What’s Special About the Most Expensive Coffee Cup in the World?

This is a somewhat peculiar subject because it’s a bit counter intuitive. There is quite a bit of interest in finding the best prices, the best brands, and the highest quality among other factors.

The most expensive coffee? That’s not the first thing that comes to mind for most people. After all, how many of us are trying to identify the most expensive coffee and rushing out to get it?

In the title, I’m addressing the question as it is commonly asked by some. Asked another way, it might be “what’s so special about the most expensive cup of coffee?”

To answer that question, I’ll first be looking at the most expensive coffee prior to brewing. Then I’ll tackle the trickier subject of the most expensive cup of coffee.

Where Are the Most Expensive Coffees From?

There really isn’t much common ground, literally. Thailand, Indonesia, Jamaica, Hawaii, Central America, South America, and even a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, to name a few.

Geography certainly plays a part, but not always for the same reasons.

What Are the Most Expensive Brands?

I don’t want the brands to be the focus here, though I realize some may find this odd. I certainly don’t intend to keep that information a secret either, and I couldn’t do it even if I tried. That information is easily accessible, for example in this article: information about the most expensive coffee brands.
The brands have different values for a variety of reasons. Some have a unique process, some command a high price for purely economic reasons (low supply and high demand, for example), and yet some others command a premium because of the tastes that unique soil characteristics in their particular areas bring out.

Are They Worth the High Prices?

This is a question that only the people willing to pay the high asking prices can answer. The people willing to pay as much as $1,000 or even more for the most expensive one pound bags of coffee think so.

I look at this from a different perspective. I ask myself, “what’s the most I would be willing to pay for coffee?” Then I look for the best option that amount of money can buy.

Another consideration is price fluctuations and/or special deals. I might not be willing to pay the regular price, but there may be a price that’s right for me for some of these brands.

At one thousand dollars per pound, there is likely not a good chance that there can ever be a right price for me. But if the regular price is fifty dollars or so per pound (as it is for the least expensive of the top brands), there might be some number less than that may end up working for me.

The Finalists

The four finalists have some things in common. All of these brands sell for over one hundred dollars per pound. Several of them have consistently won very prestigious awards. Two of them are so unique (and weird) that they defy any general way to describe them. Here I have no choice but to name the four finalists.

The Most Decorated

The most distinguished finalists are Finca El Injerto and Hacienda La Esmeralda. You can read more about them in the same article for which I provided the link above.

To traditionalists, these two are likeliest to be the favorites. They have earned their good reputation. Honestly, if I could get myself to spend so much for a pound of coffee (and only after ensuring that I gave way many multiples of this to charity), I would be tempted to try both of them.

Kopi Luwak

I’m going to try to describe this one as objectively as possible. There are pros and cons to be mentioned, and I prefer not to take a side. Let’s just say that to me “it is what it is.” And what it is to me is intriguing above all.

There are legitimate concerns about the treatment of the cute critters that make this coffee possible. If there was a more consistently humane way of bringing this coffee to life, I would be all for it.

What makes this coffee special is that it’s possible thanks to a particular type of civet. These civets eat coffee beans, which become enhanced in flavor while traveling through the insides of this cat like mammal. That’s one of the less crude ways of describing it.

Black Ivory Coffee

Here the mammal of choice is the elephant. Because far less coffee beans survive the process of going through an elephant than going through a civet, the supply is far more limited compared to Kopi Luwak. It has been described by experts as also having a more refined flavor, hence the far higher cost compared to the Kopi Luwak and the other two finalists

And the Winner is …

I have to say that I can only guess, but it will be an educated guess. The most expensive coffee by far is the elephant poop, I mean Black Ivory, coffee. Then among the most expensive places in the US, it would probably come down to somewhere in California or New York City.

If you want to find the most expensive cup of coffee, I think the best odds would be a cup of Black Ivory Coffee in one of the most expensive restaurants somewhere in California or New York City.

I realize I may be wrong, but the logic probably won’t be far off. Maybe it turns out to be in some other city or country, but either way I’m sticking with a cup of Black Ivory wherever in the world it may turn out to be.

The Riddle of the Most Expensive Cup of Coffee

I have to accept the possibility that I might never know the answer to the question in the title. Not on my own. Out of all of the articles I have written, this one is the one that leaves me practically begging for comments!

Honestly, I am very interested in knowing how this question could be properly answered. I don’t have the money or the firsthand experience to do it.

Is it a unique method of preparation only known to a few that brings out the best that Black Ivory has to offer? Is it all about a unique atmosphere of a particular restaurant or coffee shop? These are all open-ended questions for now, that hopefully will soon be answered in the comments.