A little humour from The Guardian Australia Foodblog:

There’s this coffee called Caterer’s Blend. You find it in the tearooms of tight-arsed institutions that have a high volume of randoms floating through in search of a caffeine transportation vehicle. A little “black magic” so they can endure the next five minutes without killing themselves or the people they are paid to deal with.

In my office, the Caterers a Blend equivalent is Nescafe Blend 43, which I have mentioned in less than glowing terms in a previous post.

Ironman Geisha, well that is another story, and is something else that I will not be consuming in any great quantity (or at all). I must admit I am a little envious of those who will give it a try though. The reason being that this coffee was recently purchased at the Best of Panama auction by Australia’s Campos Coffee for AU$666.00 per kilo, and will be sold in 150 gram jars for AU$100.00. Nice jars too if you check out their online store.

Then, much to my disappointment, a little humour from The Guardian went to a moan and groan:

Which makes the story of the Ironman Geisha such a monumental wank.

And to be honest I don’t care what this coffee tastes like, at $666 a kilo it’s still a ripoff. Who asked for this?

It is fairly clear the writer has completely missed the point about these types of limited consumer opportunities. Simple supply and demand, the chance to “try it out”, and the choice of any consumer in what they spend their money on, to name but a few of the reasons people will buy this coffee and be glad they did.

A better article if it simply described the Geisha, the writer asking whether they would pay $100 for 150 grams, answering a simple no, (as many who browse the Campos site will also say) and getting on with it. “Who asked for this?” – well, no-one. Who is forced to buy it – well strangely enough, no-one. It is not fluoride in a water supply and I’m pretty sure no-one is being held hostage until they suck $100 from their PayPal account.

We could rattle off a long list of food and beverages people choose to pay far too much for, many of which are consumed in a fairly short period of time. Oh – wait…they choose to pay for. Nothing further I need to say, apart from well done Campos, you can be well satisfied when every last jar is shipped.

As far as the Guardian article is concerned? Relevant point completely missed.

The final word on this must go to Dan (who at least tried the coffee, unlike The Guardian) in an article and short cupping video in The Brisbane Times. Oh…who incidentally is a non coffee drinker who picked the Ironman out of a line up in a blind cupping session – just saying.