"expensive coffee" 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.

The first year and a half I lived in Philadelphia, I worked as a staff assistant at a local non-profit. I was at the very bottom of the pecking order and earned a piddling salary to match my lowly position. I became adept at stretching my food budget, especially when it came to my morning meal. Monday through Friday, I would stop at the food cart outside the building and pick up a small coffee with cream and a soft pretzel from the sweet Greek couple who spent all day together in a small, metal box. It cost $.85. On the days when I was feeling flush, I'd get a large coffee for $.15 more. I realize these prices seem like something out of the 1960's, but this was just six years ago.

So you can understand how I'd feel a little aghast upon learning that around the world, the price of a morning cup is up. In some places it's way, way up. The U.S. consulting firm Mercer's recently charged their London office with the task of taking a survey of the price of a cup of coffee worldwide. They discovered that Moscow has the most expensive coffee, with the average price of a cup hovering around $10.19. Things aren't much better in Europe, with the average brew running just under $7 a cup.

I do question the validity of these prices, as the survey finds that a cup of joe will run you about $3.75 in New York City. I've had many a cup of regular coffee in Manhattan and rarely has it cost more than $2.50. These days, my favorite cup comes from local roaster La Colombe and costs a mere $1.50 for an excellent, freshly brewed 12 ounce cup.

How much does a regular cup of coffee run in your neck of the woods?

[via MSNBC]

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Like true coffee addicts, the guys over at Forbes have scoured the globe looking for the most expensive coffees in the world. And we're not talking about specialty coffee drinks, but about the beans themselves. Starting off the list at $160 per pound is Kopi Luwak, which we have already heard about, since the berries are digested by civets before the bean is extracted and brewed. This is followed by Hacienda La Esmeralda (Panama, $104/lb), Island of St. Helena Coffee Company ($79/lb), El Injerto (Guatemala, $25-50/lb), Fazenda Santa Ines (Brazil, $50/lb), Jamaica Blue Mountain ($49/lb), Los Planes (El Salvador, $40/lb), Kona ($34/lb), Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon ($24/lb), Yauco Selecto AA (Puerto Rico, $22/lb), Fazenda Sao Benedito (Brazil, $21/lb).

Keep in mind that many beans in supermarkets (and cafes) are "Blue Mountain-style" or "Kona-style" and do not necessarily contain all of the beans that the name suggests, which is why prices in some venues appear to be lower. The Starbucks blend is worth noting because it is part of the company's Black Apron line, a selection of frequently changing premium coffees. Premium, however, doesn't always mean better, especially because several of the prices given here are for the green beans, and a good or bad roast is vital to achieving a quality cup of coffee from high quality beans.

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