Props

Smellderelda in the hizzay.

For those not familiar with alt.coffee, it's a USENET group (sort of like an email mailing-list discussion, but that has a permanent home on the internet). Like many things, Google has taken USENET newsgroups and made then all slick.

Anyway, I was lurking today and people were discussing the $100/pound+ (roasted) price of the Esmerelda Especial that just hit Intelligentsia's virtual store shelves. As usual, there were the typical responses to this, including the one that many of those in our community have been throwing around to justify (and rightly-so) the seemingly exorbitant price for this coffee and those like it: a guy with the screen name "yEnc Man" writes, "Some people (not me) pay hundreds of dollars for a 750ml bottle of wine, brandy or whiskey. Some people pay hundreds of dollars per pound for gourmet chocolate. Some people pay hundreds of dollars per ounce for extremely salty and fishy tasting fish eggs. Why should high end coffee be any different?"

What was a bit surprising and really refreshing and inspiring to see was one of the responses that came soon after:

From: Omniryx@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Jun 23 2006 1:10 pm

This post smacked me right between the eyes because I HAVE paid hundreds of dollars for a single bottle of wine and I HAVE paid hundreds of dollars for a bottle of single malt and I HAVE paid nearly $100 per ounce for fish eggs. Yet, when I got the email from Intelligentsia offering me the opportunity to buy half a pound of this
Esmeralda at 52 bucks, I went "Pfff" and deleted it without a second thought.
Now why would that be? In my life, coffee is just as important as wine, more important than single malt, and one helluva lot more important than fish eggs.

I dunno. I suppose that I don't believe there can be that much difference between Intel's usual offerings and this one. OTOH, some people say that about wine, too, and they are dead wrong.

Must think about his more...

Will

Mr. Will Omniryx-whatever, I salute you. The entire cadre of high-specialty green buyers, roasters, retailers, and baristas, ALL salute you. You are our harbinger of hope. You represent why we work so hard. We talk about "changing the industry as we know it," and creating a new segment of the market: ultra-high-quality, high-priced coffees that will make men weep and make their women start creating petitions against coffee (again). But without open-minded, quality-minded (and yes, deep-pocketed) people like you, we'd be fighting the good fight for the fight alone.

So yes, Will-Omniryx, think about this more. With your next Bordeaux or beluga acquisition, consider how a beautiful (yet fleeting) Esmerelda Especial or Brazil Santa Ines might fit in your culinary-life. From the producers, through the importers, into the roaster and out to your "coffee cupboard," the circle is only complete when we have folks like you.

All hail, Will-Omniryx!


On a related thought... I was thinking today... is the "foil-valve-bag" really the "ultimate" vessel for the finest coffees that the world has known? There's gotta be something that's more appropriate to hold such treasures!