News

A California coffee chain is offering a single cup of Panama coffee, widely regarded as the most expensive in the world, for $75 a cup.

Klatch Coffee Roasters, a small California chain, bought 10 pounds of the Elida Geisha 803 beans at an auction last year. The coffee wholesales for $803 per pound; closer to $1,200 per pound after it is roasted.

“It’s a unique coffee that comes from Panama,” Klatch co-owner Bo Thiara told a local reporter. “It’s by far better than any of the coffee you hear about that comes from animals.”

Only 100 pounds of the beans were available at the auction last year; Klatch bought the only 10 pounds in the United States. Thiara believes it was a good deal. Elida Geisha 803 was a champion at the Best of Panama competition of best coffees, he noted to the local ABC affiliate.

“It’s the Oscars for coffee,” he said. “Just like wine, on a scale of up to 100, this coffee got the highest rating ever.”

Klatch expects to offer about 80 cups of coffee from the 10 pounds. And there is no doubt that San Francisco might be the perfect spot to get people to pay $75 for a cup of coffee.

“San Francisco is one of those places where people appreciate fine stuff,” Thiara said.