![]() A little place like this can raise the quality of life for a large population of residents and visitors. Towns twice the size of Port Aransas would love to have a business like Beeman's. After a refreshing stroll in the bracing Gulf breeze, what could be better than a big steaming cup of coffee and a homemade pastry still warm from the ovens? "We're always looking for unique flavors or exceptional qualities.Beeman's Coffee Bar sits at the end of a long morning walk on the Port Aransas beach. The quest for super premium coffees mirrors what's been going on in other parts of the food world, such as the revival of heirloom tomatoes, says Rhinehart. ![]() Blue Bottle is selling 150-gram tins at $25, with each tin producing 8 to 10 servings. "It requires just the right conditions and it requires very careful handling."Īt Green Mountain, the Columbia Geisha is being sold in 18-count boxes of K-cup packs at $31.99, which works out to about $1.80 per cup. Plant it in one spot and it's special, try another and it's just ordinary coffee, says Bolger. Why the high price tag? Not only does the Geisha plant produce relatively few beans, it's also very sensitive to soils and climate. It's not a subtle thing for connoisseurs only." "A good Geisha is very much unlike any other coffee that you've ever had, so it's very memorable. "We're getting a lot of great feedback about how distinctive it is," Freeman says. The company now sells tins of beans as well as brewed coffee for around $7 a cup. ![]() James Freeman, founder of Blue Bottle Coffee, a small, upscale chain based in the San Francisco Bay area - it also has outlets in New York City - was among those who were impressed with Geisha coffee when it first emerged. The plant was taken to Central America at some point and became a sensation during the last decade after a Panamanian farm, Hacienda La Esmeralda, offered the beans at auction. There's no literal connection to the elegant Japanese hostesses, though Bolger sees a figurative affinity in that the coffee is "very delicate, pure, the flavor expression is refined, graceful, very lovely." Geisha beans originated in the Gesha (no "i'') district of Ethiopia, hence the name. But when you "really are seeking a very singular, very unique, very rarefied experience with your coffee, this is such a wonderful and convenient way to bring that to coffee lovers. "It can't because it's limited and obviously we're not going to be able to carry it year-round," she says. Just don't expect this to become an everyday blend, says Lindsay Bolger, director of coffee for Green Mountain Coffee. Now, the coffee has moved toward the mainstream, being offered at Starbucks and sold by the pound by major companies, including Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee, which recently introduced its Colombia Geisha Special Reserve coffee as part of its line of rare and premium beans. The beans emerged on the market about seven years ago and quickly got the attention of high-end roasters and coffee connoisseurs. "Coffee people are just in love with it." It's got tremendous brightness in the cup - sweet and just super interesting stuff," says Ric Rhinehart, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, based in Long Beach, Calif. That's a lot of dough for a straight up cup of Joe, but worth it say fans of the beans which come from low-producing plants that grow only in certain areas. ![]() These days caffeine fiends are all atwitter about Geisha beans, a high-end coffee so rare and prized it's being sold for $7 a cup. Still think a $5 latte at Starbucks is over the top? Hold on, because now there's an even pricier cuppa Joe to get buzzed about.
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