Starbucks' new 40-year anniversary logo is seen on a cup at right. The coffee giant is testing a new, super-expensive Costa Rica Finca Palmilera brew that sells for $7 a pop. (Starbucks, via AP)
Would you pay $7 for a cup of Starbucks coffee --black?
That's what the giant coffee chain is betting on for a taste of its rare Costa Rica Finca Palmilera beans known as Geisha and called the "champion of coffee varietals" by artisanal roaster Stumptown. The beans, the most expensive the company sells, are found in Central America and are notoriously difficult to grow, reports SeattlePi.
Coffee lovers can only get it 48 Starbucks stores with a Clover machine in the Pacific Northwest. Half of the stores are based in Seattle. The rest of Americans will just have to wait it out until next year when Starbucks plans to take the beans to stores nationwide.
A half-pound bag of Starbuck’s Finca Palmilera beans is currently selling online for $40 a bag. Well, it was selling for that – the beans sold out within 24 hours.
So does the coffee really taste any different? In Jimmy Kimmel's latest skit, the answer is, well, no.
His show took to the streets to conduct a "taste test" outside of Starbucks that serves the new coffee. Comments about the new brew included "richer taste" and "smoother flavor." But the joke was on them. The pot was filled with the same coffee --and nary a Geisha insight. Maybe the taste buds need to be trained to appreciate the rare brew.
Have a look at the video.
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