Jacú: The most expensive coffee in the world
In December 2009, after doing my talk on coffee in Brazil, guests on the Seven Seas Voyager asked me if I had heard of Jacú coffee? No, I had not. Neither had they but friends in Belgium asked them to look for it while in Brazil because it was supposed to be the most expensive coffee in the world. I told them I would keep an eye out but in every port from Rio to Belem, I found no Jacú coffee.
Not to be discouraged I looked-up Jacú coffee. It does exist. It does come from Brazil. And it is the most expensive coffee in the world. What is Jacú coffee? Well, essentially, it’s bird poop coffee. Yup, bird poop coffee! Seems the Jacú bird is endemic to the area of what is now Minas Gerais, Brazil. They eat ripe coffee berries which are digested leaving behind only the pit or “bean.” The naturally processed beans are gathered, washed and roasted in what is supposed to be the most delicious and expensive coffee in the world. Having a cup of Jacú coffee was also among the must-do things featured in the movie, “The Bucket List.” During my next trip to Brazil I was determined to find Jacú coffee. I thought it would be fun to share it with our guests.
Upon arrival in Rio I asked my friends to help me find Jacú coffee. They, as true-blue Brazilians love coffee and drink lots of it. They had never heard of Jacú. We called coffee shop after coffee shop, no one carried Jacú coffee. Finally we found a company that used to supply Jacú to some specialty stores. They said they no longer carried it because it is too doggone expensive; no one buys it locally. Most of the Jacú coffee produced in Brazil is shipped to Saudi Arabia! He gave us a few numbers and after more phone calls we found one shop that had one can of Jacú coffee.
I suffered the heat and midday traffic in Rio to go across town to find the small shop. There was the gold can with the Jacú bird on the label. “How much?” I asked. “Seventy five dollars,” the cashier said. I eagerly said I’d take it, thinking the can was full of coffee. The cashier started to ring it up. I picked up the can. It felt empty. I looked at the label. The can held twelve sachets of ground Jacú coffee, each sachet made only one shot of coffee! Seventy five dollars for twelve shots of coffee! I hemmed and hawed trying to rationalize seventy five dollars for twelve demitasse shots of coffee. I knew I would not be re-reimbursed for it but I thought, what the heck? When else is anyone ever going to get to try once-in-a lifetime, bird poop coffee?
When I got back to the ship I decided I would raffle off ten shots of Jacú coffee, winners would pay $20 for the chance to sample the world’s most expensive coffee. Proceeds would repay me, the rest would go to crew welfare. To make the tasting more of an event, the captain, Felice Patruno agreed to be the barista in exchange for one shot of Jacú. I would treat myself with the other.
The event was great fun. Captain Patruno made all the coffees which were accompanied by bittersweet chocolate truffles. The consensus was the coffee was good, some said excellent but was it worthy of the title, “most expensive coffee in the world?” I’d have to say no, but it is fun to tell my coffee-culture friends in Seattle that I have tasted the illusive Jacú coffee!