• Dubai’s Roasters Specialty Espresso Home is promoting the world’s costliest espresso at AED2,500 (US$680) per cup, in response to the Guinness World Data.
• Naturally, this espresso is inaccessible to the vast majority of shoppers, however some individuals are displaying curiosity.
• Taiwan’s Easy Kaffa provided US$635 cups of Gesha earlier this 12 months, promoting a median of 1 per week.
• As premiumisation drives the specialty espresso market in areas just like the Center East and East Asia, we will anticipate costs for ultra-rare and unique coffees to rise even additional.

Dubai’s Roasters Specialty Espresso Home is promoting a washed Panamanian Gesha for AED2,500 (US$680) per cup – the world’s most unique and costly, in response to the Guinness World Data.

Consumers in nations such because the UAE, China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Taiwan usually utilise ultra-exclusive competitors and public sale coffees to distinguish their manufacturers. Premiumisation drives this pattern in these hyper-competitive markets, the place an ingrained tradition of exclusivity prevails for sure meals and beverage merchandise. 

Espresso that’s uncommon and costly is then perceived as useful, which prompts a small variety of individuals to pay extremely excessive costs. However who precisely is shopping for these coffees – and the way are they consuming them?

Kirk Pearson from Undertaking Zero Espresso and Konstantin Harbuz from Roasters Specialty Espresso Home share their insights.

You might also like our article on why espresso high quality is not a differentiator for roasters.

Better of Panama continues to interrupt data

Public sale-winning espresso heaps promote for greater costs each single 12 months. Former report excessive costs – like US $21/lb in 2004 for a Panama Gesha – now pale compared to what some patrons are prepared to pay for distinctive espresso.

On the 2025 BoP public sale, Hacienda La Esmeralda acquired US$30,204/kg for its washed Gesha – surpassing the earlier world report of US$13,518/kg set at a personal public sale in 2024. 

The farm additionally earned US$23,608/kg for its pure Gesha, breaking the report twice and reflecting the ultra-premium costs these unique heaps command. Moreover, Esmeralda received the Varietal class, marking the first-ever triple win at BoP and culminating in a espresso public sale for the ages.

The espresso that positioned first in each the washed and pure classes, Nido, got here from a plot that took 13 years to develop. It’s exactly these ranges of exclusivity, status, and shortage that drive costs to astronomical ranges.

“There have been quite a lot of elements that pushed this espresso to this peak,” says Kirk, the founding father of Undertaking Zero Espresso and the host of The Espresso Present with Kirk Pearson. “To begin with, it scored 98 factors in what’s recognised as a reputable evaluation within the Better of Panama Worldwide judging. Second, there isn’t any assure {that a} espresso will ever rating this extremely once more.

“Third, Esmerelda is essentially the most recognised model by way of a espresso producer on the earth. They’re the Dallas Cowboys of espresso farming, and since they achieved this grade of espresso, it reached this worth.”

A complete of 549 bids have been positioned on the 20kg washed Nido lot. Julith Espresso, a model in Dubai that was solely every week outdated on the time of the public sale, positioned the best supply.

Roasters Specialty Espresso Home, which operates 12 luxurious all-day eating cafés throughout Dubai, additionally serves a espresso from the identical farm. Brewed utilizing a Hario V60 and introduced in a bespoke Edo Kiriko crystal glass, this espresso is a strategic differentiator within the extremely aggressive and unique UAE market, the place luxurious merchandise thrive, pushed by demand from prosperous clients.

This espresso’s restricted availability means it might probably’t be served like some other.

“Right this moment, our Panama Esmeralda expertise is offered by way of pre-booking solely,” says Konstantin, the founding father of Roasters Specialty Espresso Home. “We’ve already acquired many requests from celebrities, bloggers, and low fans.”

Why Dubai is residence to the world’s costliest espresso

A espresso with such a excessive price ticket will inevitably entice prestigious clientele – however it additionally helps drive curiosity on a a lot bigger scale.

Based by Turkish Barista and Espresso Roasting Champion Serkan Sagsoz, Julith Espresso, an omakase-style idea, made headlines after buying the BoP-winning espresso. Solely every week after its launch, individuals world wide related the model with the world’s costliest espresso – and wished to know why.

“We’ve matured as an trade to the purpose the place we now have a ‘luxurious’ or ‘reserve’ class,” Kirk explains. “What is evident, given the costs of not solely this espresso, but additionally a few of the others at public sale, is that there’s an rising marketplace for luxurious espresso.”

Nido’s residence in Dubai is sensible. Like different prestigious markets, resembling China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Japan, shoppers correlate exclusivity with worth. Value is a mirrored image of this, and they’re prepared to pay greater costs for what they take into account extra useful. This phenomenon is named premiumsation: the method of leveraging exclusivity, rarity, and superior high quality to drive up model enchantment and costs.

