"GeishaCoffee" news and stories

How much are these beans worth? Photo: Erin Meister.

Erin Meister trains baristas for North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee and sporadically maintains the blog Meet the Press Pot from her home in New York City. This is part of a series of tips for the caffeine-addicted.

Kobe beef, aged single-malt Scotch, a $1,000 pizza -- there's seemingly no limit on how much a foodie will spend on the ultimate taste experience.

So how about a nice, steaming hot cup of coffee ... for $10, or more?

Not unlike its more respected buddy made from fermented grapes, exceptional, rare and just plain wacky coffees have begun to fetch higher prices all over the world. Panama's now-famous farm Hacienda la Esmeralda, for instance, has been commanding record prices for its green beans, setting world records for auction sales in 2004 ($21/pound), 2006 ($50.25/pound) and 2007 (a whopping $130/pound).

But is it a matter of simply being impressed by the price tag, or is there something to these top-shelf beans? Read on to find out.