Melbourne cafe Gesha charging almost $200 for cup of ‘perfect’ coffee

It may be considered the coffee capital of Australia, but this Melbourne cafe has taken the price of a “perfect” brew to the next level.

What’s the most you’d be willing to pay for your morning cup of coffee?

$4 perhaps? Maybe $5 if you’re adding a specialised milk or a splash of caramel flavouring?

Well, what about the same price as 31 Big Macs, or just short of the average Australian family’s weekly grocery shop?

A cafe in Melbourne’s Surrey Hills has launched a new blend that will set you back a staggering $198 per cup.

The Gesha Cafe, alongside regular cups of coffee, is selling the Yuzo-style blend which is bold in flavour and regarded as the most “beautiful” in the world.

Also known as ‘Panama coffee’, the blend is considered a rare, ancient Ethiopian varietal that has been rediscovered in Panama and is as close to coffee perfection you can get.

Gesha Cafe owner Ken Taing said the cup of coffee is the best in the world.

The list of some of the expensive coffees the cafe serves.

Speaking to 7 News, cafe owner Ken Taing said his expensive cuppa joe is “the most unique and beautiful coffee in the world.”

Mr Taing said customers often described the $198 cup of coffee as “smooth, aromatic and with fruit and butterscotch characteristics.” He said the price tag is a reflection of the coffee bean’s availability and also the conditions required to grow the variant in the highlands of Panama.

The high price tag comes as the gesha coffee is so difficult to grow that not much is produced.

Geisha beans have become one of the most sought after in the world. The Panama Geisha beans are grown in the highlands of the Boquete region in the Chiriqui Province of western Panama.

The coffee beans are slow to grow and not many are produced

According to coffee retailer Coffee Beans Delivered, the beans thrive in conditions around 500m above sea level. But while that’s the central source of the beans, the variety originated in Ethiopia, then it was transported to Kenya, and then to Panama, where it is now exclusively and scarcely grown.

The price tag is a reflection of the very few farms that do produce it, who say the bushes yield only a small amount of beans, accounting for the extreme rarity of them.

The cafe also sells slightly cheaper variants of the Panama coffee, including a Tigre blend for $148, a Carmo cup for $98 and the UBO for just $68.