According to statistics, more than two and a half billion cups of coffee are drunk every day in the world. An invigorating and tasty drink has won the hearts of millions of fans. And true connoisseurs are willing to pay a lot of money for the privilege of drinking a cup of truly elite coffee.

Today our selection includes most expensive coffees, capable of satisfying the taste of any picky gourmet.

10. Yauco Selecto AA ($11 per pound - about 450 grams)

One of the rarest and most expensive Arabica varieties is grown in the mountains of Puerto Rico at an altitude of at least 100 meters above sea level. The aroma of this type of coffee is distinguished by nutty and chocolate notes.

9. Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon ($24 per pound)

This variety has been grown in Rwanda since 2004 for the famous coffee company Starbucks. The unique taste of coffee is distinguished by subtle sourness and the aroma of spices.

8. Kona Coffee ($34 per pound)

This variety of Arabica grows on the slopes of the Hawaiian volcanoes Gualalai and Mauna Loa. The mineral-rich volcanic soil and ideal climate create all the conditions for the ripening of aromatic Kona Coffee beans.

7. Los Planes ($40 per pound)

This coffee is grown in the Los Plains of El Salvador. Connoisseurs note its sweetish floral notes with a hint of cocoa. In 2006, at the prestigious Quality Cup, experts assigned this coffee 93.52 points out of a hundred possible.

6. Blue Mountain ($49 per pound)

This variety is grown in Jamaica. Blue Mountain is the favorite drink of the English Queen Elizabeth and the legendary James Bond. By the way, the aroma and soft taste of this expensive coffee appealed to the Japanese, who buy about 80% of Blue Mountain beans.

5. Fazenda Santa Ines ($50 per pound)

The beans of this expensive variety are hand-picked on Brazilian plantations in Minas Gerais. The best Brazilian coffee has a rich aroma with citrus and chocolate tones. It is believed that this coffee goes well with cream.

4. El Injerto ($50 per pound)

This type of coffee is grown in Guatemala in the town of Coban. The humid rainy climate of the places where it grows contributes to the special taste of coffee. This variety won the Quality Cup three times - in 2002, 2006 and 2007.

3. Island of St. Helena Coffee ($79 per pound).

St. Helena Island is famous for being the place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, by the way, greatly appreciated local coffee. A special feature of this variety is that only natural fertilizers are used when growing it.

2. Hacienda La Esmeralda ($104 per pound)

One of the most expensive coffee varieties on the planet is grown in Panama in the town of Gesha. However, in order to increase interest in the product, visionary planters named local coffee trees with the alluring name “Geisha”. Each Hacienda La Esmeralda grain is checked for defects and weighed.

1. Kopi Luwak ($160 per pound)

The most expensive type of coffee comes from the islands of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi. Coffee got its name from small animals - civet cats or Luwak, as the locals call them. Civets eat ripe coffee fruits, passing them through their gastrointestinal tract. Coffee beans come out undigested and are cleaned, dried and roasted. The enzymes contained in the civet's stomach give the drink a special taste and aroma. Every year, no more than 500 kg of Kopi Luwak variety reaches the market.

There are many products in the world that are available only to a select number of buyers. These are rare unusual goods, which due to their exclusivity are expensive. These include coffee.

Unusual coffee

There are such exotic varieties of coffee that not everyone dares to try them. These include the most expensive Kopi Luwak coffee and the no less precious Black Tusk. Both are extracted from animal feces. It is difficult to answer the question of who came up with the idea of ​​extracting grains from the droppings of wild representatives of exotic fauna, but this business quickly began to generate enormous income.

Today, small coffee plantations in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries that specialize in producing the most expensive coffee in the world generate the same income as large plantations in Brazil. There is nothing complicated in the production technology; you just need to feed the animals whole coffee berries and remove them from the excrement in time.

On the world market, the most expensive coffee in the world can reach a price of 1200–1500 euros per kilogram, and a cup of the drink made from it can cost 50–90 euros. Not everyone can afford to start their morning with such an expensive product. What is special about coffee made from excrement?

When whole berries collected from the coffee tree pass through the digestive tract of an animal, its digestive enzymes break down the proteins, fats and carbohydrates contained in the grain. Due to this it changes component composition, bitterness goes away, transformations of some substances into others occur. This is a kind of fermentation that changes the quality of the product and directly affects the taste of the future drink.

Gourmets claim that these types of coffee are distinguished by an amazing softness of taste and many shades of aroma. They are worth trying at least once in your life.

Kopi Luwak

In most rankings, the most expensive coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak. Its main producers are Indonesia, Vietnam, South India and the Philippines. There are small Arabica plantations growing at an altitude of at least 1500 m above sea level.

