Top 5 most expensive coffees in the world

While for most of us coffee is just that morning beverage that puts our engine in motion and gives us an excuse to take breaks at work, for the true, passionate connoisseurs and aficionados it is a reason to travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars, just for a blissful sip. Choosing only the best beans takes a lot of time and patience, considering that a coffee tree takes around 3 to 5 years to produce the coffee cherries.

There are coffees out there that cost more than $50/cup and are made in ways you could never imagine (nor would you want to!). Some of them are sold exclusively in the countries where they are produced, such as Thailand, Korea or Japan.

Here are 5 of the priciest coffees in the world:

1. Black Ivory Coffee. This special kind of coffee can cost even $1,500/pound and that isn’t even the most ‘special’ thing about it. The most special thing about the Black Ivory is the way it is produced. The Arabica coffee beans are extracted from elephant poop. It is a very rare type of coffee, which is produced exclusively in Thailand and only in small quantities (around 440 pounds/year). Well, you know what they say: someone’s garbage is another man’s treasure.
2. Finca El Injerto. It is produced in Guatemala and can go as high as $500/pound. The reason for the high price is the fact that it is carefully made of only the richest beans which are washed in a single channel and broken two times. It is sold internationally.
3. Kopi Luwak. This is an Indonesian coffee which goes for $150/pound, up to even $600/pound. This coffee is produced in Indonesia, with the help of a very cute kind of feline, the palm civet, also known as toddy cat. This animal selects and eats only the best, freshest and sweetest coffee beans. The beans are fermented in its stomach, the pulp and cherries are removed, while the beans remain undigested and they are eliminated through the cat’s feces, within approximately 24 hours. The beans are then carefully collected by farmers. Thanks to the special process the beans go through, they have a unique, rich, sweet and jungle-rich flavor. While the authentic Kopi Luwak coffee is very hard to prepare and comes in limited quantities, hence the steep price, there are a lot of scammers who sell fake kopi luwak, which has nothing authentic in it. You have to be very careful if you ever want to purchase it. The real coffee has to be made of coffee cherries eaten and processed by free, non-caged civet cats
4. Hacienda La Esmeralda. It is a coffee made in Panama. It’s been auctioned at even $350/pound. Over the years, its rich and special flavor brought it several first place awards in various coffee competitions across the world
5. This coffee is produced by Ospina, a family-owned company in Colombia. You can get it for $120/pound. They own one of the oldest coffee plantations in the country and over the years, they have managed to meticulously develop and perfection the exquisite coffee they sell today. The coffee has a nut and caramel flavor.