Pact isn't ultra high end. Its pretty middle (maybe a bit better) of the road as far as UK roasters go.
Ultra high end would be Gesha or something equivalent. Those often go for fun prices like £28 (and that is still on the low end) for a 150g bag in the UK. That's £3.50 for a 19g shot, and if I was buying Gesha I would probably get a triple precision basket or a step down basket because I would want the absolute best chance of extracting well if I'm spending that much.
My £1.10 shots are definitely above middle of the road. Maybe you can call them high end. But they're not ultra high end and a single shot of ultra high end is definitely a lot more than $.25 as the initial comment in this chain seems to claim.
I just want to chime back in and say that the post I replied to said "nice beans" at £1/cup and the post that was a reply to talked about the cost of beans for a "standard espresso".
My intended angle was to say that I think "nice beans" for a "standard espresso" starts lower than that, for the coffe-appreciating general public.
People like me, who thinks a Starbucks espresso is nothing special but decent enough. Anything better is nice beans! :-)
Coffee from Okinawa would probably be my pick for ultra high end. It sells for about $2 / gram (or 250g for $490). These producers don’t make much coffee each year and it sells out very fast.
I heard of that one, have never tried it. I've always wondered how much of that is just the fact that it's some tiny farm vs actually tasting unique.
I am spoiled for choice, I've modded my machine to be able to do electronically controlled pressure and flow profiles. I wouldn't even have a clue how to dial this in quickly enough to enjoy it (other than relying on Gagné's adaptive profile).
If/when I'm ever in Okinawa I might see if there's a local cafe which has already dialled it in and can brew it for me. I think that's probably the most cost effective way of trying this coffee.
250g bags are only 70% of the size of a 350g bag. Also, they don't seem to offer anything except blends.
Their actual more expensive coffee (which even then, it's unclear if this is a blend or not) is 14 pounds a bag, which... when you scale to 350g comes out to, unsurprisingly, about 20 pounds.
Comment I replied to said 'no less than £10 per 250g' so I don't know why you're dismissing my response of a specialist (if not high end) supplier at as low as £6.95 in that quantity as irrelevant somehow.
The comment you replied to spoke of 10 lbs per 250g for a light roast. I haven't tried Pact personally, but just reading their marketing copy, I don't really have confidence that what they call a 'light roast' is truly a light roast by specialty coffee standards.
For context, a few signs I see:
* The way they even describe the tasting notes don't generally align with coffee selected for light roast suitability. Dark chocolate is rarely a note you see in a light roast.
* Every single bean is described as '<roast level> roast with hints of <tasting note>'.
Also, maybe pricing is better in the UK locally... but their website appears to advertise only their cheapest generic blends at 10pounds/250g. Stepping up to anything else is 11 or 14 pounds per bag.