A small rodent, the civet or luwak, as the locals call it, also lives here. He is the main person in the chain of turning ordinary coffee berries into elite and expensive coffee.

A wild civet eats about 1,500 kg of fruit per night

The animal is kept in a zoo and processes several kilograms of ripe and other coffee berries every day. Its maintenance is not so cheap for farmers, because for normal life it needs meat. The rodent is nocturnal, so feeding occurs late in the evening and early in the morning. To get 50 g of coffee beans ready for processing after an animal, you need to feed it about 1 kg of berries.

In addition, the luwak must be released into freedom, since it does not reproduce in captivity. They are later recaptured and placed in a zoo.

How is coffee processed from animal feces obtained?

• Plantation workers collect animal excrement every day and send it for drying.
• After that, under running water wash the grains and separate them from the excrement.
• Next comes the process of drying the grains.
• The final stage is roasting.

As a rule, they are roasted to a medium degree, because the taste of the future drink should be soft with an almost imperceptible bitterness. Coffee made from roasted beans has a chocolate-caramel flavor and vanilla aroma. Today, a lot of Kopi Luwak comes from Vietnam. This country is for last years becomes one of the world leaders in coffee sales in general.

What explains such a high price for Luwak coffee? In addition to the costs of caring for plantations and paying workers, farmers need to maintain wild animals that require care, and this is a lot of money. In addition, the resulting quantity of good coffee beans is much smaller than if they were simply collected and dried. Advertising praising the unusual taste of the drink also adds weight to the price.

Black tusk

Another product that can challenge the title of the most expensive coffee in the world is Black Tusk. It is produced in Thailand and three regions in the Maldives. Already from the name it is clear which animal is an important link in the coffee production chain. This is an elephant. He is also not averse to eating coffee berries.

The coffee production technology is similar to the Indonesian Kopi Luwak. The elephant eats grains, or rather berries, which, passing through the digestive tract, undergo a kind of fermentation. Next, they are extracted from the feces, washed, dried and fried. Digested grain in a volume of 1 kg is obtained from more than 30 kg of berries.

The elephant loves fruits and berries, so Black Ivory has a mixture of their tastes and aromas

The drink made from taki grains has a rich fruity taste and aroma; it contains floral, chocolate and nutty notes at the same time. There is no bitterness, but no sourness either. It is gentle and soft, as a good Arabica should be. This variety of coffee is known throughout the world as Black Ivory; its price reaches $500–600 per 500 grams.

Other expensive coffees

In addition to those varieties of coffee that are obtained thanks to animals, there are no less valuable ones produced in a less exotic way. Expensive coffee varieties grown traditional way differ in exquisite taste only due to the peculiarities of climatic conditions and the varieties of coffee trees themselves. Below is a rating of especially valuable ones.

• Hacienda La Esmeralda ($100–125 per 1 kg), produced in Panama, Arabica plantations are located high in the mountains in the shade of spreading Guavas. The drink has a mild but rich taste and is considered the purest in the world.
• St. Helena Coffee ($80 for 500g), grown on St. Helena Island. Features citrus, floral and caramel notes in the finished drink.
• El Injerto from Guatemala ($50 for 500g). The finished drink has the taste and aroma of exotic berries, chocolate and fruits with a nutty aftertaste.
• Fazenda Santa Ines from Brazil ($50 for 500g). Winner of many world awards at coffee exhibitions. Has a taste of citrus and chocolate.
• Blue Mountain from Jamaica ($50 for 500g). It is grown in the mountains at an altitude of over 1500 meters. Gives a rich taste of chocolate and fruit with exquisite notes of red pepper.

Traditionally, expensive coffees are sold in beans. Instant is not included in the list of elite products. It’s also difficult to say which one will suit your taste. One thing is known: products marked as elite, as a rule, confirm their special position, so it’s worth allowing yourself to eat them at least occasionally.

Surely you have heard about Luwak (Luwak) coffee more than once. In Europe, people are willing to spend a considerable amount of money on a cup of coffee made from excrement. But few people know that this expensive type of coffee is quite specific and has a unique taste that only true gourmets of this drink will understand.

Let's see why this drink is considered to be the most... expensive variety coffee in the world and how much Luwak coffee costs.

Origin of Luwak coffee

The most expensive coffee in the world began to be sold at the end of the 19th century. The appearance of this drink is presumably due to the fact that the Dutch, in whose hands were entire coffee plantations, forbade local residents to drink it. But they were not at all confused and found a way to circumvent the ban by making a drink fermented by the inhabitants of the local fauna.

