Single-origin specialty coffee can cost over $30 per pound, more than five times the average price of 1 pound of ground coffee in the US. “Specialty” is the term for the highest-quality coffee, and aficionados describe its taste with words more frequently used by sommeliers, like “floral” or “fruity.” Reaching this level of quality requires investment and labor at every step of production. But despite the prices a roasted bag of single-origin coffee can reach in the world’s wealthiest countries, the farmers who handpick each coffee cherry struggle to earn a profit. We went to Kenya to find out what it takes to grow high-quality coffee, and why it’s so expensive. Intro 0:00 Growing coffee 0:44 Harvesting 2:01 Commodity vs. specialty coffee 2:56 Sorting 4:23 Washed process 5:09 Roasting 6:46 Drying and Milling 10:13 The price of coffee 11:48 MORE VIDEOS FROM SO EXPENSIVE: Why Mangosteen, The Viral TikTok Fruit, Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider Why Climbing Mount Everest Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider Marathon Why Musicians Pay Over $15K For John Coltrane’s Favorite Saxophone | So Expensive | Business Insider ------------------------------------------------------ #Coffee #SoExpensiveFood #BusinessInsider Business Insider tells you all you need to know about business, finance, tech, retail, and more. Visit our homepage for the top stories of the day: Insider Business on Facebook: Insider Business on Instagram: Insider Business on Twitter: Insider Business on Snapchat: Insider Business on TikTok: @businessinsider Why Single-Origin Coffee Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider