# What's the most expensive beans you've ever bought and were they worth it?



## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

As above. I'll get the ball rolling, although my recollection is somewhat sketchy, even though it was probably only about 18 months ago

There was a roaster ( can't remember which one ) posted on a Facebook group that I follow, that he had been given some Panama anaerobic fermentation coffee as a gift from a roaster in Belgium. However instead of sending him a 250g bag , they sent a case, so he had some to sell.

I love to try none UK based roasters, so bought a bag for £17. I'm grateful to them for the experience and the actual coffee was nice, but no nicer than the usual coffee I get in my dogandhat sub, so a bit of a miss really for me.

I've often thought of buying some Kona or JBM just for the experience, but I think deep down I'd much prefer a decent Kenyan. I remember a looong time ago getting a Panama coffee from Hasbean that was probably a Giesha before the days when Giesha meant £20 and upwards. That was amazing and not particularly expensive.


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## filthynines (May 2, 2016)

I'm struggling to recall a time when I've ever breached £10 per bag, unless as a gift. I might have bought a bag of Gardelli coffee when in Rome, but definitely baulked at the 38EUR price for one bag! From memory it was a good coffee and I was disappointed when the bag was empty.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I've had a few subs where the cost ended up around £18/250g, generally very happy with the coffee, a few disappointing bags, but that's going to happen from time to time. Price was a little higher than normal due to coming from Scandinavia.

The most expensive coffee I bought was £10/100g. Was it the most knockout coffee I have ever had? Not really. But then, was it supposed to be? Quite often very expensive coffees are expensive due to their clean & delicate nature. As you say, unless you're specifically looking for their unique traits, you're probably better off with a decent Kenyan.

The Kona & JBM I have had hasn't been any better than 'nice commodity coffee'.


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## HBLP (Sep 23, 2018)

cold war kid said:


> As above. I'll get the ball rolling, although my recollection is somewhat sketchy, even though it was probably only about 18 months ago
> 
> There was a roaster ( can't remember which one ) posted on a Facebook group that I follow, that he had been given some Panama anaerobic fermentation coffee as a gift from a roaster in Belgium. However instead of sending him a 250g bag , they sent a case, so he had some to sell.
> 
> ...


 Geshas are very variable on price. You can still easily find many at £10-15 per bag but they are not the most desirable ones.

Personally most expensive was a pacamara natural from El Salvador (from Fjord Coffee here in Berlin), think it was like €18. It was really excellent and I'd buy it again if I could. I haven't yet tried to go above that, I'm not really financially in a position to try outrageously expensive coffee just for the fun of it right now but maybe later this year or next year I'll give one a go.

I am consistently impressed by Gardelli's offerings in the high teens, that come out to nearly €20 a bag with delivery sometimes. I'm probably gonna place another order with them once the Mzungu is back in stock.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

In terms of green coffee, the most expensive was a kilo of Costa Rican geisha for £30.

It was really good. I think it was an 86 point score so not super high quality but more rarity value. It had really intense sugary tangerine/lemon fruit. Probably no more so than a good Kenyan.

I've not been tempted by highly priced rare geishas. As @MWJB points out they seem to be about delicacy and refinement rather than exceptional flavour.

I've roasted some other coffees from HasBean that were retailing around £12-14. A natural Yemen that had clear as a bell watermelon was exceptional. I'm reluctant to go beyond that type of price.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Purchased myself:



JBM (Wallenford estate), no they wern't worth it. Australian Skybury is just as good


Cape Verde Coffee (Save your money)


Kona (what's all the fuss about)


Given as a present:



Civet Cat coffee (Kopi Luwak)...totally underwhelmed.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Bella barista sent me an email the other day advertising bird poop coffee... Wonder if anyone has been gullible/curious enough.


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## -Mac (Aug 22, 2019)

Jamaica Blue Mountain. Something like £15 for a 250g bag (back in 2008). At the time, I didn't know any better and it was the best coffee I'd ever had up to that point, so I thought it was worth it for a while.


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

Bought some kona five years ago. Think they were about £15 for 125g.

Totally underwhelmed

Rarity / exclusivity didn't result in great coffee


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## KingoftheHeath (Nov 22, 2019)

Rob1 said:


> Bella barista sent me an email the other day advertising bird poop coffee... Wonder if anyone has been gullible/curious enough.


Yeah, i saw that, was in no way tempted.

I did, however, get the Brazilian Camocim which is the most expensive coffee I never paid for - £11.50 for 250g, but I paid £1 as an introductory offer to their roastery. Apparently it scored 93 or something like that. Marko was very excited about it when I visited the shop. It was right up there with the best espresso I've had (for my tastes) - chocolate and cherry with a lovely balance between bitter, acidic and sweet.

Someone once gifted me JMB but it was pre-ground and over a month old when I received it


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## RDC8 (Dec 6, 2016)

Paid an arm and a leg for some Hawaiian Kona a few years back (not in the UK). Roasted by someone else. Underwhelmed by it. It was ok - but I didnt see what justified the price.


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## filthynines (May 2, 2016)

After all this I see Hasbean is offering a Yemeni coffee for £15 for 125g and I am tempted...


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Jamaican Blue Mountain fresh roasted. Not a strong coffee and I wouldn't mind drinking it often. Can give an idea what well balanced means.

Same but not fresh roasted

https://www.bettys.co.uk/jamaica-blue-mountain

Some one bought it for me in a smaller lot, 250g. The only none fresh roasted I have problems with. The control was how much water went through it not really grinder setting. Very plain taste so NVG for what it is supposed to be.  Ok though but no match for the real thing.

Coffee bean advent calender. Think they are about £40 or so. Son bought it. Number of different beans in them. Some taught me not to put flavoured beans through a grinder. Civet distinctive but don't like it. I tried several of them later fresh roasted. In some respects that taught me that the estate beans come from can make a difference. Had that happen with others. Not a good idea in some ways as not many beans in each pack. Had to split them 3 ways and found that my scales weren't too good for that so bought some more. Also had to pick a middling grind and rely on the BE's volumetrics to control the shot. Worked out pretty well really.  I wont be tempted to buy civet to see how that reads across.

John

-


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

filthynines said:


> After all this I see Hasbean is offering a Yemeni coffee for £15 for 125g and I am tempted...


 Wow that is really pricey!

I notice that these are not available as greens so it must be a very small amount that they have. Presumably the ongoing war in Yemen is making it even more difficult for coffee growers hence the price. The lot I had last year was an 89 cup score selling at £14 for 250g roasted.

I notice that they say that this is going to be the start of a series of rare coffees. It will be interesting to see if there is enough market for these at those prices. A few months back they were struggling to sell some Bolivian geisha and a couple of others at around £20 for 250g and were issuing discounts for regular customers to sell them.


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

Slightly off-topic as the title was "beans" as opposed to Coffee.....
but it got me thinking:

Just buying a cup of coffee in a shop is pretty expensive (I know they have equipment, staff, rent etc as overheads).... but some truly exceptional coffees that spring to mind:

Chewton Glen: I think a cup of their coffee worked out at about £9 a cup.... and it was execrable - truly disgusting. Genuinely an insult to coffee growers & roasters worldwide!. The only saving grace was the "Home made" Shortbread that. came with it......
Even worse was the (French press) sh!t served up at breakfast but that was free/included with the £30 odd "Full English".....

We have also stayed at a few "posh" hotels in European cities.... even in Scandi-Land and pretty well without exception - the coffee is extortionate and awful.


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## brokentechie (Jun 17, 2015)

Best coffee I've ever had?

Cubita. Seriously. Forgiving, consistent, thick, syrupy and very very tasty.

"Bought" for 10CUC/kg (Tourist peso) from the lady in our hotel's coffee shop - which was a tenner, wrapped in a black bag and sidled over the counter to me when her supervisor wasn't looking!

They couldn't make an espresso for toffee outside that coffee shop at the other bars but when I got it home I did the whole of in about 3 weeks all to myself.

It's not imported (legally) to the UK due to trade embargo I think and I refuse to pay the ridiculous price for a bag when I can find it.

The other Cuban stuff I've had from proper roasters was meh by comparison.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

It's interesting that a lot of the beans mentioned so far are expensive because they are of limited supply rather than the absolute best. Yemen, JBM and Kona are quite rare coffees, the former because of the war and the latter because they are geographically small areas with limited output and high demand. That's just how economics works I suppose.


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## jaffro (Oct 6, 2015)

Gotta be the Panama gesha that another forum member and I bought over Christmas... 2 different processes, so we split both between the two of us. £36 for 150g I think ?

It tasted great (I'd bloody hope so for that price) and I'd totally drink it every day if I was Jeff Bezos, but it definitely wasn't worth THAT much extra compared to a normal bag.

Surprisingly, they weren't that clean /delicate. One of them tasted really fruity, like a natural but it wasn't... Great stuff ?


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## Gavin (Mar 30, 2014)

jaffro said:


> Gotta be the Panama gesha that another forum member and I bought over Christmas... 2 different processes, so we split both between the two of us. £36 for 150g I think ?
> 
> It tasted great (I'd bloody hope so for that price) and I'd totally drink it every day if I was Jeff Bezos, but it definitely wasn't worth THAT much extra compared to a normal bag.
> 
> Surprisingly, they weren't that clean /delicate. One of them tasted really fruity, like a natural but it wasn't... Great stuff ?


 Christ! I'd blow £12 just dialing it in!


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## jaffro (Oct 6, 2015)

Gavin said:


> Christ! I'd blow £12 just dialing it in!


 Haha!

Fortunately I pretty much nailed it first time for pourover, only needed a small tweak (didn't dare try it as esspresso!).

Also noticed that it tasted great pretty much anywhere in the right ballpark.


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## Zeak (Jun 12, 2017)

Bought a bag (350g) from Prufrock the other day for £16 and it was nothing special really. On the other hand, whilst on a day trip to Lviv I got a bag of some special witchcraft stuff from Mad Heads Coffee Roasters (Kiev) which cost me £11 (super steep by Ukraine's standards where a decent dinner for 2 can cost roughly 20 quid) and was blown away by it and have been chasing similar stuff ever since. It was an experimental anaerobic natural process rated at 90.5 (they use some kind of international grading system I've never heard before). Nothing I bought after that tasted the same and my non-fussed-by-coffee colleague got really into it as well. Horsham Roastery just released anaerobic Columbian microlot batch for £17.50 (250g) just now and I sooo want to try it


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Zeak said:


> It was an experimental anaerobic natural process rated at 90.5 (they use some kind of international grading system I've never heard before).


 Sounds like a "cupping score". It's how green coffee is graded, prior to production roasting.

I had some of that coffee, roasted by Curve in Margate (sadly not showing as currently available), delicious!


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## catpuccino (Jan 5, 2019)

MWJB said:


> Sounds like a "cupping score". It's how green coffee is graded, prior to production roasting.
> 
> I had some of that coffee, roasted by Curve in Margate (sadly not showing as currently available), delicious! ?


 I don't think I knew Curve was out of Margate, always a roaster I forget to check


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## Zeak (Jun 12, 2017)

MWJB said:


> Sounds like a "cupping score". It's how green coffee is graded, prior to production roasting.
> 
> I had some of that coffee, roasted by Curve in Margate (sadly not showing as currently available), delicious! ?


 That's great to know! Will be checking the page often then .)


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

HasBean have just added a couple of lactic fermentation process beans to the website.

One is anerobic - a 90 of cup score Costa Rican with pretty wild tasting notes £12.50

The other is a Columbian at £10 but I think this one is fermentation under varied tight temperature controls rather than anerobic per se.

Both look interesting though. I'm tempted to buy some greens.


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## catpuccino (Jan 5, 2019)

Step21 said:


> One is anerobic - a 90 of cup score Costa Rican with pretty wild tasting notes £12.50


 If this is half as good as the one Colonna had recently I suggest immediate purchase of a full 60kg.


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

I get a bag of Collona's rare category every month (because I'm worth it), and last month it was the Cost Rican one ^ (Corderillera Del Fuego, a Caturra), and it was stand out, as they always have been, to my taste. It's a funny thing, to think about expense, because it depends on what's defined it as expensive and how much goes back to that farmer and their lovingly looked after microlot. In the case of Yemen ( and DR Congo), it seems to me to be amazing that any coffee gets out at all and given the risks that have undoubtedly been taken, worth every penny (but not irrespective of quality).