This was exactly the drink that “good Europeans” would never even taste. The name itself suggests that in the preparation of this drink the main role is played by animals, namely the wild civet or luwak, as these animals are called in their homeland.

On appearance the animals resemble a weasel, a marten or even a cat. The natural habitat of these animals is the forests of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and southern China. Luwak is a predator that prefers to feed not only on small amphibians or insects, but also on various fruits and berries. But the most important delicacy for this animal remains the fruits of the coffee tree.

The most expensive coffee is produced in several places in Indonesia, but Bali is still considered the most famous. And here we're talking about not at all about the quality of the product. Bali is still considered a place where crowds of tourists from all over the world enthusiastically go to the most common resorts on this island, ready to buy coffee made from poop for fabulous money.

But the most expensive coffee in the world may not always be real; only a true gourmet can distinguish real animal Luwak coffee from a fake. Not only Bali is famous for high-quality fakes made from dung; coffee in Vietnam, on the island of Java or on Sumatra also does not always correspond to the stated price.

The process of making the world's most expensive coffee: the secret is in the intestines

Kopi Luwak or musang (palm marten) is a whole story for Southeast Asia. The peculiarity of this animal lies in the ability of gastric juice to break down proteins and give the future drink a special taste with a hint of bitterness. The animal literally shits finished product.

The coffee beans pass through the Luwak's digestive tract and stomach virtually intact. The secret that musang holds is the fermentation process, during which a certain amount of grains is digested and not only the taste, but also the aroma of the product obtained from animal feces is enhanced.

This was confirmed by real scientific research, which was carried out in the 80s of the last century by Canadian chemists. Bacteria and other microorganisms in the intestines of Luwak transform into other biological substances using fermentation.

Watch a video of how Kopi Luwak coffee is made.

The coffee beans that the musang eats are usually the most common ones. It can be Robusta or Arabica (in Bali, Arabica is mainly used - the tree is smaller, but its fruits are larger). The most important thing is that luwak is the most fastidious animal in Asia and they eat only selected varieties of coffee beans.

Musang, whose sense of smell is much sharper than a human's, has the talent to determine the quality of a product. Coffee beans are loved by these animals solely due to their sweetish taste. Luwak digest them, using up the pulp without damaging the structure of the grain, and then pump out the almost finished product.

Local farmers collect animal poop, which is then turned into individual grains. The procedure is relatively complex, since washing such a large number of feces should be washed several times with water and then dried in the sun.

If you don’t even know how to prepare the most expensive product, then in Bali they will assure you that the process of making Kopi Luwak coffee takes place according to ancient technology, by hand and exclusively on the fire of a coffee tree. But this is not entirely true.

One kilogram of coffee from feces is prepared in 45 minutes, and the demand for this product is quite high and it is unlikely that a couple of people process such a large number of pumped out beans, thereby creating a product recognized as the most expensive in the world.

Little-known facts about Kopi Luwak

There are a huge number of myths and speculations surrounding the origin of Asia’s most famous product and the process of its preparation. The World Society for the Protection of Animals states that the luwak is an animal that lives in captivity, most often in dirty cages, where it is not able to move freely.

While the rich world savors the most expensive coffee in the world, which is called nothing less than “a miracle from the wild,” animals suffer. Local residents deny this fact and claim that the Luwak is an animal that, while in captivity, will not eat coffee beans.

Besides this, there are several more facts that few people know about.

1. If living creatures are left uncontrolled, then the animal will large quantities may feel unwell because the fruits do not have time to be digested due to too large a portion of what was eaten.
2. The Luwak are cared for like royalty. A special veterinarian regularly checks the health of the animals, and each individual has its own medical card and medical history.
3. How exactly the idea of ​​how to prepare the drink arose - no one knows. The islanders tell an interesting legend. The first coffee plantations on the islands of Sumatra and Java were astronomically expensive. Just as it was forbidden to take the stones with you when mining diamonds, plantation workers were strictly forbidden to take the prepared product home.
   When local residents accidentally discovered musang excrement with undigested grains, it was decided to wash it and taste it. Surprisingly, this particular drink turned out to be much tastier than regular coffee. The limited quantity of the product instantly made the drink not only the most expensive, but also the most widespread type of coffee in the world.
4. Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) from the movie "Until I Played the Box" drank Kopi Luwak before he knew how it was made. His new friend Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), on the contrary, was interested in how the drink was made and openly enjoyed the process of its preparation.
5. Only two species of animals eat coffee beans: musang and elephant. However, unlike luwak elephants, coffee is mixed with their food.
6. Vietnamese Luwak coffee is considered relatively cheap in Southeast Asia. You can try it in local cafes or buy it in specialized stores. Most best gift, which you can bring to friends from a trip to Asian countries, is coffee from Vietnam. Luwak coffee is also called Chon in Vietnam.

