Which Beans Rank as the Most Expensive Coffee Beans?
The 2019 revised ranking of the most expensive coffee beans is led by 90+ Company Lot #227 from the 90+ Panama Estate, which sold for US$5,000 per kilogram at auction. It was produced by processor Jose Alfredo with 2017 World Brewers Cup champion Chad Wang. Fully ripe red cherries were hand-selected, fermented about 72 hours, then sun-dried 21 days at a layer one to two beans thick.
Other entries include Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha, Sophia Super Geisha, Kopi Luwak, Black Ivory Coffee, St. Helena, Jamaica Blue Mountain, El Injerto Pacamara and Hawaii Kona. Panama geisha lots have repeatedly reset auction records on the BOP stage, and the Red Label roasted by Front Street Coffee is offered at 350 yuan per 100 grams.
How expensive can a cup of coffee get? From the 90+ experimental lot at US$5,000 per kilogram, to the Perci Ruby selling for 1,010 yuan per cup, to the Panama Geisha that keeps breaking records on the BOP auction block, the price ceiling of the world's top coffee beans has been pushed higher again and again. This article systematically reviews the 2019 revised edition of the world's most expensive coffee bean rankings, covering the 90+ Company Lot #227, Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha, Sophia Super Geisha, Kopi Luwak and Black Ivory Coffee, St. Helena, Jamaica Blue Mountain, El Injerto Pacamara, and Hawaii Kona, among other rare varieties, explaining in detail their regional backgrounds, processing methods, and flavor characteristics. At the end, it especially recommends the Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha roasted by Front Street Coffee, which at 350 yuan per 100 grams makes high-end Geisha an everyday pleasure and offers enthusiasts a choice that combines quality and value.
The 2019 revised list of the world's most expensive coffee beans is as follows:
No. 1: 90+ Company Lot #227
Region: 90+ Panama Estate
Price: In that year's sensational online bidding auction of green beans, 90+ Company Lot #227 fetched US$5,000 per kilogram, setting a new record for the highest transaction price in history.
This lot was produced jointly by Jose Alfredo, a Salvadoran processing specialist based at the 90+ Panama Estate, and Chad Wang, the 2017 World Brewers Cup champion.
The official description of #227 is:
"Fully ripe bright red cherries are hand-selected, undersized beans are removed, and after water flotation, they are transferred into sealed containers for low-oxygen fermentation, with the fermentation temperature always kept at a relatively low ambient room temperature—in other words, making coffee with the air conditioning on.
The fruit is soaked in clean water, with fermentation lasting about 72 hours, after which it enters the sun-drying stage. Spread on drying beds in a layer 1 to 2 beans thick and exposed to sunlight for 21 days, it finally develops a distinctive and unique flavor."
During this 72-hour fermentation period, it is still unclear whether the yeasts present in the environment were captured naturally or selectively screened. In fact, among the 2017 90+ global online auction lots, there were five or six products processed by Jose Alfredo, and enthusiasts who tasted them reported that some lots had obvious fermented bean curd or soy sauce-like flavor characteristics, suggesting that different fermentation pathways were introduced during processing.
No. 2: 90+ Perci Ruby Geisha Coffee Beans
Origin: Panama Geisha Estate
Price: About US$1,000+ per pound
Hailed as the best coffee in the world—90+ Perci Ruby.
This astronomically priced bean comes from the 90+ lot of the Panama Geisha Estate, and its processing method has even been patented, known as the "Ruby Process," an exclusive patented technology of the well-known specialty coffee trader 90+ Company. It is said that coffee beans processed this way can display extremely rich and ultimate aromatic layers.
Because it was used as the winning bean in both the 2014 and 2015 World Barista Championship (WBC), the halo of being a two-time champion bean has kept this roasted bean firmly near the top of the expensive coffee rankings for a long time.
At a café in Shanghai, a small 180-milliliter cup sells for as much as 1,010 yuan. The "Perci Ruby," which won first and second place in the 2014 and 2015 World Barista Championships, sells for about 24,000 yuan per kilogram, or 1,010 yuan per cup.
Probably only a madman or a rich second-generation heir who treats money like dirt would drink such an astronomically priced cup of coffee—otherwise, who would be willing to spend 1,010 yuan on a cup of coffee that is only 180 milliliters?
No. 3: Hacienda La Esmeralda Sun-Dried Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans
Origin: Boquete, Panama, Hacienda La Esmeralda
Price: In the May 2017 Best of Panama (BOP) green bean competition, Hacienda La Esmeralda's sun-dried Geisha fetched a record-breaking US$601 per pound, nearly double the previous auction price. Converted, the price of green beans reached as high as 8,900 yuan per kilogram.
Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha green beans were already sold at US$50 per pound as early as May 30, 2006. Geisha coffee's flavor and aroma are widely praised and once scored as high as 94.6 in the COE competition.
Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha is divided into three brands by altitude:
Esmeralda Special (Red Label), selected from altitudes above 1,600 meters.
Boquete Geisha (Green Label), selected from an altitude of 1,600 meters.
(Esmeralda 1,500, Blue Label) Geisha varieties selected from around 1,500 meters above sea level.
Tied for No. 3: Sophia "Super Geisha"
Region: Volcan, Panama, Finca Sophia
Price: The 2017 Best of Panama (BOP) auction lasted nearly six hours, with global buyers competing fiercely. Sophia, which won the washed Geisha championship on its first entry into the BOP auction, was bought by Japan's SAZA Coffee at a high price of US$254.8 per pound (about 3,964 yuan per kilogram).
