What’s With The Hype On Rare Coffee?


  • Civet Cat

    Photo Credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images AsiaPac

    I’ve been staring at this question for months and months now. Seriously, what is the deal with rare coffee? Why are we drawn to it, and what compels us to fork over $20, $40, even $80 just for a small amount of coffee that has been taged as “rare”?

    There are some people out there that won’t cave in but what about the rest of us who can’t resist?

    I can only answer for myself that I see “rare” coffee as an opportunity to try a coffee I may never have the opportunity to try again. It is not about the cost. It’s about the chance to try something great, limited, and rare.

    QOTD: So what compels you to purchase “rare” coffee? Or do you feel that it is overrated and avoid it?



    Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...


    January 30th, 2011 | Jamie | 12 Comments | Tags: ,

About The Author

Jamie Ferguson

From sunny Sarasota Florida, Jamie Ferguson has been drinking coffee since a very young age. Jamie is just your average jane who has a serious addiction to coffee, but more so has a bigger love for the heart, and the dedication that is put into growing, processing and roasting coffee. Come and join the adventures...

  • Jase

    If $40 coffee tasted twice as good as $20 coffee I wouldn’t hesitate. Unfortunately the price is not directly proportional to the taste.

    There are so many exceptional coffees that widely available that I just don’t have the time or inclination to pay a premium for “rarity”.

    How do you know it is really rare? I’m sure the concept of artificial scarcity applies in certain corners of the coffee industry.

    Can you prove its authenticity in the first place? Their is undoubtedly a great deal of fake Kopi Luwak on the market.

    I’d rather pay premium for coffees where the cost is dictated by the expense of ethical and environmentally sound growing practices.

  • Poul Mark

    On your question about rare coffees, I think we first need to be clear about a few things. Firstly, $20 is not a price for rare coffee, in fact with market forces and simple sustainable economics, $20 should be the minimum price for most coffee. Consumers shouldn’t be able to buy coffee for $10 per lb. Secondly, the term rare is not synonymous with quality. I think that your question should be more appropriately phrased, what’s with peoples fascination with “fad” coffees. Force feeding civets to eat coffee, in mind doesn’t constitute “rare”. Rare in my mind should be synonymous with quality, and these fad coffees are not usually deemed to possess inherent quality. As a Q grader, I have cupped many expensive and hyped coffees which in truth aren’t worth a tenth of what people pay for them.

    • http://thecoffeeadventures.com Jamie Ferguson

      You definitely have a good point… You really think we should be paying a minimum of $20 for coffee? What about if the coffee was fairly traded? I think as long as a fair price was given to the farmers it is up the the companies how much they want to charge afterwards.

      I understand the term “rare” isn’t quite a fitted word but I am just going by what it’s known as. I do not agree with how just to keep up with demand of Kopi Luwak that civets are being captured and force fed cherries. It was one thing to search for their excrement but its definitely not right what they are doing now.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention What's With The Hype On Rare Coffee? | The Coffee Adventures -- Topsy.com

  • http://www.kohanacoffee.com Piper Jones

    I think some rare coffees are overrated – and some of the hype comes from the strangest of places (politics, extreme marketing, etc). But on the other side we are finding more and more intensely interesting, great tasting coffees from continued attempts to improve farming practices, horticulture and basic standards of operations. Put that with a more real time marketing strategy and your outcome is that we all hear and know about these rare ones that are rising to the surface through awards and our ability to share in a fast, global way.

    What makes us buy into it? Well, curiosity to start. For me personally, it’s that I’m constantly searching for great coffees that create a ‘memorable experience’. It’s a personal pleasure. And if there is some way to market that to customers or turn my friends onto it – well, that’s a win/win. I had a beautiful cup of coffee in Panama that was perfectly prepared as a pour over and I paid $7 for it. I had dreams about that cup that night…and headed back the next day for more!

    It’s like a fine wine – would you pay $10 – $15 for a glass of something that made you savor every sip? I would.

    Piper
    Kohana Coffee

    • http://thecoffeeadventures.com Jamie Ferguson

      Definitely. I can understand where everyone is coming from that yes these coffees are overrated and hyped up to be something extraordinary when in reality there are a lot better coffees out there that deserve to be recognized.

      We wouldn’t be human if we weren’t curious to try these coffees but like you said, half of these coffees are just hyped up and they really don’t live up to expectations they’ve been given whereas great tasting coffee comes from the numerous attempts to improve farming practices and so on.

      Thanks for opening my eyes.

  • http://twitter.com/MattCReynolds Matt Reynolds

    Kopi Luwak, Jamaican Blue Mountain, etc, etc is excessively marked and over-hyped coffee, and yes people will pay huge amounts of money to get their hands on it.
    Kopi Luwak is especially “fadding” right now, and the result is often not quality any more. It’s completely exploited.

    But look, Cup of Excellent is indeed an excellent way to buy into some great coffees, and support farmers really working their ass off. Take a look at these prices for green coffee: http://www.cupofexcellence.org/CountryPrograms/AuctionResults/tabid/194/Default.aspx

    The difference here is a quality farmer, quality roaster BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY a buffer in between like COE where a ton of coffees get cupped and it is literally the best coffee winning (the highest bid).

    “Rare”, which you talk about is in fact sometimes used as a marketing ploy.
    It’s a pretty dicey word to use these days. I think a re-iteration of this blog post should be issued in the near future clarifying exactly what is going on here.

    • http://thecoffeeadventures.com Jamie Ferguson

      COE is excellent and worth every penny and more.

      I will most definitely be doing some kind of follow up because I don’t think I really looked at this topic from all sides.

      Thanks for the input Matt.

  • http://twitter.com/theRastaBarista Kingston Coffee Co

    Perhaps people are beginning to grow tired of having corporate culture jammed down their throats day after day. When there’s a coffee shop at every corner, its hard to feel like you could ever have that moment of discovery. You would have to go on a trek to some mysterious “Blue Mountain” in Jamaica to or live on a continent where it’s legal to own Koalas…

    I don’t know about Koala bears but I do live in Los Angeles near Venice Beach so who knows – I may not have to search too far to find the rarest coffee, but I don’t think everybody has a Jamaican best friend.

  • Jase

    If $40 coffee tasted twice as good as $20 coffee I wouldn’t hesitate. Unfortunately the price is not directly proportional to the taste.

    There are so many exceptional coffees that widely available that I just don’t have the time or inclination to pay a premium for “rarity”.

    How do you know it is really rare? I’m sure the concept of artificial scarcity applies in certain corners of the coffee industry.

    Can you prove its authenticity in the first place? Their is undoubtedly a great deal of fake Kopi Luwak on the market.

    I’d rather pay premium for coffees where the cost is dictated by the expense of ethical and environmentally sound growing practices.

    • http://presso.us Jase

      Thanks for re-adding my comment Jamie. Unfortunately I didn’t catch the typos before posting from my phone :P

    • http://thecoffeeadventures.com Jamie Ferguson

      Good point, Jase. I honestly couldn’t tell you how to know if it is really rare or not. I do know Hawaiian Kona has a certification you can get so people know it’s real but the rest is just hoping you aren’t getting ripped off.