Why is Kopi Luwak so expensive?

Most people think that the high cost of Luwak coffee is only due to the fact that local farmers have to rummage through animal feces. This work is not the most pleasant, but the reason for the high price lies not there.

Farmers look for processed material exclusively in the excrement of wild animals, since musangs do not want to eat coffee beans, being unwitting. The secret of the high cost of the product is explained as follows:

• the most mature grains are collected exclusively by hand;
• two or three times a week the Luwak are given about 200 grams of coffee beans, on other days they are fed noodle soup and chicken, meat with rice, bananas and corn;
• animals are considered to be very selective, choosing exclusively ripe fruits;
• Musangs are regularly examined by a veterinarian, who carefully monitors their health.

Real Luwak coffee has a spicy taste with light notes of chocolate and caramel. The most expensive drink in the world costs about $600 per kilogram, the price for the most expensive Vietnamese version of coffee can reach up to $6,600 per kilogram.

Watch another video about musang.

This happened back in the distant colonial times in Indonesia. Then the Dutch, who occupied the territories of what are now the Indonesian islands, prohibited local farmers from drinking coffee from “Dutch plantations.” And Indonesians, by the way, love coffee. We lived with a Balinese family in Ubud, where the owner's wife cooked breakfast for us every morning. So, they always brewed me fresh natural coffee in the morning (not Luwak, of course, but regular coffee :)), not because I asked, but because that’s what is customary. That is, the people in those parts highly respect natural coffee, and this was the case in the old days. When the Dutch prohibited local people from harvesting coffee in their territory, farmers had to look for individual coffee beans on the ground where they could find them. This was the feces of luwak, local martens. Over time, people realized that this type of coffee tastes much better than regular coffee.

Since then, Indonesia, and in particular the island of Bali, has to this day been one of the main supplying regions of this type of coffee. A suitable climate and the distribution of palm martens created excellent conditions for the emergence of Luwak coffee in these parts. And indeed, while driving around the island of Bali on my own on a motorcycle, here and there I noticed signs with the inscription “Kopi Luwak”. There is a particularly large concentration of such farms in the northeast of the island, near the village of Kintamani, as well as along the road that leads to the Pura Besakih temple.

So we were driving to the Batur volcano and along the road we noticed the inscription “Kopi Luwak”. I had already heard a lot about this coffee, and therefore it was incredibly interesting for me to see everything myself. I stopped at the entrance to find out how much a visit costs. It turns out you don't need to pay anything! The entire walk and excursion are free, only a cup of coffee for tasting costs money - 50,000 rupees, i.e. about 5 dollars. Well, quite a reasonable price in my opinion. Here in Russia, in any coffee shop, regular espresso will not be cheaper. So I parked the bike in the shade and went deep into the green thickets.

The entire territory of the farm is cozy green corridors with a wide variety of plants.
Here you can see how various agricultural crops grow - from cocoa to vanillin. Everything is marked with signs, so those especially interested in botany will definitely be interested in how this or that type of plant grows. Yes and to the common man, far from botany, it’s interesting to see a bed of pineapples, for example:)

I note that my three-year-old child was the first to notice pineapples =) So, even without reading, you will completely recognize the familiar fruits. But for the majority, signs still come in handy, because... a lot of things look like regular grass))
For me, nettle turned out to be more noticeable =)


Here it is a little different, but the shape of the leaves and the small needles on them give away the stinging plant we are familiar with from childhood.

And, of course, coffee grows here. What would it be like without him? In such cute, almost clusters :)

They grow here for display to visitors. various varieties coffee. But only Arabica beans are used to produce Luwak coffee. The fastidious animal does not recognize other varieties.

Here is that same selective gourmet marten.

Honestly, I was captivated by this beast. Mordakha is incredibly cute, I just wanted to lovingly rub his fur =))

Several furry animals were sitting in a cage. They were planted here, again, only to show them to visitors. Of course, there can be no talk of any large-scale production. A pair of martens will not cope with the volumes for sale, no matter how much they eat and poop afterwards.

I asked if it was common for musangs to sit in cages like this. To which the employee confidently replied that no, no, only free musangs produce coffee. They say they walk around in the jungle, eating wild coffee, and then people collect their feces. I doubt it very much, because it’s too much human resources to collect these inconspicuous poops (sorry, but you can’t take the words out of the song) among the dense thickets. Moreover, I assumed that there would be some kind of coffee plantations, but it turned out that there were such forests around.


