Nice to see a detailed article on specialty coffee in a major business publication like Forbes. Especially an article that focuses on quality, not Starbucks.
The text preceding Forbes' list of top 10 (actually 11) most expensive coffees is a quick, informative for the heretofore uniformed. It gives a brief but useful summary of the importance of the Cup of Excellence program as pertains to sustainability and value.
We're not in agreement with the exact order of the list - the Santa Ines should be #3 - but that's just minor bickering. We also wish they didn't include the civet-poop Kopi Luwak though... that's one coffee that just doesn't need any further publicity. Maybe that's why Forbes included 11 coffees instead of 10.
The list, featuring name, area/country of origin, and price as stated by Forbes (individual roaster/retailer prices may vary):
1. Kopi Luwak, Indonesia, $160-$300/lb. This coffee is crap. Literally.
2. Hacienda La Esmeralda, Boquete, Panama, $104/lb. We had it here a couple of weeks ago. If you didn't taste it then, you've probably missed your chance. There were only 300 kilos of this sold at auction and most of it is already roasted and consumed. Intellgentsia still has a bit left at their stores if you're in Chicago or headed there.
3. Island of St. Helena, St. Helena, $79/lb. We've never heard of it, let alone tried it. Could be it hasn't been in demand here for a couple of years because of this 2004 review by Sweet Marias, where Tom called it "baggy".
4. El Injerto, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, $25/lb green, ~$52+/lb. roasted. We've heard a lot about what's coming north from Central America this year and it's all good. Not sure if we'll be getting any of this. Intelly was not in the group that bid for it. That hasn't stopped us before (see Santa Ines below), but given the group who did bid, it's unlikely - Kaffa is in Norway, Mayurama in Japan, Stumptown in Portland doesn't ship this far east, Terroir doesn't often ship this far west of Boston, the shipping cost from Artigiano in Canada doubles the price and we're not roasters, so Sweet Maria's is out. It's not easy being in Pittsburgh!
5. Fazenda Santa Ines, Minas Gerais, Brazil, $49.75 green, ~$101/lb. roasted. Earned a world record highest score in Cup of Excellence tastings. It's here now through this weekend, $5/8oz. cup brewed press pot, or $25 per quarter pound. Roasted by Vince Piccolo of Caffe Artigiano/49th Parallel Roasters, Vancouver, BC. We believe we and Murky in DC are the only two Mid-Atlantic shops that offer it.
6. Jamaican Blue Mountain, Wallenford Estate, Jamaica, $49/lb. We loved JBM back in the early 80s. Then it got pricey. Then it got spotty. The high prices led many less reputable roasters to begin using the JBM 'brand' loosely, resulting in many poor-to-average cups not worth the high price. Some estates, like Wallenford, still offer top-quality JBM beans, but be careful of others labelling their beans as JBM-style or JBM-blend. For those not willing to pay the price of a true JBM, we suggest trying Intelly's Papua New Guinea which we offer frequently. The PNG shares much of the same profile as JBM, in part because JBM seedlings were used to start PNG's coffee industry.
7. Los Planes, Citala, El Salvador, $40/lb. Ranked 2nd in the 2006 El Salvador CoE. Not yet available to consumers. We heard that the first ranked coffee sold for 4 cents less a pound than this one. But that auction lot was bought by one buyer, not a group, which may explain this pricing oddity. As Intelly was in the group that is getting these beans, we do expect to have some of this available within the next couple of months.
8. Kona, Hawai'i, $34/lb. Like JBM, it's subject to controversy because the high price and reputation have led many unscrupulous roasters to put "Kona" on their labels. Here's what to look for if you want top 100% Kona beans.
9. Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon, Gatare/Karengera, Rwanda, $24/lb. We admit we haven't tried it. It's probably very good, but we don't see how any roasted coffee from SBUX would top the Rwandas costing about half as much from roasters we admire more.
10. Yauco Selecto AA, Puerto Rico, $22/lb. Another coffee we've heard a lot about over the years but haven't tasted. Ken Davids of Coffee Review notes that when good it is very good. But it can be inconsistent.
11. Fazenda Sao Benedito, Minas Gerais, Brazil, $21/lb. Same general area as the much more expensive Santa Ines. If you think of coffee like a Sauternes, the Santa Ines would be a premier cru, the Sao Benedito a second cru from the same vineyard. In other words, both are stellar, the premier perhaps just a bit moreso.
A great point made in the Forbes text is that a great cup of coffee costs less than a can of Diet Coke. And depending on how it's brewed, it may even have less caffeine.
Comments