The world's most expensive coffee. Exclusive beans and luxury cafes

The most expensive coffee beans

Let's start exploring the world of super-expensive coffees from the bean. The price of coffee is also determined by the place where the coffee plants are grown. Similarly, as you know with wine, the genuine Champagne from the Champagne region of France also has its original price. With coffee, too, we can define places of origin from which beans are valued much more than from elsewhere.

• St Helena: the island made famous by Napoleon grows coffee with a surprising taste. It is possible to detect the characteristics of African coffees, with their typical fresh acidity, and the chocolate notes common in South American coffees. Logistical problems certainly also increase its price, but above all, who wouldn't want to taste a coffee so good that Napoleon's last thoughts belonged to it and on his deathbed he still asked for at least a spoonful of it.
• Jamaica Blue Mountain: only in the Blue Mountains region of Jamaica grow coffee trees that can bear the name JamaicaBlue Mountain. The unique character of the area is imprinted on the beans, which have a unique profile of rich chocolate flavour with low acidity.
• Hawai'ian Kona: Genuine Kona grows in the only place in Hawai'i where it draws from a unique terroir. The uniqueness of the place gives rise to a coffee with a wonderfully clean flavor usually of fruit and milk chocolate.
• Hacienda La Esmeralda: Geisha from Panama is considered by coffee connoisseurs to be the most perfect coffee they can drink. The original farm that has been growing this coffee since 1967 is La Esmeralda.
• Finca Inmaculada: this coffee farm in Colombia is famous not for its perfect Arabica, but for growing the Coffea eugenioides coffee plant. It is a rare type of coffee that is scarce. This coffee plant has great potential for the future and its coffee tastes absolutely unique.
• Yemeni coffee: it is years of research that have brought Yemeni coffees to the fore today. They are growing coffees from the genes of the original coffee trees, when coffee was unknown anywhere except Ethiopia. It was Yemen where most (up to 98%) of the coffee trees sent for planting around the world originated.

Kopi Luwak and other unique processing

Related to the origin is the way coffee is processed. Each region or even specific farm uses different methods or specializes in just one. The most common are natural processing, honey (semi-washed) or fully washed coffees. There are also methods that are very different from these basic methods. And often animals like the famous civet play a major role in them. Uniquely processed coffees are, for example:

• Kopi Luwak: otherwise known as civet coffee. It is perhaps the most famous coffee to have been eaten by an animal as part of the processing method. Here, specifically civet. After digestion, the coffee beans come out intact but modified by digestive enzymes.
• Black Ivory: another rarity is this coffee processed through the stomach of an animal, which is processed in the entrails of elephants, especially in Thailand. After washing and roasting, of course, the coffee surprises with a taste that is distinctive, cocoa-like and without unpleasant bitterness.
• Jacu Coffee: this bird comes from Brazil and, like its animal friends already mentioned, provides coffee for humans. That is, after it has eaten it and passed through its digestive tract. This treatment minimizes bitterness and promotes the body's strength in the taste of coffee.
• Monsooned Coffee. Local climatic specifics are used to process the coffee after drying. Monsoon coffee is exposed to hot and humid currents of heat. Such coffee is characterised by its strong body, low to minimal acidity and nutty-spicy flavour.
• Barrique Coffee: also known as barrel fermentation. The coffee is aged in barrels of alcohol, usually rum. This gives the coffee an unusual depth and aftertaste, but the process needs to be constantly monitored to prevent unwanted effects.
• Lactic Coffee: the coffee undergoes lactic fermentation, or fermentation in the presence of lactobacillus cultures (similar to those used in dairies). The fermentation process is particularly demanding on the careful control and skills of the producers, as there is a risk of over-fermentation and the whole batch of coffee would be wasted.

Rare coffees as a segment of the finest of choice coffees

Certified Q-Grader's (Professional Coffee Graders) have their taste buds and sensitivity to aromas and flavours so trained that they can detect the qualitative potential of coffee and express it accurately. From these "pro-sippers" the coffees then receive quality ratings. This is given numerically as a so-called cupping score.

On the scoring scale, a range of 50-80 points is reserved for commercial (commodity coffees), 80-84.99 for very good selection coffees, 85-89.9 for excellent selection coffees. The highest range of 90-100 points is for rarity coffees, which have a market share of less than 1% among specialty coffees.

Super-expensive coffees in luxury hotels

Last but not least, is also where youget your coffee, which is written into the price per cup. They are certainly about the great coffees they serve. However, the fact that sipping coffee is part of the overall luxury experience of a guest in a fancy hotel or Michelin starredrestaurant contributes significantly to the price.

• Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: This luxury hotel has a drink called the "Fountain Golden Cappuccino" on its menu for AED 75 (approx. 460 CZK).
• The St. Regis Bali Resort, Bali, Indonesia. In addition to coffee, it also offers a luxurious atmosphere and ocean views.
• AtThe Ritz-Carlton, the chain's hotels offer "Black Ivory Coffee," which is made from coffee beans that have passed through the digestive tract of an elephant, for about $1,000.

Exclusive cafes

• Café de la Paix in Paris is a popular spot for coffee and art lovers. You can imagine the likes of Guy de Maupassant, Victor Hugo, Ernest Hemingway and Emile Zola sitting here and enjoying a €7 espresso with a view of the Opéra Garnier.
• Café Florian in Venice is one of the oldest cafés in Itasca and, in fact, in the world. Since 1720 it has been offering coffee drinks in a charming setting in Piazza San Marco. over 300 years of history can be enjoyed over a cup of espresso from their own roastery for 7€. "Andemo da Florian!"
• ONA Coffee House is a coffee shop in Fyshwick, Australia. The town lies between Melbourne and Sydney, where it also has branches. If the name ONA doesn't ring a bell, the name Sasa Sestic might already. He's a 2015 World Champion and apart from running the aforementioned cafes, writing a book (about coffee of course), he also designs coffee accessories with the brand Nucleus.
  Back to the coffee offerings at ONA Coffee House - it's a coffee drinker's paradise here. They have a separate menu for coffees, as they tend to do for wine at top restaurants. In the extensive coffee menu you can choose according to taste... well, or according to price, which is from about 5-25 AUD, i.e. 70-370 CZK.