By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-21 10:11:21 | Updated at 2024-11-23 08:16:50
1 day ago
It’s an enormous price to pay for a little cup of coffee, but the man behind the pitch promises it won’t leave a bitter taste behind as it comes with the sweetener of a share of a dairy farm.
A Scottish dairy is offering what it bills as the UK’s most expensive cup o’ joe: £272 (US$344) for a flat white – a double shot of espresso topped with a layer of steamed milk and a fleeting work of foam art.
The costly cup is actually a perk for purchasing shares in Mossgiel Organic Dairy’s crowdfunding campaign to enlarge its sustainable operation and produce more milk. Investors who buy 34 shares in the farm get a certificate for a flat white that can be redeemed starting this weekend at one of 13 coffee shops in Scotland that use the dairy’s milk.
“This coffee costs nearly 80 times the price of an average flat white in the UK – but it’s much more than just a lovely drink,” owner Bryce Cunningham said. “We know it sounds crazy, but when you break it down, it’s a pretty good deal. How much is the future of farming worth?”
The price tops the eye-watering £265 that Shot London, a coffee bar in the posh Mayfair and Marylebone neighbourhoods, charged for a flat white made with rare beans 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 get a £900,000 loan that will help him double operations and expand out of Scotland and as far as coffee shops in London.
