared. Hopie fried saltfish with onion, thyme and pepper, just like you would do to make ackee and saltfish. But instead of ackee he added a can of boiled beans.

The saltfish and beans are served with boiled banana and yellow plantain.

The image of James Dennis is prominently featured on the walls. The photo of the couple is even older. If I have understood it correctly these were the owners a generation before James Dennis.

Before roasting the coffee berries are simply dried on the floor.

The cultivar grown in the mountains is Coffea arabica.

Mountain hike

Since the Blue Mountains are populated you will find many single track foot paths. I went on a hike with one of the men handing around the coffee house. We first followed the main road for a couple of hours. This road is so quiet it almost feels like a hiking trail. Then we ventured deeper into the mountains. Without somebody local, chances are you will find yourself being lost.

On the map I could see that Kingston wasn’t too far away from Section. Yet, when we reached Holywell Park I was amazed to see all of Kingston in the distance.

When we almost made it back to the coffee house we visited Henry’s ‘Ever Ready Lawn’, a local dance floor. Family was cleaning the place because one of the elders passed away. The big wooden speakers were out of commission, but the selecter made due with a smaller speaker and a laptop.

The riddim in the video is the Smile riddim made famous by Garnett Silk (Hello Mama Africa, 1993). The version in the video is Come Back Home (1993) by Beres Hammond.

It was fun recognising al the songs being played on the sound system. One of my favourites: Marcia Griffiths version of The First Cut is the Deepest from 1996.

The basic aromatics for Jamaican cooking are thyme, spring onion and lemon. Because of my hike I didn’t watch Hopie cook the chicken and rice and peas.

Next location: Portland, Port Antonio