Where will the animals look for Arabica?

Previously, coffee was indeed obtained in a “wild” way, but now, more often than not, unfortunate martens are put in cages and fattened on the spot. And if in nature these mammals choose only selected Arabica berries, then in the cages they have to eat what they are given. Therefore, today this method of producing Luwak coffee, although it reduces its cost, also reduces its quality. Quite a predictable pattern in my opinion. It seems to me that it would be more logical to plant coffee fields, fence the entire area and let these martens run around there. It seems like they live in the wild and eat the best coffee at their own discretion. It is again easier to collect waste from them, after all, the territory is limited. Why this was not done remains a mystery to me, but apparently there are reasons...

We were allowed to feed the musang. A farm employee attached ripe coffee berries to a stick so that the animal would not bite his hand. Both Mishutka and I fed Luwak several fruits =)


Look how he bends over for a coffee berry =)

As soon as I saw it, my eyes immediately lit up :)

Well, with what pleasure he crunched the Arabica coffee!! Even I want to, looking at this photo :)))


The berry really looked ripe and juicy, maybe that’s why there was such a stir, or maybe the tummy was just hungry :(

The animal didn’t get much, only a few berries, but he still wanted some treats =)


Notice below the red peel of the berry. Luwak spit out the outer shell of the coffee and ate only the bean!

And I have a question: “How do they eat up these grains?” After all, they are not processed in his stomach. They come out, in fact, only in a slightly modified form.

Yes, that's it. The grain goes in, the grain comes out :) And this coffee gets its unique aroma due to enzymes that are found in the gastrointestinal tract of the palm marten, and with which, naturally, the coffee beans are soaked when they get inside the Arabica eater. Later I found out that martens also do not refuse fruits, and what’s more, they are not vegetarians at all!

The feces found are thoroughly washed, cleaned, and then fried.

I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from regular coffee by its appearance if you poured this into a jar. Doesn't look like poop at all ;)

Afterwards, the roasted grains are ground. The old way is in a mortar.


Mishutka, of course, is trying more to hold the log than to grind it :)))

But he manages to cope well with next step- sifting.


Today, of course, this entire process is automated.

And here, in fact, is the treasured jar of coffee worth several hundred dollars.

And here the burning question arises: “How to brew Luwak coffee”? Many people ask about this because all the aroma and taste apparently do not come out with standard cooking methods. In Bali, I specially filmed this process, because... it certainly deserves attention. To brew Luwak coffee, the Balinese use this device.

Water is poured into the flask, coffee is placed on top, and a fire is lit below.

Then this unit is closed with a glass cube. The water boils over the fire and the steam comes out through a special tube into a bottle with ground coffee.

Here this water accumulates and this is how Luwak coffee is brewed. Whole alchemy, no less!

It seems to me that there are no coffee machines similar technology will not be replaced, and the only way that is even remotely similar is to brew it on the principle of Turkish coffee directly over the fire.

Hooray! Ready!! Well, shall we risk a sip? ;)

I have repeatedly seen reports from other travelers from similar farms, but none of them fed Luwak, no one saw how coffee is brewed in the traditional way, and no one could distinguish Luwak coffee from regular coffee. Indeed, its taste is practically no different from the average Arabica. But the richness and aroma of this coffee is many times greater than regular coffee! How did I understand this? We were lucky that on this farm they showed us so many things and gave us a chance to try, because we ended up here by chance and how lucky it was!! Because it was here that they didn’t just pour us a cup of coffee for 5 bucks, they gave us a whole tasting table.

In addition to a cup of Luwak coffee, they also brought us a cup of regular coffee for comparison. Everything is learned by comparison, as you know. And this is exactly how you can fully experience the difference between regular coffee and Luwak coffee. The taste of Luwak, as I already wrote, is richer and more aromatic, but at the same time this coffee is not stronger, i.e. It is not the strength that makes the richness appear.

