At Sey Coffee in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, a rare Panamanian Geisha coffee is being offered at a price rarely seen in cafés: about $200 per cup. The beans come from Finca Sophia, a farm in the Chiriquí highlands, and Sey purchased the lot at auction for $44,275--about $6,325 per kilogram.
Sey's director of brand strategy, Doug Cohen, describes the coffee as aromatic, floral and juicy. He recommends tasting it black and allowing it to cool, as its flavors shift with temperature.
The purchase grew from Sey's existing relationship with the farm. After learning that Finca Sophia's harvest was expected to be significantly smaller, the café saw the lot as a way to support its producer while offering customers an unusually detailed coffee-tasting experience.
The price reflects a broader shift in specialty coffee: some cafés are treating exceptional beans less like an everyday caffeine fix and more like a carefully presented tasting. If this approach grows, it could reshape how coffee is valued--and how directly premium experiences connect customers with the people who grow the beans.
