The Coffee Industry Regulation Act specifies what coffee may use the Blue Mountain label. Additionally, it restricts the use of the Blue Mountain trademark to those authorized by the Coffee Industry Board. Broadly speaking, coffee harvested from the parishes of Saint Andrew, Saint Thomas, Portland and Saint Mary may be considered Blue Mountain coffee.
Traditionally, only coffee grown at elevations between 3,000 and 5,500 feet (1,700 m) could be called Jamaica Blue Mountain. Coffee grown at elevations between 1,500 and 3,000 feet (910 m) is called Jamaica High Mountain, and coffee grown below 1,500-foot (460 m) elevation is called Jamaica Supreme or Jamaica Low Mountain.
The reason that the coffee sold by Big Roy or Thunder is superior to the commercially available pre-packaged for tourist coffee, besides being fresh roasted, is that it is single estate, whole crop coffee. The commercial stuff is blended from numerous estates and is sorted by bean size. The largest beans, the ones with the least amount of flavor, are the ones that get packaged for commercial sale. The smaller the bean the greater the flavor.
