Super-Premium Coffee Hype
Look at the cupping scores and prices… is there any possible way that the Esmerelda deserves an eightfold price increase over the Carmen Estate?
I have had a top-grade Esmerelda Gesha before. A friend in the biz slipped about 30 grams to me in a tiny paper bag. It was good. It was damn good. But was it $40-a-pound good? (this is wholesale, mind you— the retail on the sample I had was nearly double that) In my opinion, no, it was not. I’m not sure what a coffee would have to do in order to justify that kind of price in my mind, but it would have to go substantially beyond just “tasting good” — perhaps induce effects similar to those caused by other substances I’ve been surreptitiously passed in unlabelled bags…
Maybe it’s good for the farm that they can command that kind of price at auction, and maybe it’s good for the specialty coffee industry that they can turn a nice profit at the extreme high end. But this is hype, and hype, wherever it appears, deserves to be called out as such.
(Note: I’m not blaming Sweet Marias here; they are simply passing on the price they paid. Tom & Co are completely awesome and fairly earn my bucks for coffee, gear, and the excellent Dogs of Coffee calendar. But not the Gesha.)