Here’s one for bbulkow and other 3rd Wave coffee partisans to parse (and it’s nice to see a little cat fight between Four Barrel and Blue Bottle et al on this): Is any cup of coffee worth $20?
It involves issues of exclusivity versus sustainability, and economic justice. Jeremy Tooker of Four Barrel says “The $15 cup is about hype unless there is some social mission to it" while Ritual’s owner says paying that price is “valuing the labor that goes into it.” But does the value of a $15 pour-over trickle down (so to speak) to the source economy, or are Third World countries being exploited by Third Wave coffee roasters?
This story might be included in some microeconomics case study of inelastic demand: buyers do not consume more or less as the price changes. There is a home electronics brand that has succeeded for decades in part by melding readily identifiable designs with noticably high prices.
“Translation: Blue Bottle’s Yemeni coffee is God’s way of telling you that you are making too much money in a profession requiring either very little intelligence or far to much credulousness.” FTFY
