The most expensive coffee I have purchased

Was it worth it? And what does that even mean?

Specialty coffee was described by ‘coffee daddy’ James Hoffmann as “one of the most affordable luxuries.” Wise words, or at least a great justification for spending money.

With that in mind I didn’t need any further encouragement when I saw a very expensive coffee on the shelves in Auckland’s Daily Daily cafe.

It was a triple fermented natural processed coffee, grown in Colombia and roasted by Manhattan Coffee Roasters in the Netherlands.

It is described by Manhattan Coffee as “more than deserving of our World Class category and in our opinion, it is absolutely silly. Every year this coffee comes across our cupping table it's a true experience.”

A ‘world class’ coffee, with a world class price.

This coffee is sold on the Manhattan website for around $50NZD for a 125g bag - $400NZD per kilo. Plus postage you’re looking at about $125.
I gave Daily Daily $75 bones for the bag I bought - a bargain really.

I brewed it using a standard method of 15g of coffee to 250g of water.

$9.40 a cup.

World class coffee - Manhattan Coffee Roasters.

Stressed out

A coffee this expensive is pretty stressful to brew.

It comes with a bunch of expectations about quality and experience. You overthink the process. You doubt your abilities. You can set yourself up for massive disappointment, even if you brew a great cup of coffee, because you’re actually searching for a world class cup of coffee.

This coffee was indeed excellent. The body, mouth feel, aroma, and taste were amazing. I can see why it is described as world class. Serve this to anyone and they will be exposed to excellence.

I imagine this how the other half live their lives, but with every drink and meal they consume.

I ranked this coffee as 9/10.

The average rating for the 56 bags of coffee I have purchased this ear is 6.7/10, so it’s up there.

But.

It’s not the best.

Even the packaging is world class.

Step up Aotearoa

There are four other coffees that I have had in 2024 that are at least as good, if not better, than that Manhattan. They are:

• Rich Coffee Roasters (Wellington) - Ethiopia - Natural - Della - $80/kilo - rating 9/10

• Vanguard (Dunedin) - Brasil - Triple Fermentation Honey - Rafel Vinhal - $96/kilo - rated 10/10

• Rocket Coffee (Hamilton) - Colombia - Ice Natural - Jairo Arcila - $108/kilo - rated 9/10

• Grey Roasting Co (Hamilton) - Colombia - Cinnamon Anaerobic Honey - Wilder Lazo - $180/kilo - rated 9/10

The top coffees of 2024... so far

These four coffees, all from Aotearoa roasters, are excellent, world class even, but a heck of a lot cheaper than The Netherlands’ best.

Vanguard’s Rafel Vinhal is currently my coffee of the year. At a quarter of the price of the Manhattan, represents incredible value.

Are these coffees on the same level as Manhattan? Absolutely. Even when you put aside the price, objectively these coffees taste, smell and feel as good as the Jose Giraldo. They’re all expertly chosen, unique and exciting, and roasted to perfection.

Worth it?

So the question that has to be asked is, are super expensive coffees, the likes of what Manhattan have to offer, worth the money?

I have two answers to this question.

As a bag to brew at home, no, I don’t think they are.

In my experience, the stress involved in brewing a $9 cup of coffee took away from the overall enjoyment.

I’m not a professional with years of skill development and experience - I’m a home hack trying my best - so I was worried about ruining the coffee and wasting a lot of money.

Since we can get the world class coffee here at home, roasted by local roasters, it’s not like we’re really missing out on something special - we already have special at our finger tips.

When you take world class coffees that tastes every as bit as good as the best you can get, and remove the stress of brewing, you truly get a transcendent experience.

As a brew at a cafe, yes, they are worth it.

Before I bought the bag of Manhattan, I enjoyed a V60 of it, brewed by the experts at Daily Daily, and had a great time.

I was willing to spend $15 for the cup, because I wasn’t just buying a world class bean - I was also buying the skills of a world class barista (from the “GOAT of the coffee scene”).

It was the best example of what that world class coffee could be, and it was amazing.

It was the all the taste, with all the execution, without all the stress.

It’s a great way to get to experience how other parts of the world approach coffee - if for no other reason than it helps to reinforce how awesome our approach to coffee is.

If our roasters are world class, maybe they should charge world class prices

The true moral of the story is that New Zealand roasters could, no, should, probably bump up the price for some of the coffees they have.

Maybe we don’t because it puts off consumers. May we don’t because of that typical Kiwi approach where we don’t back ourselves or believe we’re as good as the best in the world.

We have incredible roasters - Rich, Grey, Vanguard, Rocket to name but a few - who are on the same level as the likes of Manhattan. Maybe, we should encourage them to act like it.

OR - we can just enjoy the best value world class coffee you can get and hope that our local roasters don’t get crazy ideas, right?

After all, it is the most affordable luxury.

Thanks to The Magic Roast Members

Going down silly little rabbit holes like this brings me a lot of joy. Sharing it with readers brings me even more.

It will always surprise me that people are willing to share some of their hard earned coin to support what I do. I appreciate the love.

I pump (most) of the support I get back into the local coffee scene, supporting cafes, roasters and cool people doing cool things. And a bit of that goes toward a few purchases from roasters overseas, if for no other reason I can tell you that maybe you don’t need to. You’re welcome.

If you like what you read and want to support The Magic Roast, you can become a member for less than a price of a cup of coffee a month (much less, depending on the coffee).

You can also support The Magic Roast by liking and sharing this post, giving me recommendations of amazing coffee or just by saying hello. It’s all gravy.

Cool things are coming

It’s been a really busy month since the Rocket Coffee yarn dropped, with work, home and other commitments taking a bit of bandwidth.

I haven’t been ignoring the coffee world, however, and the fruits of this particular quiet period on The Magic Roast will be unveiled on the world’s most popular coffee website, Sprudge.Com.

Exciting stuff.