To be honest, I expected something different. The fact is that my mother brought Luwak coffee from Vietnam. With a photo of the animal on the pack, everything is as it should be :) Many people say that this is Vietnamese Luwak with a sort of chocolate flavor, so they say it’s really exclusive. Indeed, the coffee my mother brought has a chocolate tint. Just a caveat, she would never pay even hundreds of dollars for this rather large bag of coffee. Then it’s not clear what kind of coffee this is, it’s written something like “Luwak”, but how can elite coffee cost the pennies for which it is sold in Vietnam? The answer probably lies in the now known fact that methods have been developed to artificially flavor coffee with civet. It is the artificial flavoring that is felt in the Vietnamese “chocolate” Luwak!! This explains the price of this coffee there.
In Bali, absolutely no additional flavor tones other than coffee are felt, only a special deep richness. That is why it was surprising to me, because I had tried this type of coffee before, but the taste was completely different. So from my own experience, I am inclined to believe that Vietnamese coffee is fake. Not all of them, probably, because Vietnam is also a supplier of the Luwak variety, but cheap options with artificial flavors have flooded the local market, and this is exactly what they sell to tourists, nothing personal, just business) Remember that Luwak coffee is produced all over the world, only 700 kg per year ! It a priori cannot be cheap! Don't be fooled by attractive prices, this is an indicator of deception and low quality.

I’ll continue about the tasting. In the photo above you can see that there are many cups of drinks in front of Mishutka. That is, in addition to regular coffee and Luwak coffee, we also tried coffee with ginseng, coffee with chocolate, coffee with coconut, coffee with vanilla, tea with ginger, tea with lemon, tea with lemongrass and hibiscus tea. Mmmmm, how delicious everything was! Mishutka and I blew everything =) Except tea with ginger, because it was very tart and even spicy. All the herbs are grown here, so they offer you to try everything.

And the most various options coffee is already stored in jars.

After the walk and tasting, we headed out. On the way, we were not persistently offered to look at the coffee in their shop, but I immediately said that there was no money =) The employee did not offer anything else, i.e. There was no goal to sell anything, I also really liked it on this farm. I definitely recommend this place to get acquainted with the production of the Kopi Luwak mine.

The farm is called "Lakshmi". Along the direct route "Ubud - Kintamani" (if you go through Tegallalng), along the street Jl. Raya Tegal Suci, there is such a shield.


It is worth focusing on it. The goddess Lakshmi is also painted there, and Ganesha (the Hindu god with the head of an elephant) sits almost at the very entrance to the farm.

Up! Due to requests received in personal messages, I finally decided to mark this farm on the map.

To be honest, I barely found the coordinates; I had to “drive” again along the entire street from Ubud to Kintamani using Google maps. But this is definitely the place, you can ;) I love this service! He has already helped me many times to find places from memory that are not usually marked on maps.

Both my son and I were undoubtedly very interested in visiting this place. Mishutka and I learned so many new and educational things. A three-year-old child now knows how coffee grows! A few weeks later we were on tea plantations in Malaysia, and among the tea bushes Misha found a green berry. “Mami, what? Kofi? - asked the son. And it’s wonderful =) Books or TV will never tell you this about it. And no matter how detailed I write, I still see it with my own eyes in a completely different way. So go ahead and don’t hesitate ;)

Every day on our planet, people consume over two billion cups of coffee. Therefore, this drink can rightfully be called a leader among others sold in stores. And it has gained popularity not only because it has a noble aroma and taste, but also because today there are many recipes and methods for preparing it. True coffee fans are ready to spend a lot of money and purchase elite varieties. And the fact that they will end up paying several hundred dollars for one hundred grams of the divine drink does not stop them at all. In this article we will tell you what the most expensive coffee in the world is.

Even though coffee does not grow everywhere on our planet, its harvest directly depends on weather conditions, and coffee plantings are vulnerable, prices for its beans are only rising. Especially if we are talking about a worthy product good quality. What is the most expensive coffee in the world?

Surely, if you type in the search phrase “what is the most expensive type of coffee in the world?”, you will see the answer that this is Indonesian Kopi Luwak. Yes, it is really popular on our planet, and has gained increased demand after it was named the most expensive in the film with Robert De Niro. But the reality is completely different, and we will prove it to you.

The most expensive coffee in the world, the price of which today is up to 85 thousand rubles per kilogram of beans, is the Chernaya variety Ivory from Thailand. He is the one who ranks first on our list. It is produced in Thailand using a special method, which makes it truly divine and extremely tasty.

If we compare it with the Kopi Luwak variety, the cost of the latter ranges from 23 to 35 thousand rubles per kilogram of coffee.

The most expensive coffee in the world and the features of its production

The most expensive coffee in the world - what are the features of its production? Surely you want to know the answer to this question, as well as why some admirers are willing to pay a fabulous sum for it.

Of course, such a high price of grains must be justified. What is the secret of making Black Ivory coffee?