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## MattyP (Feb 26, 2020)

Zeak said:


> Horsham Roastery just released anaerobic Columbian microlot batch for £17.50 (250g) just now and I sooo want to try it


 I bought this - its definitely funky, but not sure my brewing techniques are up to it. I'm getting sort of tanninic tastes overshadowing the fruit. Tried v60, aeropress and sowden so far...gonna try cold brew I think that might get the flavour out...

Anyone else has any luck with this one?


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## jaffro (Oct 6, 2015)

Phil104 said:


> I get a bag of Collona's rare category every month (because I'm worth it), and last month it was the Cost Rican one ^ (Corderillera Del Fuego, a Caturra), and it was stand out, as they always have been, to my taste. It's a funny thing, to think about expense, because it depends on what's defined it as expensive and how much goes back to that farmer and their lovingly looked after microlot. In the case of Yemen ( and DR Congo), it seems to me to be amazing that any coffee gets out at all and given the risks that have undoubtedly been taken, worth every penny (but not irrespective of quality).


 How do you find the subscription? It's the sort of thing I could be tempted to try for a few months now that I'm burning through my backlog of beans.


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

jaffro said:


> How do you find the subscription? It's the sort of thing I could be tempted to try for a few months now that I'm burning through my backlog of beans.


It's on the Colonna site. There are three options. I used to get the 'discovery' and then switched to the rare. I only get a bag a month, though.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## blackbeard (Feb 28, 2020)

One of Hasbean's "exotic" offerings last year. Can't remember what I actually was but definitely unusual and worth the money


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## garethuk (May 2, 2019)

I once bought a £22 Hawaiian from Hasbean because they gave me a 50% voucher, so was £11. Really liked them, but i'm sure it was down to mind games telling me they should be fantastic. Wouldn't buy them again unless I got another discount voucher.


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## Joe shorrock (Nov 18, 2019)

Got this from origin few months back as a treat, 150g £21 was underwhelmed, either that or my taste buds are used to dark chocolate roasts, was very fruity, would of been nice for filter, beans were massive


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## winterlight (Feb 27, 2016)

I'm yet to pay this much for any coffee (think my most expensive bag was £12 - £13), but I'm really tempted to see what a Geisha is like.

If my furlough is extended a bit further then, due to the huge fuel savings I'm making, I might just treat myself.


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## Joe shorrock (Nov 18, 2019)

winterlight said:


> I'm yet to pay this much for any coffee (think my most expensive bag was £12 - £13), but I'm really tempted to see what a Geisha is like.
> 
> If my furlough is extended a bit further then, due to the huge fuel savings I'm making, I might just treat myself.


 Yeah it would of been Spot on if I liked really fruits tastes, but as a newbie when I bought them didn't know what I liked! I'm the same with my fuel aswell, dragging myself to a niche haha


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## Hexagram (Jan 3, 2018)

Has anyone tried that really steep stuff from Gardelli? I have some of their La Cristalina at the moment and it's fantastic, but they've got stuff at €200 per 250g!!


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## Farravi (Dec 12, 2013)

Kupi lowak / Civet coffee which I found alright. It was a friend of mine who used to have a coffee shop and micro-roastery.

I had a espresso and I can't say it was one that sticks to mind except for the actual visualisation of the animal pooping it whilst I was gulping my espresso.

It was like £32 for a double espresso or thereabouts.

It's not my cup of 'tea'/coffee.

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## tommyg1234 (Apr 19, 2020)

As a newbie what is the sort of price you should be spending per kg?


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## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

tommyg1234 said:


> As a newbie what is the sort of price you should be spending per kg?


 £20/£30


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## malling (Dec 8, 2014)

Some ridicules cheap Geisha beans I think it was 100g bag for £17 but I should not complain I have seen one that went for £160 pr. 100g 

Yes it was an amazing coffee, was it worth paying that much extra for, properly not. I got equally good Ethiopian coffees from time to time at 1/3 of the price.


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## Skizz (Feb 10, 2020)

£10 at Crankhouse for 150g of Granja Esperanza's Las Margaritas Pacamara. Huge beans, even bigger flavour. Really very nice.


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