Growth & Jobs | Local company produces coffee teabags

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has lauded local producer of coffee ‘teabags’ Mountain Bliss Farm and Tours, describing the company’s product as the type of innovation that can further diversify the tourism and export markets.

The minister, who was in the Content Gap area of rural St Andrew recently, where the company operates, says the product is “quality made”.

“It is the first time that I am seeing coffee in teabags, and I bought a sachet. I don’t need anybody to mix my coffee I can now just draw my teabag in my hot water, and in seconds, I have a good Blue Mountain coffee,” the minister said after purchasing the product.

Underscoring that the product is of the highest “quality and grade”, Bartlett says that he is proud of what Mountain Bliss has done because “it is this kind of innovation that is going to help to drive value-added within our tourism space, and this can be exported to countries all around the world”.

The minister adds that this must be encouraged as more small businesses need to convert raw material to primary, secondary, and tertiary products.

EXCELLENT MOVE

For his part, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green, who was also on tour of the community, says the move by the farmers is “excellent”.

“We want to see more of the small farmers developing their own coffee brand,” he says.

“Blue Mountain coffee is a niche product, and the more you can build a brand and experience around it, it is the better it will do,” Green said, who was Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries at the time of the tour.

Co-owner of the business Inez Wilson says that the coffee farm has been in operation for more than10 years, and the coffee sachet (teabag) segment started just over one month ago, and it “is going nicely, and working”.

Wilson said that there are many aspects of farming where persons can make a living, and “once you start in agriculture, you will like it”.

Another co-owner, Vanessa Green, says that the product has “taken off” and that it was developed as another means of ensuring that farmers make more money from their produce.

Mountain Bliss Farm and Tours also provides visitors the opportunity to learn about Jamaica’s coffee history, how to care for the plants, and those who created the world-renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain Peak Coffee.

After the coffee experience, the visitors also engage in walk-throughs, meet and share with members of the community, and participate in a six-mile hike.

The company is also engaged in the cultivation of flowers and vegetables and offers lodging on a limited scale.