• The coffee farm that produces the most expensive coffee in the world, called Black Ivory Coffee, is located on the border with Laos, in northern Thailand. Its owner is Canadian Blake Dinkin.
• Thai Arabica trees grow here, which are suitable for a warm and humid climate.
• Not only people work on the farm, but also four-legged helpers, elephants. It was they who took on the most important and responsible part of the work.
• After ripening, the coffee cherries are harvested. After this, they are fed to animals. Next, partial fermentation of the fruit occurs digestive tract elephant, and their hatching naturally.
• The berries are collected, washed, dried and processed. At the exit you can see the beans, the most expensive type of coffee in the world - Blake Ivory.

This type of coffee has a surprisingly mild taste. While the beans are fermented in the elephant's stomach, the bitterness familiar to other types of coffee completely evaporates. Thanks to this, when drinking the drink, you will have the opportunity to enjoy a bright and rich coffee bouquet, which contains notes of fruit, sweet caramel and spices with the aroma of flowers. This taste is considered the most ideal today, and it is completely impossible to achieve it in natural conditions.

The most expensive coffee in the world is so expensive not only because it undergoes special processing during production, but also because it enters the coffee market in small quantities and is considered rare. To get one kilogram of fermented beans, farmers have to feed about thirty kilograms of coffee berries to an elephant. Therefore, in a year it is possible to produce only 300 to 400 kilograms of coffee.

In the territory Russian Federation very hard to find true variety such a product. According to official data, it is distributed only in Anantara hotels and in the reserve of the same name. All sales points are located in Thailand. There, the price of such grains per kilogram reaches $1,100. It is much easier to buy such coffee to order; it is very rare in coffee boutiques in Russia. Now you know how much the most expensive coffee costs.

The farm owner donates eight percent of the profits to a special fund for the protection of elephants.

The most expensive coffee in the world - top five

“Black Tusk” is a unique, rare, and most expensive coffee in the world. Finding it, let alone buying it, is very difficult. Counterfeits are more common on store shelves.

Do you want to know more information about what is the most expensive type of coffee in the world after what is described above? Explore our list of the most elite varieties that can actually be purchased in our country. So, here are the five most expensive products, arranged in order of increasing cost.

Coffee Geisha (Geisha)

Its price varies between 10-11 thousand rubles per thousand grams of fried product. The history of the origin of this variety is quite interesting; to this day no one can say with certainty where it came from. According to some researchers, plant seedlings were brought from Ethiopia, from the village of Geisha, which is why coffee is called that. But in modern Ethiopia it was never possible to find a similar variety.

Geisha began to actively gain popularity among coffee lovers in the twentieth century. That's when the farmers South America They decided that this variety was resistant to rust, which, at that moment, was the enemy of any coffee tree. But the hopes were not justified, plus the plant turned out to be extremely capricious and had absolutely no intention of adapting to the climate of the plains. Therefore, they stopped breeding it.

In 2003, the owner of the Panamanian coffee farm Hacienda La Esmeralda found several trees of the described variety on his land, and in the same year he won a prestigious coffee competition with these beans. Rumor has it that one of the experts tried the prepared drink and found it divine, exclaiming “God in cup!”


After this, the victorious Geisha began to march majestically around the world. This coffee differs from others in its clean and expressive bouquet, in which you can feel interspersed with notes of citrus, lime, berries and lychee flowers. The drink has a soft, enveloping taste and leaves a delicate, long aftertaste.

This type of coffee is grown not only in Panama. Today there are several Geisha plantations. The most expensive grains are Hacienda La Esmeralda, costing from 11-12 thousand rubles per kilogram. It can be found on store shelves under the name La Esmeralda.

You can also purchase an analogue from Costa Rica. It is sold on shelves under the Geisha TM, and costs up to 10,000 rubles per kilogram.

Although the Geisha variety is not the most expensive coffee in the world, it is the winner of various competitions and has entered the history of coffee discoveries of the twenty-first century.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

This type of coffee is abbreviated as JBM. Its cost reaches 27 thousand rubles. per kilogram of roasted grain.

The coffee plantation where the plant is grown is located in the very center of the island of Java, on the slopes of a mountain range. Its main peak is known as Blue Mountain, hence the name of the variety.

Due to the fact that this area combines a special set of climatic factors, such as altitude above the sea, soil composition and sea wind, the coffee turns out to be extremely tasty. Its bouquet is considered the most exquisite on the planet. It combines three tastes: bitterness, sourness and sweetness. As for the aftertaste, it is famous for its long-lasting nutty notes. In the bouquet you will feel the aroma of ripe nectarines.

Producers of the variety consider it very important that it has stable quality. This is facilitated by the constancy of the climate, the absence of sudden temperature changes and atmospheric pressure. As a result, it is possible to obtain grain with those taste characteristics that are planned.


