What Is the Most Expensive Coffee in the US?

Some folks are willing to pay a premium for unique coffees. That person is a coffee gourmet.

Are you a coffee gourmet? If so you probably like healthy organic coffee. Are you familiar with Panama mountain grown organic coffee or Colombian organic coffee brands? Do you prefer coffee house coffee on the way to work? If you are a coffee gourmet you have refined tastes for coffee and a passion for higher end varieties of the beverage. You probably insist on Arabica coffees and avoid Robusta at all costs. And, if you aspire to be a coffee gourmet what is the best way to proceed?

Or do you prefer gesha coffee?

Gesha coffee is a gourmet variety grown in the highlands of Chiriquí Province in the west of Panama, the last Central American country before you get to Colombia (South America). Once part of Gran Colombia, the Panama has a climate along its mountainous spine similar to the much larger Eje Cafetero in Colombia. It is in the coffee growing region of Panama near the town of Boquete that planters grew a leaf rust resistant Ethiopian coffee variety. Gesha gets its name from the Ethiopian village where it was first found. Planters tried Gesha in the 1950s but it was when the variety was resurrected in the early 2000s that its quality was first noted. Today Gesha coffee sells for as much as $35,000 for a 100 pound bag at auction! Considering that standard green coffee sells for a couple of dollars a pound, the Gesha coffee variety is in the stratosphere.

A true coffee gourmet is willing to pay a lot for a special coffee. We wrote recently about third wave coffee as a phenomenon. But the most expensive coffee in the US is really from Panama. CNBC writes about $350 a pound coffee, gesha!

One brew is for fanatics only: an $18 cup of coffee at the Extraction Lab by Alpha Dominche in Brooklyn, N.Y., as seen on an upcoming episode of CNBC’s “Secret Lives of the Super Rich.”

The beans are a high-end variety called “gesha” beans, which come from Ninety Plus Gesha Estates in Panama and allegedly have a lighter, “more tea-like” taste than other blends, Eater reports. It goes for as much as $350 a pound, and is the most expensive coffee in America, according to “Secret Lives of the Super Rich.”

Because folks are drinking a cup of coffee and not buying a pound or more of gesha coffee beans at auction the price is high but affordable. More affordable is to go to the El Rey supermarket on Via España in the capital city of Panama and buy a half pound bag of gesha coffee, not at auction, for around $14! There are several growers in Panama who produce gesha coffee and you don’t need to bid in the hundreds of dollars go enjoy the coffee. You do, however, want to drink this coffee black. That is because too much milk, creamer or sugar will overpower the unique taste. You also want lightly roasted beans to preserve the natural flavor.




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