5 Expensive and Rare Coffees in the World
If you think your cappuccino, latte or even a Venti Iced Caramel Mocha Latte with a lot of extra toppings was expensive at a fancy café, think again.
There is no doubt that the best coffee will always cost more, like single origin coffee is always more expensive and has better quality than blended coffees. In some cases, however, prices are also determined by the limited supply and difficulty in producing those beans.
The five coffees discussed in this blog are exotic and expensive. Maybe you won't want to try all of them after reading about each in detail, but who knows, your passion for coffee might make you push your limits.
In the first place, we have Black Ivory Coffee which is the most expensive coffee in the world. It costs $1,000 per pound. The company is located in Thailand and elephants play an important role in the production of this type of coffee. Premium grade Arabica cherries are fed to the elephants, they digest them, and the beans are collected from their feces.
After passing through the elephant's digestive system, coffee beans absorb new flavors from enzymes, as well as the unwanted proteins in the beans that cause a bitter taste are broken down. The black ivory coffee has a smooth taste because of this. It has a floral and chocolaty aroma; with taste notes of chocolate malt and cherry and hint of grass.
The elephants live with an elephant caregiving family and are very well cared for. As the elephants sometimes over-chew the cherries, there is a lot of waste in this natural process. Elephants eat about 30 kilograms of cherries, but they produce only 1 kilogram of black ivory coffee. It is for this reason that this coffee is expensive.
Before Black Ivory coffee, Kopi Luwak, an Indonesian specialty, was the most expensive coffee derived from animal poo. Coffee beans are produced by the palm civet, which eats coffee cherries and passes them in its poo. The coffee beans undergo some chemical adjustments in the civet's digestive system, making it one of the world's most sought-after coffees. Each pound costs $600.
It is the fermentation process that occurs in the civet's digestive tract that gives the coffee its unique texture and taste.
The popularity of this coffee is also attributed to the fact that civets enjoy eating the sweetest and freshest coffee cherries. This creates a meticulous natural selection process that ensures the superior quality of the beans.
This coffee is sourced from the hilly region of Huehuetenango in Guatemala. Coffee grows well here due to its high altitude of over 5,500 feet above sea level. The price per pound is easily $500.
Coffee from Finca El Injerto comes from a single farm that used to be a sugarcane plot. The beans are extremely rare and known for their fruity sweetness. The distinctive taste notes of this coffee are recognized worldwide.
St Helena is a volcanic island located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and southwest Africa. This island is very remote, and the nearest airport is in Angola, which is where you can take a boat from.
Why is coffee so expensive and rare at $150 per pound? During the 18th century, beans were imported from Yemen and planted on this island. During his exile on the island, Napoleon praised this coffee and made it famous. St. Helena produces just 300 kilos of coffee per year, making this coffee extremely rare and hard to obtain. St. Helena is the only place where green-tipped Arabica beans grow.
As the Blue Mountains of Jamaica are nearly 7,500 feet high, this coffee is grown in a microclimate at a high altitude. As a result of the high altitudes, the beans are dense, resulting in a mellow, full-bodied coffee with fruity aromas and hints of hazelnut and spice. It has a very low acidity, too.
Aside from its profile, this coffee is extremely expensive because each bean is hand inspected, and these plants mature twice as long as regular coffee plants. Prices start at $50 per pound. This coffee is so popular in Japan that 80% of it is imported there. The remaining 20% is exported to other countries.
There is a great deal of diversity in coffee around the world, and it is interesting to see how location and growing factors play a significant role in the quality of the final product. Since coffee cannot be preserved for many years, this list of expensive and rare coffees keeps changing over time.
