By Kim Choe
The cost of a cup of coffee seems to keep rising, and yet people don't stop drinking it.
But a rare specialty coffee debuting in New Zealand today breaks all the price barriers - selling at a whopping $13 a cup.
The Esmeralda Special Geisha coffee is brewed with absolute precision.
It has to be – it is worth $200 a kilo - more than four times the cost of a normal cafe blend.
“It does taste exquisite. It's clean, it's sweet, it's got an amazing fruit - melon, strawberry – vibrancy,” says coffee specialist Hannah Hoffman.
The Supreme Coffee Company has imported the bean from a farm in the mountain regions of western Panama.
The Special Geisha variety is only grown in one particular valley - which produces just 50 or 60 sacks of coffee a year. It's hand-picked at optimum ripeness, and processed completely without contamination from other types.
Coffee experts swear it tastes unlike any other - but what about everyday coffee drinkers, who'll have to pay $13 a cup?
The importers say people are increasingly willing to pay premium prices for unique coffees.
“I guess if you imagine buying a glass of wine, you pay eight, nine, 10, 11 dollars for a beautiful glass,” says Ms Hoffman.
Only 30 kilograms of thise black gold have been brought into the country, so coffee aficionados will have to get in quick.
3 News