Introduction to the 10 Most Expensive Coffee Bean Varieties and Their Origins

Kona Coffee from Hawaii - $34 per pound

Kona Coffee from Hawaii has the most perfect appearance, with exceptionally full and shiny beans. The coffee has a rich, aromatic flavour with hints of cinnamon spice and a balanced acidity. It costs $34 per pound.

Starbucks Rwanda Coffee - $24 per pound

Starbucks Rwanda Coffee is essentially a single type of coffee bean.

Puerto Rico's National Treasure Coffee - $24 per pound

Puerto Rico's National Treasure Coffee has a mild and delicious flavour, loved by coffee enthusiasts worldwide.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee - $49 per pound

As the name suggests, Blue Mountain Coffee grows in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. It is one of the world's most superior coffees, with limited production that makes it precious for its rarity. It has a very rich aroma with persistent fruity notes. Over 80% of this coffee is exported to Japan, and FrontStreet Coffee also offers authentic Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 on its menu. Enthusiasts interested in this variety can buy it and try it for themselves.

Los Angeles El Salvador Coffee - $40 per pound

Los Angeles El Salvador produces coffee that is the country's main economic pillar and source of foreign exchange. Los Angeles El Salvador Coffee belongs to the category of strongly fragrant, moderately acidic and full-bodied beans. At $40 per pound it is quite expensive, but it remains absolutely worth the price.

Guatemala Estate Coffee - $50 per pound

Produced on estates across Guatemala, this coffee won an excellence award in 2006. Despite ranking only fourth on this list, Guatemala Estate Coffee remains quite valuable.

Brazil Fazenda Santa Ines Coffee - $50 per pound

At around $50 per pound, Fazenda Santa Ines Coffee is definitely among the most expensive coffee products in the world. Fazenda Santa Ines still grows coffee using traditional methods, with no automated processes involved, and the coffee has a very original taste. Asked about its flavour, people say it easily evokes the sweetness of berries and caramel.

Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Coffee - $104 per pound

The coffee from Hacienda La Esmeralda is quite famous, especially in Panama's Boquete region. People around the world love it for its unique flavour, which warms both heart and stomach, and it is grown mainly in the shade of old guava trees. If you want to try Hacienda La Esmeralda coffee, be prepared to pay at least $104 per pound.

St. Helena Coffee - $79 per pound

St. Helena Island, about 1,200 kilometres from the African coast, is where St. Helena Coffee is cultivated and planted. Napoleon Bonaparte once planted his own coffee on St. Helena Island. If you can afford St. Helena Island coffee at $79 per pound, you should try its unique flavour.

Kopi Luwak (Indonesia) - $160 per pound

Kopi Luwak, often also called civet coffee, ranks first on this list of the world's ten most expensive coffees. That is due not only to its extremely high price but also to its considerable rarity. It is extracted from the faeces of the Asian palm civet after processing: the civet eats ripe coffee cherries, which pass through its digestive system and are excreted. Because of the fermentation that occurs in the stomach, the resulting coffee has a distinctive flavour that makes it highly sought after on the international market. This extremely expensive coffee costs $160 per pound. In the United States you will find Kopi Luwak sold in almost every coffee shop.

The ten coffees above can be considered the world's top ten premium coffee varieties. You may not have tried them all, but you should at least know of them. Learning more about them broadens your knowledge.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Among these ten, Jamaica Blue Mountain is the one most drinkers can realistically meet. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 comes from the historic Clifton Estate, which has grown and processed coffee since around 1750. Its growing and processing area sits at an average of 4,300 feet (1310.64 metres), and the altitude, the gentle afternoon cloud shading the hills, the ample sunlight and the mineral-rich soil give the trees excellent conditions and extend the ripening of the cherries.

The estate's No. 1 grade is the highest batch, and FrontStreet Coffee's buyers can show the estate's certificates along with the traditional wooden barrels in which Blue Mountain is shipped. Those barrels are themselves one of the ways to identify the genuine article, since true Blue Mountain travels in wooden casks of 15, 45 and 70 kilograms. For a consumer, a seller able to provide full certification and origin documentation is generally the one to trust.

FrontStreet Coffee roasts Blue Mountain to a medium-dark level to emphasise body and the traditional bitterness-turning-to-sweetness character, and ships it freshly roasted within 5 days. Brew it with a Kono dripper, which better lifts the full body: 15 g for one serving, a 1:15 ratio, water at 87-88°C, and a grind a little coarser than for a light roast, around white-sugar size. Pour in three stages, starting with 30 g of water for a 30-second bloom, then to 120 g with a slow vertical circling pour, then to 225 g at a slightly faster pace so the grounds do not clog the dripper and over-extract. The cup is clean and complex, very gentle, with chocolate sweetness and strong body, and a lasting fruit note at the end.