The general financial growth and rising disposable earnings in these areas favour this consumption mentality.

“Clearly, ultra-wealthy individuals, which is an ever-increasing cohort in right this moment’s world, are shopping for these coffees,” says Kirk. “Let’s not overlook that Dubai is a tax haven for lots of the world’s richest individuals, so there are rich individuals there with cash to spend, and that is most likely simply an exercise for them on any given day. They wish to say they tried the most costly espresso on the earth.

“I think about there’s additionally numerous firms which might be wining and eating their shoppers, and shopping for them coffees like this.”

In Taiwan, one other market that values luxurious, Easy Kaffa – based by World Barista Champion Berg Wu – not too long ago offered an Elida Property Gesha for US$635 per cup. Berg advised Meals and Wine that the espresso store offered two to 4 cups of the espresso per week when it was first launched in October 2024. By March, orders had dropped to 1 cup per week, nonetheless indicating a gradual stage of demand.

Japan’s OneByOne reportedly as soon as offered US$970 cups of BoP-winning Elida Gesha Pure Vuelta – which might make it the world’s costliest espresso per serving. At public sale, this espresso acquired a bid of US$10,013/kg.

South Korea’s Black Street Espresso additionally offered single servings of the Aguacatillo Honey Gesha, previously the world’s costliest per kilogram, for an undisclosed worth.

The success of auction-winning coffees in these markets underscores that almost all of shoppers who buy them are undoubtedly rich. 

“I don’t suppose a barista would spend every week’s or extra wage on one espresso, and I might by no means encourage them to take action,” Kirk says. “You possibly can nonetheless drink espresso near this high quality for beneath US$30 a cup.”

Nonetheless, there’s additionally a psychological facet behind luxurious buying – even when it’s unaffordable. Folks purchase costly merchandise to convey their social standing and categorical their private identification, pushed by a need for emotional satisfaction and the promise of upper high quality.

Australian and US roaster Proud Mary offered cups of Gesha for US$150 in 2023, noting that three individuals would generally share one cup to separate the fee, making a luxurious expertise extra reasonably priced.

Within the case of Roasters Specialty Espresso Home, nevertheless, paying over US$230 to drink roughly 100ml of espresso means the advantages could not justify the prices. Extra importantly, even this lower cost stays out of the budgets of most clients; these coffees will all the time be inherently inaccessible.

Anticipate to see new report costs for espresso

Paying almost US$700 for a cup of filter espresso could appear unfathomable to most individuals, however it highlights altering perceptions of high quality and worth. 

“A cup of espresso for US$680 received’t be standard in some nations; it’s very uncommon, however we predict it ought to be extra standard,” Konstatin says. Different premium merchandise, resembling whiskey, wine, and sure sorts of tea, which have traditionally been valued extra extremely than espresso, promote for considerably extra at auctions.

“I solely see demand rising sooner or later as wealth concentrates to a smaller proportion of the inhabitants and shortage will increase due to local weather change,” Kirk says. “The demand for espresso is rising globally as a result of curiosity is at an all-time excessive. Costs for all espresso will doubtless solely go up, so it wouldn’t be stunning to see it rise greater than US$30,000/kg.”

However as a result of they distinguish the “better of one of the best”, worth discovery mechanisms at auctions usually far exceed these by means of extra conventional commerce platforms. Briefly, public sale costs hardly ever replicate the realities of the broader market, the place thousands and thousands of smallholder farmers battle to earn a residing wage and are trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Moreover, the inherent exclusivity of those coffees means the vast majority of producers won’t ever be capable of develop them – in any other case, they’d lose their sense of status and rarity. Furthermore, the marketplace for these coffees will all the time stay small and hyper-competitive, that means the chance of struggling to recoup funding is excessive.

However new, albeit nonetheless largely inaccessible, alternatives could emerge sooner or later.

“The BoP scoring system permits Washed and Pure Gesha to thrive, whereas not permitting experimental coffees to attain in any respect,” says Kirk. “I believe we’ll see mind-bending costs for coffees from producers like Misplaced Origin in Panama, Mikava in Colombia, and Daterra in Brazil. These are experimental producers that I believe will shatter data for experimental coffees.

“I anticipate Takesi in Bolivia to interrupt data in the event that they ever attempt. They develop essentially the most scarce, luxurious espresso on the earth that solely sells to a handful of worldwide roasters, they usually’re each bit pretty much as good as Esmerelda,” he provides. “If I had thousands and thousands to drop on espresso, that will be the primary farm I might go to.”

Areas such because the Center East and East Asia will proceed to be the goal markets for record-breaking coffees – the place solely a handful of patrons will be capable of attempt these coffees.

Given their historical past of premiumisation with different meals and beverage merchandise, there’s no telling how excessive the worth for a cup of espresso may go.

Loved this? Then learn our article on why roasting deserves extra consideration at espresso auctions.

Good Each day Grind

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