Why People Are Paying $635 for This Cup of Coffee

On a recent trip to Taipei, Taiwan, I made an afternoon caffeine run to Simple Kaffa, one of the best cafes among dozens of roasteries dotted around the city. The founder, Berg Wu, earned the title of World Barista Champion in 2016, making him the first Taiwanese ever to do so.

Though Wu has several shops, including one on the 88th floor of the Taipei 101 building, his flagship remains popular with locals and coffee lovers. Featuring two stories and a reservation list (though walk-ins are welcome), the Huashan cafe and experience evoke the post-pandemic paradigm of a seated tasting appointment at a winery.

After I waited for about 20 minutes, a young woman escorted me to a booth on the second floor overlooking the bustling baristas below. My server handed me a menu and apprised me of the 90-minute window I had to sip coffee and munch on pandan-flavored cakes or cookies.

I scanned the single-origin coffees. It felt like reviewing a wine list; I could select from different countries, varieties (geisha to bourbon), processing methods (natural to washed), and brewing methods (v60 or Chemex).

The real thrill, however, came after flipping to the back page to find a section called The Coffee One. On the list: a Best of Panama coffee from Elida Estate in Boquete.

Curious to order a cup, I calculated the price. Still learning the conversion from Taiwanese to American dollars, I punched 20,700 TWD into my calculator. The phone spat out a very high number. I checked it twice to ensure I hadn't accidentally added an extra zero. Nope. The price for a single cup of Elida Estate Best of Panama 2024 Gesha coffee was $635.

I sent a photo of the menu to my friend Wilford Lamastus, Jr., the multi-generational owner of Lamastus Family Estates and Elida Estate, on Whatsapp.

"Is this price right?" I asked him. Wilford replied right away. Yep, that price tracked. He shared how one shop in Korea sold the same cup for $350 while another in China priced it at $900, though “granted, a famous barista brewed it," he said. "I'm not surprised by the price, but I am surprised they have my coffee,” he wrote.

How does a cup of coffee cost $635?

On August 7, 2024, The Best of Panamá Auction, which highlights some of the nation's leading producers and their beans, sold the Elida Geisha Natural Torre coffee lot from the Lamastus Family Estate for a stunning $10,013 per kilogram.

"At that price, the cost of the beans to make one cup will be $250 per 20 grams," said Lamastus. And that's before factoring in staff, general overhead costs, and commercial real estate rent.

Lamastus offered to put me in touch with Berg and co-founder Chee Lu, his wife, to understand the motivation and logistics around roasting and selling high-value beans.

Wu developed a passion for coffee during the early days of his courtship with Chee. "My wife and I used to date in cafes as college students, but we felt it was pretty costly. So, I started to make coffee at home. However, those coffees didn't taste very good, which made me wonder why," he said.

He decided to learn all he could about coffee, eventually entering competitions and turning a curiosity into a lifelong career. Like the wine lover's zeal for great Grand Cru Burgundy, Wu fixates on specialty coffee for its complexity and flavor profiles.

His coffee company has three concepts, all based in Taipei, Taiwan. At Wu's flagship store and Taipei 101 location, he focuses on specialty coffee experiences that suit a wider audience. However, his third concept, which he named “The Coffee One,” functions as a separate tasting bar. It's here that consumers can find the Best of Panama coffees. "Through this experience, we hope to build relationships with those rare customers who seek that one special cup of excellent coffee," he says.

Coffees for The Coffee One program typically come from auctions that sell beans from the top farms and growers. During the competitive Cup of Excellence (COE) and Best of Panama (BOP) auctions, Wu and others often pay eye-watering prices for a kilogram of beans.

After receiving his auction lot, Wu stores the green beans in small batches. Because coffee starts to oxidize and degrade after roasting, Wu only roasts in small quantities of 100 grams on a ROEST (a sample roaster for working with smaller quantities of beans) at a time.

After he roasts a batch, Wu rests the beans, ages the coffee briefly, then seals it in a 12-gram bag flushed with nitrogen.

Wu has long been a fan of Elida Estate coffees. For his first competition, he brought a Catuai from the farm. “I liked its clean and natural taste," he said.

For the Best of Panama cup he sells at his shop, he offers both a natural and a washed coffee.

"The complexity of these coffees is so high,” he said, praising the management of the farm as critical in producing such singular coffees.

Wu debuted the coffee in Taipei in October of 2024. At the time, he sold about two to four cups per week. "People were literally waiting for this coffee," he said. Sales have since slowed to about one cup per week.

Who is buying this coffee?

"Certain customers only drink luxury coffees," he said. "We text them to let them know their choices when new and rare coffees come in." Others, he said, splurge because “they just want to taste this famous coffee.”

The price of rare coffee remains a topic of debate, but for Wu, it's straightforward: As long as people are willing to pay, there will be a market.

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