326 euros for a coffee? Scottish farm lures investors shares and caffeine!
A Scottish dairy farm is offering what it bills as the UK's most expensive cup of coffee, £272 (€326) for a crema coffee, a double espresso topped with a layer of steamed milk with foam.
The pricey cup is actually a benefit for buying shares in Mossgiel Organic Dairy's fundraising campaign to expand its sustainable operation and produce more milk. Investors who buy 34 shares in the farm receive a certificate for a cream coffee which can be bought from this weekend at one of 13 cafes in Scotland that use the farm's milk.
"This coffee costs nearly 80 times the normal UK price, but it's so much more than just a pretty drink," said owner Bryce Cunningham. "We know it sounds crazy, but when you break it down, it's a pretty good deal. How much is the future of agriculture worth?"
The price exceeds the £265 that Shot London, a coffee bar in the posh Mayfair and Marylebone neighbourhoods, charges for a cup of coffee from Okinawa, Japan. The Telegraph reported in April that it was the most expensive coffee in Britain.
Before launching the coffee promotion, Cunningham had already raised more than a third of the £300,000 he is seeking from small investors as he tries to secure a £900,000 loan that will help him double operations and expand abroad Scotland and even cafes in London.
Shareholders also receive other rewards, such as farm tours, discounts on milk delivery and invitations to special events. But investors are also given a standard warning that they may lose some or all of the money they invest, except for the coffee.
The tenant farm at Mauchline, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Glasgow, was farmed in the 18th century by the poet Robert Burns, who wrote "Auld Lang Syne" and many other well-known works. Burns, who is considered Scotland's national poet, wrote while working in the fields there for two years and his face adorns every glass bottle of Mossgiel milk.
Cunningham, a former service manager for Mercedes-Benz, took over the operation in 2014 after his father and grandfather died in 2014 of terminal illnesses.
Falling milk prices that year and other problems forced him to sell most of the herd and reinvent the business as an organic farm. He uses a process to "salt" the milk, rather than pasteurize it, which he says gives it the creamier taste and texture of raw milk without the health risks.
Todd Whiteford, one of the owners of The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow which is serving up the pricey cups, said they have been using Mossgiel's milk for several years. Despite "wild offers" from competitors to switch suppliers, he said other milk producers could not match the quality and consistency that makes cappuccinos, lattes and crema coffees "smoother and sweeter", and art the best of coffee.
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