Jamaican Blue Mountain is grown in limited quantities, total weight coffee beans amount to fifteen tons per year.

Be careful when purchasing this type of coffee. There are several other regions on the planet where it is also grown. But there are no such unique natural conditions, as on the island of Java, and therefore the taste bouquet of this product is completely different.

Remember that a genuine product is always accompanied by a special certificate of conformity, which is issued by the Government of Jamaica to the buyer.

In addition, original coffee is supplied to the coffee market not in bags, but in special barrels. The Jamaican drink is one of the most delicious, although it is not the most expensive coffee in the world.

Brazilian variety Jacquou Bird

The cost of this coffee ranges from 28 to 30 thousand rubles per 1 kilogram of finished beans. The variety is rare and exotic, growing in the southeastern part of Brazil.

Since about the 60s of the last century, the coffee plantations on the Kamotsim Estate farm have become sites for recreating the local natural landscape. Here the trees are grown together with other forest and fruit species. They are cared for exclusively using organic methods.

Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve not only a high-quality restoration of the fertile soil layer, but also the development of the local fauna. The area is home to active breeding of birds called Jacu. They are similar to Russian guinea fowl, even in plumage and color.


During the period when coffee berries are ripening, birds willingly eat them, leaving some trees without any fruit at all. At first, these birds were looked at as pests and considered arrogant invaders.

The current owner of the farm decided to approach the problem from a different angle. Now the birds have lost their status as pests and have become collectors of precious berries. The bottom line is that the birds digest the pulp and the grains are excreted naturally. After which the owner of the plantation collects them, washes and dries them.

Jacques Bird has a very expressive nutty taste combined with a hint of rye bread. When consuming it, you will feel exotic notes of fruits and nice smell black molasses. This type of coffee is considered one of the rarest, and therefore costs a lot of money. The plantation produces no more than two tons of grains per year.

Coffee Bat, Costa Rica

The cost of such coffee ranges from 30 to 32 thousand rubles per 1 kilogram of finished beans. It grows in the southeast of Costa Rica, in the highlands. The production is carried out by a coffee farm called Cofea Deversa. Its owner calls his wealth a coffee garden.

The peculiarity of the area is that a population of bats lives next to it. From generation to generation, she flies to the plantation to taste the ripe coffee berries.

In fact, the animal is not able to swallow a whole berry. He just bites the skin and sucks out the sweetest pulp. As a result, the trees are decorated with grains in the shell. They dry out on the branches, in natural conditions, for several days, then they are removed, cleaned and dried again. This is how we get a unique, although not the most expensive coffee in the world, called Bat.

Due to the fact that two drying methods are used in coffee production, dry and wet, and the beans are selected most accurately, it is possible to achieve an amazing, unique taste. The fact is that bats have very sensitive olfactory and sensory apparatus, and therefore feast on only the best fruits.

In the bouquet of this type of coffee you can feel the sweetish notes of nectarine and coconut milk, as well as the aroma of amazing spices. The multi-layered aftertaste reveals an accent of chocolate, nuts and exotic shades of fruit.

In just a year, about several hundred kilograms of this coffee are harvested.

Indonesian variety Kopi Luwak

The cost of such coffee reaches 35 thousand rubles per kilogram of roasted beans. This variety is considered partially fermented. The fermentation process takes place in the civet's digestive tract. After the grain undergoes such a unique processing, its taste becomes soft and chocolatey, with a slight taste of groundnuts. The fermentation process involves lactic acid bacteria, which break down the proteins of coffee beans, thereby removing the bitterness we are accustomed to.

Coffee is produced in several regions of the planet. Plantations are found in the Philippines, India, and China. The most popular is the Indonesian variety Kopi Luwak, which grows in Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra.

There are two ways to get Kopi Luwak. On special plantations where civets are kept, feeding them picked coffee berries, or in wild conditions, in which the animals themselves choose what to eat.

The price of grains depends on where they were grown and how they were obtained. The most expensive is the wild variety of coffee, which is of Indonesian origin. Small lots of one hundred grams will cost you a little more than a kilogram package.

Farm-grown Indonesian Kopi Luwak is much cheaper, its price ranges from 23 to 25 thousand per kilogram of roasted grain. If the variety is grown not in Indonesia, but on a farm, you can buy it from 20,000 rubles per kilogram, but you are unlikely to find it cheaper. By the way, you can drink the most expensive coffee in the world with excellent coffee!

Kopi Luwak is the best expensive coffee in the world, but not on the planet as a whole, but among those varieties that are available for free sale.