What Makes Panama Geisha Coffee So Expensive?
A Shanghai coffee shop began selling a cup of Panama Geisha coffee for 6,200 yuan in November, using washed Geisha champion beans from a reliable of Panama competition. The lot, from Carmen Estate, scored 96.5 points, the highest washed score in the competition's history. The price reflects the green bean auction result, international shipping, tariffs, roasting loss and store operating costs added together.
Geisha panama beans command high prices because the variety needs specific altitude, climate and soil, and harvesting and processing must finish within a narrow window. BOP judges scored this washed lot above 50 competing entries. Whether the cup is worth the money depends on how those layered costs and the bean's floral, fruity profile are valued.
Following the heated discussion over a cup of coffee priced at 4,988 yuan, a coffee shop in Shanghai has once again refreshed perceptions of pricing by launching a cup of coffee selling for 6,200 yuan. The shop says the beans used are the washed Geisha champion beans from this year's Best of Panama (BOP) coffee competition, with a score as high as 96.5 points, setting a new record for the washed category across previous editions. From the green bean auction price, international shipping, tariffs, roasting loss, to store operating costs, how exactly does the value of this cup of coffee accumulate layer by layer? Is high-priced coffee truly worth the money or just hype? This article will break down the cost logic and market phenomenon behind this sky-high-priced coffee.
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A few days ago, Coffee Workshop only reported on a cup of coffee priced at 4,988 yuan, but unexpectedly an even more astonishing price appeared right after.
According to media reports, on November 8, a coffee shop in Shanghai launched a cup of coffee priced at 6,200 yuan, quickly sparking heated discussion.
The shop explained that this cup of coffee uses the champion beans from this year's Best of Panama (BOP) coffee competition. The green beans themselves had an extremely high auction price, and coupled with their scarcity, the pricing is not low. One cup has a capacity of about 250 ml and sells for 6,200 RMB.
Why can a cup of coffee sell for so much? To clarify this question, we must start with the background of these beans.
The washed Geisha from Carmen Estate that sparked the controversy this time is precisely the champion bean of BOP, with an evaluation score as high as 96.5 points, setting a new record for the highest score of washed Geisha across previous editions. BOP is one of the world's top green bean competitions, and its scoring system is extremely rigorous. That Carmen's washed Geisha could stand out under such strict conditions from 50 lots of coffee beans shows just how strong its quality is.
Furthermore, if you drink coffee not just to stay awake, but place more importance on flavor and mouthfeel, then you must have heard of the variety "Geisha." Geisha beans naturally carry a unique floral and fruity aroma, and market demand is strong; at the same time, they have demanding requirements for the climate, altitude, and soil conditions of the growing region, and must complete harvesting and processing within a specific time to ensure quality and flavor, which places extremely high demands on local coffee farmers. Supply and demand are out of balance, and things are precious when they are scarce, so the price of Geisha green beans naturally remains high.
So why can a cup of coffee sell for more than a thousand yuan, far beyond most people's imagination? Let us do the math.
In the BOP auction, global buyers competed to purchase the champion beans, and the final transaction price reached US$10,005 per kilogram. Add to that the international shipping from Panama to China, tariffs, value-added tax, customs declaration, and other fees, and after conversion into RMB, the green bean price is about 100,000 yuan per kilogram. Green beans also need to be roasted into roasted beans. Considering about 20% loss from dehydration and defects, the green bean price is equivalent to about 130,000 yuan per kilogram.
Assuming the shop really used the 2023 BOP auction champion beans, calculating on the basis that the market generally uses 15 grams of beans per cup, and adding grinder loss to increase it to 16 grams per cup, then the cost of 16 grams of roasted beans is around 2,000 yuan. If you further add the profit margin of green bean merchants and roasters, as well as store operating costs and risk costs, the total cost borne by the coffee shop would be at least three to four thousand yuan.
Some netizens also wonder: even if the beans are excellent, is there really anyone willing to spend nearly five thousand, seven thousand, or even tens of thousands of yuan on a small cup of coffee? "Who on earth is drinking a 6,200 yuan cup of coffee!"
From a certain perspective, this kind of high-priced coffee is no longer simply a beverage, but has been celebrated as a kind of "artwork." Data shows that among BOP auction beans, production scoring above 90 points is extremely rare. The entire award-winning batch of Geisha is only about 25 kilograms, divided among 6 (joint) buyers worldwide through bidding. High quality and low quantity create a "double buff," and since "artworks" exist, naturally there will be "artists" willing to pay.
The Shanghai coffee shop said that the store had only two cups of the 6,200 yuan coffee, one of which had already been reserved, and currently only one cup remained in the store.
Some people always ask, is it worth it? Whether expensive coffee is worth it is a very subjective question. As netizens say, if you have money, drink it as you please; if not, just don't drink it. There will always be people who like it and can afford it.
Anyway, I can't afford to drink it......
Image source: Internet
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