Background of Finca Sophia
In 2008, Willem Boot purchased a very high-altitude estate from Ricardo Koyner, the owner of Kotowa Estate, and named it Finca Sophia, located in the town of Volcan, Panama.
Finca Sophia sits at an altitude between 1,900 and 2,150 meters, making it one of the highest coffee estates in Central America. Since the estate was founded, Willem and his partners have been committed to exploring the altitude limits for growing the world's top coffee.
The estate is named after Sophia, the goddess of wisdom in ancient Greek mythology, and the logo design was inspired by a highland dove (called Torcaza in Spanish) that inhabits the estate. The estate is jointly owned by Willem and his American partner Equator Coffee Roasters, with day-to-day management entrusted to a local Panamanian coffee farm operator.
There was also a small episode during the preliminary round of the washed Geisha competition: a senior American judge raised a question during discussion, arguing that this coffee, which received scores above 93 from 12 judges, should be a honey-processed bean, because its complex flavor and highly balanced sweetness and acidity made one suspect that the taste was not from the coffee itself but bestowed by the processing method. However, when the results were revealed, it was a completely washed Geisha, and all the astonishing flavors came from the plant itself. The flavors described by the judges included intense orange blossom, white peach, ripe grape, blackcurrant, bright citrus acidity, berry, sparkling acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, and a long finish.
No. 4: "Poop" Coffee
Civet "Kopi Luwak" Coffee
Price: About US$180 per pound
The civet is an omnivore that favors coffee cherries and selects ripe, plump, sweet coffee fruits in the jungle. Kopi Luwak is a famous bean made from coffee cherries eaten by civets, excreted after digestion, and then hand-picked by farmers.
Black Ivory Coffee
Price: About US$230 per pound
For every 33 kilograms of coffee cherries an elephant eats, only 1,000 grams of coffee can be produced, far lower than people previously imagined. Therefore, "Black Ivory Coffee" is especially precious.
Anantara Hotels, under Thailand's Minor Hotel Group, has introduced this high-end coffee at several luxury hotels in northern Thailand, the Maldives, and Abu Dhabi, priced at US$25 to US$50 per cup.
No. 5: St. Helena Coffee
Origin: British St. Helena Island in the Atlantic Ocean
Price: About US$150 per pound
St. Helena Green Tipped Bourbon coffee undergoes strict washed processing, has a glossy surface, and after medium roasting shows a bright yet soft acidity, a rich aroma, citrus fruit notes, and a caramel taste derived from Yemeni varieties.
This coffee bean was introduced to the remote island of St. Helena for cultivation around 1730. It was not until Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena and highly praised the local coffee that this bean began to gain fame, after which it gradually faded due to the island's remoteness. It became internationally famous again in the early 1990s. St. Helena coffee costs about 2,000+ yuan per jin, 3 to 4 times more expensive than Jamaica Blue Mountain, with an annual output of only about 10 tons. It is mellow and sweet, with soft acidity, and its citrus fruit aroma is equally praiseworthy.
No. 6: Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
Origin: Jamaica Blue Mountains
Price: About US$90 per pound
The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica. Because the mountains are surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days sunlight shines directly on the blue sea surface, and the peaks reflect a brilliant blue glow, hence the name. The highest peak of the Blue Mountains is 2,256 meters above sea level, the highest peak in the Caribbean region and also a famous tourist destination.
This area lies in the coffee belt and has fertile volcanic soil, fresh and pollution-free air, a humid climate, and fog and rain all year round (average precipitation 1,980 millimeters, temperature about 27 degrees). The "secret" to the pure taste of Blue Mountain coffee is that all the coffee trees grow on rugged mountain slopes, making the picking process extremely difficult and impossible for anyone other than skilled local women workers. It is exported in barrels, and one barrel of Blue Mountain costs about 10,000+ yuan.
No. 7: El Injerto Pacamara
Origin: Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Price: About US$80 per pound
El Injerto Estate gained recognition in the 2006 Guatemala COE competition and won first place in one fell swoop, earning great honor.
For this auction, El Injerto Estate specially launched the "BEST El Injerto" series, selecting a small number of outstanding-quality lots and coffee varieties from the estate, with experienced farmers carefully selecting ripe coffee cherries, after which cuppers eliminated lots that did not meet the standard. Under such strict selection standards, the Pacamara variety at El Injerto Estate accounts for only about 8% of total production. In the 2017 COE, the first-place Guatemala coffee scored 90.36, and this coffee bean sold for more than US$80 per pound.
No. 8: Hawaii Kona
Origin: Hawaii, United States
Price: About US$50 per pound
Commercial cultivation of Hawaiian Kona coffee is concentrated on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai, especially in the southern and northern Kona districts of the island of Hawaii. Only coffee from this region can be called "Kona." Hawaiian Kona coffee has the most perfect appearance, with unusually plump beans and a bright luster. The coffee tastes rich and aromatic, with notes of cinnamon spice and balanced, moderate acidity, at about US$50 per pound.
Of course, there may also be various expensive beans such as COE and BOP, which are very difficult to compile statistically.
Recommended Geisha Coffee Bean Brand
The Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha coffee beans roasted by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) offer full assurance in both brand and quality. More importantly, the value is extremely high—a 100-gram bag costs only 350 yuan. Calculated at 15 grams of grounds per cup, one bag can make 6 cups, costing only about 60 yuan per cup. Compared with café prices of often over a hundred yuan per cup, this can truly be called a conscientious recommendation.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
