Coffee from Hawaii.

Vahe went to Hawaii and paid $50 for this.  !. 

OK that's crazy.

Even crazier was his willingness to part with some of it on my behalf, something I was ambivalent about.  Coffee from Hawaii,  like, say, Jamaica Blue Mountain - which can run  upwards of $70/lb - is often more pomp than circumstance. No one wants to taste bad $50 coffee and have to have that follow-up conversation just like no one wants to open a pricey bottle of wine to realize it's quaff at best.

(That's an inside wink to The Deanster, who's fond of the term 'quaff.')

What I mean is, while Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that grows coffee it is historically unremarkable, and I had ambivalent expectations.

This was one of the better cups of coffee I've ever had.  It was memorable.  It was beautifully balanced, smooth, easy.  The Kau website describes it as having "the depth and rustic sweetness of maple syrup, accompanied by the sweet spice of true cinnamon. As it unfolds on the tongue a bouquet of sweet flowers and herbs present themselves (marigold, wintergreen, dill)..."

Like wine tastes like wine to me, coffee tastes like coffee, and this was really just a nice, good cup of coffee.

Look! There was enough for a cold brew!

According to Starbucks,  one pound of coffee makes 64 5-ounce cups of coffee, an amount of coffee no one actually drinks. 

A Starbucks short is 8-ounces, a tall is 12. So, let's call it at 32 10-ounce cups of coffee per pound.  That's still only $1.57-per-cup.  Coffee this good is certainly worth that.  There's lots and lots of places you can get really horrible coffee for way more than that.

Really lovely stuff, thank you, Vahe.