Die-hard coffee fans might want to drop by a certain cafe in San Francisco to sample the most expensive cup of joe in the world.
Klatch Coffee Roasters, a roasting company located in the Bay Area, is offering customers a cup of the premium Elida Geisha 803 coffee at $75 a pop. The price should not come as a surprise since a single pound of the beans costs $803, and $1,200 a pound when roasted.
What Makes Elida Geisha 803 Coffee Special?
Bo Thiara, co-owner of Klatch Coffee's Northern California store, explained why Elida Geisha 803 is such a treat for coffee lovers.
"It's a unique coffee that comes from Panama," he said. "It's by far better than any of the coffee you hear about that comes from animals."
Thiara is referring to a popular coffee variety known as Kopi Luwak or civet coffee. The drink is made from beans that were fed and pooped out by to small, cat-like animals called civets. It is one of the priciest beverages in the world, easily commanding a price of $35 to $100 a cup or $100 to $600 a pound.
However, some coffee experts believe that Kopi Luwak's reputation is way too overblown. They argue that the drink does not taste any special compared to regular blends, and that its popularity is more as a fad than an actual specialty beverage.
Klatch Coffee is banking on the Bay Area market's readiness for $75 Panamanian coffee.
Thiara believes San Francisco is one of the few places where people know how to appreciate "find stuff". As far as coffee blends go, Elida Geisha 803 is considered the finest one available.
"It's the Oscars for coffee! Just like wine, on a scale of up to 100 this coffee got the highest rating ever!" Thiara said.
Premium Coffee From Panama
In 2018, Panamanian coffee producer Elida Estate broke the record for the highest auction price at the Best of Panama (BoP) competition. Its Geisha Green Tip Natural was auctioned off at $803 per pound.
Of the 100 total pounds of Elida Geisha 803 at the event, Klatch Coffee owns 10 pounds of the coffee in the United States. The company plans to split their supply between their stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles. This means that there are only 80 cups of the blend available for coffee drinkers in the entire country.
The Panamanian coffee is so exclusive that Klatch baristas, who already train for more than 400 hours to work at the coffee shop according to Thiara, take extra care when preparing cups of Elida Geisha 803.
Klatch is known for using organic coffee beans provided by a single source through direct trade, and the Elida Geisha 803 is no different.
The company helps educate its customers about the quality and attributes of its coffee offerings, as well as where exactly the beans come from. In the case of the Elida Geisha 803, the variant is harvested from plantations at 1,670 to 1,820 meters above sea level.
Klatch Coffee is offering Elida Geisha 803 at different price points, ranging from $4 to $12. Thiara explained that there is different reason to how the company presents its products.
He said that their goal is to just introduce American consumers to what they consider is great coffee.
