Is expensive coffee worth it?

There is a real quality curve, and it flattens.

Where the money goes

Below roughly $8 per pound, coffee is commodity: bought on price, blended for consistency, roasted dark to hide defects, and stale by the time you buy it.

Between about $15 and $30 per pound you get traceability, freshness and defect-free lots. This is the steep part of the curve, and the improvement over supermarket coffee is dramatic and obvious.

Above about $45 per pound you are buying rarity, competition varietals and auction lots. The coffee is genuinely different, and the improvement per dollar is much smaller.

The bigger variable

Freshness beats price. An $18-a-pound bag roasted last week beats a $40-a-pound bag roasted four months ago, comfortably.

Grinder beats beans. Expensive coffee through a blade grinder is wasted money. If you are choosing between better beans and a better grinder, buy the grinder.

Where it is definitely not worth it

Espresso with a lot of milk. A cappuccino flattens the delicacy you paid for. Use a good, sweet, affordable blend.

Where it clearly is

Filter, black. This is where a distinctive coffee shows what it is, and where the gap between $10 and $20 a pound is unmistakable.

The honest suggestion

Spend around $16 to $25 a pound, buy fresh, and drink it within a month.