Would you pay $334 for coffee? Scottish farm shares reason for selling UK’s ‘most expensive’ cup

A Scottish dairy farm is offering a jaw-dropping price for a small cup of coffee, but there’s a catch.

Mossgiel Organic Farm, located outside Mauchline in Ayrshire, is selling what’s been described as the United Kingdom’s most expensive cup of coffee: $344 (£272) for a flat white.

The exorbitant price for the flat white — a double shot of espresso topped with steamed milk — also includes a share in Mossgiel Organic Dairy, as part of a crowdfunding campaign to expand the farm’s sustainable operations.

Bryce Cunningham, the owner of Mossgiel Organic Dairy, launched the campaign in an effort to secure $378,000 (£300,000) from small investors. Each investor who purchases 34 shares in the farm will receive a certificate redeemable for the flat white at one of 13 coffee shops in Scotland that use the dairy farm’s milk.

“This coffee costs nearly 80 times the price of an average flat white in the U.K. — but it’s much more than just a lovely drink,” Cunningham told the Associated Press. “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?”

In addition to owning a piece of the farm, shareholders will also receive farm tours, milk delivery discounts, and invites to special events. However, investors will be given the standard warning that they could lose some, or all, of the money they invest — except for the coffee.

For customers who simply wish to purchase the cup of coffee without becoming an investor, they can buy the flat white at the much lower price of just under $4.

The dairy farm also has its historical roots, once being owned by 18th century poet Robert Burns, who penned “Auld Lang Syne.” Burns, who is considered the national poet of Scotland, wrote while working in the fields there for two years. His face graces each 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 from terminal illnesses. The collapse of milk prices that year forced him to sell off most of the herd and reinvent the business as an organic farm.

He uses a process to “brew” the milk, instead of pasteurizing it, that he said gives it the creamer taste and texture of raw milk without the health risks.

Todd Whiteford — co-owner of The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow, which is serving the costly cups — said they’ve been using Mossgiel’s milk for several years. Despite “outrageous offers" from competitors to switch, he said other milk producers can’t match the quality and consistency that makes for “rounder, smoother and sweeter” cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites — and better coffee art.

“Theirs is the best. I’ll argue with anyone about that,” Whiteford said.

Cunningham hopes the campaign will help secure a $1.13 million (£900,000) loan to double the farm’s operations and expand out of Scotland.

This isn’t the first cup of coffee to raise eyebrows for its costly price.

Shot London, a coffee bar located in London’s Mayfair and Marylebone neighborhoods, charged just under $334 (£265) for a flat white made with rare beans from Okinawa, Japan. Back in April, The Telegraph reported it was the most expensive coffee in Britain.

Additional reporting from AP