Jamaica's Blue Mountains: The Coffee, Bob Marley, and George Stiebel's Devon House

The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are the longest mountain range on the island, rising to 7,402 feet at Blue Mountain Peak, the highest point in Jamaica, and they produce one of the most sought-after and most expensive coffees in the world. The coffee, grown on the misty, steep slopes between 3,000 and 5,500 feet, is hand-picked, wet-processed, and dried slowly in the mountain air, producing a bean that is mild, sweet, and almost entirely free of bitterness. The Blue Mountain coffee designation is protected by Jamaican law, and only coffee certified by the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica can carry the name, a system that has kept the brand among the most respected in the world since the coffee was first planted on the island in 1728, when Sir Nicholas Lawes brought the first seedlings from Martinique.

The Bob Marley Museum

At 56 Hope Road in Kingston, in a pink colonial-era house, sits the Bob Marley Museum, the former home and recording studio of the reggae musician who carried Jamaican music to the world. The house was Marley's residence from 1975 until his death in 1981, and it still bears the bullet holes from a 1976 assassination attempt that Marley survived. The museum contains Marley's bedroom, his recording studio, a wall of gold and platinum records, and a mural of his life, and it is the most visited cultural site in Kingston, a pilgrimage for fans of the musician whose album *Legend* remains the best-selling reggae album of all time. Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in the parish of Saint Ann, and his mausoleum there is also open to visitors, a simple stone structure in the green hills where his music first took shape.

Devon House and George Stiebel

On a 11-acre estate in the heart of Kingston sits Devon House, the 1881 mansion of George Stiebel, the son of a Jamaican housekeeper and a Jewish merchant who became the first black millionaire in the Caribbean. Stiebel made his fortune in Venezuela during the gold rush of the 1860s and returned to Jamaica to build Devon House, a grand residence of Jamaican mahogany and English glass that was, at the time of its construction, one of the finest houses in the Caribbean. The house is now a national monument, open to the public, and the grounds are home to restaurants, shops, and what many consider the best ice cream in Jamaica. The story of George Stiebel, a mixed-race man who rose from poverty to become the wealthiest person on the island, is one of the most remarkable in the Caribbean, a testament to the social mobility that the colonial system, despite its hierarchies, sometimes permitted.

Kingston and the Mountains Above

Kingston sits at the foot of the Blue Mountains, on the seventh-largest natural harbor in the world, and it is the cultural and economic capital of Jamaica, a city of roughly 580,000 people that is the largest English-speaking city in the Caribbean. The mountains begin at the edge of the city and rise sharply, and the road from Kingston to the peak winds through coffee farms, rainforest, and the mist that gives the range its name. The Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covers the upper reaches of the range, protecting the biodiversity of one of the most ecologically rich islands in the Caribbean.

A Mimosa for the Mountains

A morning in the Blue Mountains, with the smell of coffee and the mist on the slopes, calls for a sparkling drink that can match the cool mountain air. A [classic Champagne mimosa](/recipes/classic-champagne-mimosa) is the natural match, the orange juice echoing the citrus of the island and the bubbles lifting the rich Blue Mountain coffee. A [tropical mango mimosa](/recipes/tropical-mango-mimosa) is equally lovely, its ripe mango sweetness a bright companion to the tropical mountainside.

**Reference Links:**

- Bob Marley Museum and Blue Mountain Coffee Tour (Kingston, Hope Road, coffee plantations): [Expedia](https://www.expedia.com/things-to-do/bob-marley-museum-in-kingston-blue-mountain-coffee-tour.a209913.activity-details)

- Blue and John Crow Mountains (UNESCO World Heritage, biodiversity, Maroon heritage): [UNESCO](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1356/)