Who Says Mt. Lebanon Won't Buy $50/lb Coffee?

This past weekend we passed a threshold.  For the first time ever, we didn't lose money from offering a superpremium coffee (Brazil Fazenda Kaquend). 

This Cup of Excellence coffee retailed for $36.95 for 3/4 lb.  And we sold out (all except for a few ounces that we'll be brewing at home, thank you).

We mention this because this is the fourth year we've taken a risk and purchased a very expensive coffee.  After our first three tries (twice with Esmeralda, once with Brazil Santa Ines) turned into significant charitable contributions you'd think we would just give up on the idea of selling $50/lb coffee.

Maybe it took four years for the concept that a coffee could be worth that much to gain hold.  Maybe it was simply a cup that was more to your liking than the previous three superpremiums we tried.  Maybe you were just being nice to us ;-)

But Mt. Lebanon can also pat itself on the back.  Our little shop bought more of the Kaquend than any other independent shop in the entire country (11.2% of what was made available).  So other than Intelligentsia's own five retail outlets, the good people of Mt. Lebanon are leading the country in consumption of Kaquend coffee.  Who says the 'burbs don't have good taste?

For us, that we sold out is doubly impressive as we managed to convey the sensory value of the coffee without benefit of a Clover or a siphon bar.  Just plain old classic hand brew methods like Chemex and press pots (and some well-timed sampling).

Selling 11.2 lbs of coffee doesn't sound like much in the bigger scheme of things.  But we appreciate little things like that as they validate what we try to accomplish here.  Thank you.  We're hoisting a cup to you from the last half pot of Kaquend this morning.

For those still not convinced that any coffee is worth that much, be assured we'll try it again next year. And you can taste for yourself.