- The 2025 Easiest of Panama just lately all set a unutilized global listing for espresso costs; Hacienda L. a. Esmeralda gained US $30,204/kg for its washed Gesha.
- Luxurious advertising and premiumisation, particularly in Center Japanese and East Asian markets, power costs upper, catapulting the successful manufacturers into the highlight.
- However the society who roast auction-winning coffees additionally deserve extra reputation.
- The usage of high-performing scorching apparatus guarantees that those coffees can gleam as meant, too.
Espresso auctions have modified past reputation over the ultimate few many years. Former listing tall costs – like US $21/lb in 2004 – now light compared to what some patrons are prepared to pay for outstanding espresso.
Costs best building up month then month, too. At the 2025 Best of Panama (BoP) auction, Hacienda L. a. Esmeralda gained US $30,204/kg for its washed Gesha, environment a unutilized global listing for the absolute best worth ever paid for espresso. The farm additionally earned US $23,608/kg for its herbal Gesha, breaking the listing two times and reflecting the ultra-premium costs those unique so much command.
Along with premiumisation and comfort advertising, the experience and loyalty of the manufacturers who can have the funds for to put money into those coffees power up public sale costs. However alternative elements that still give a contribution to the ever-growing good fortune of those occasions can continuously exit omitted: the society who roast those implausible coffees.
I stated to Ben Put of Monogram Coffee – additionally the 2025 Canadian Barista Champion and legitimate head roaster for BoP – and Rachel Peterson of Hacienda La Esmeralda to be informed how machines like Stronghold are serving to espresso auctions achieve ranges by no means sooner than not hidden.
You might also like our article on what happened at coffee competitions in 2024.
Espresso auctions are ever-changing
Because the Nineteen Nineties, auctions have helped turn into the espresso trade. Designed to praise quality-led manufacturers for his or her maximum outstanding so much, the public sale style has redefined what patrons are prepared to pay for high-end coffees.
On the 2004 BoP public sale, Hacienda La Esmeralda, a pioneering farm in Panama, gained the absolute best worth ever paid for espresso on the day: a listing US $21 for a pound of Gesha.
This all set the precedent for day auctions in Panama and past. As a result of they distinguish the “best of the best”, worth discovery mechanisms at auctions continuously a ways exceed the ones via extra conventional industry platforms. In trim, public sale costs infrequently replicate the realities of the broader marketplace.
“Competitions like Best of Panama are more than just events; they’re platforms that can shape how the world sees specialty coffee,” says Rachel Peterson, the gross sales, advertising and high quality regulate supervisor at Hacienda L. a. Esmeralda. “They validate the years of effort, innovation, and risk that a small number of producers can take on.”
The an increasing number of international nature of espresso auctions additionally manner patrons from markets like East Asia, america, Australia, and the Center East – the place premiumisation is a usual phenomenon – have equivalent get entry to to the arena’s maximum bizarre coffees. This drives costs even upper.
“I’ve seen so many trends at auctions, especially the growth in the demand for coffees of this calibre and scarcity,” says Ben Put, the co-founder of Monogram Coffee in Canada. He’s additionally a multi-Canadian Barista Champion, just lately successful the 2025 pageant, and the top roaster at BoP, the use of Stronghold machines.
“I remember when prices over US $1,000/lb seemed impossible,” he provides. “Now, people around the world are enjoying these coffees, and the demand has pushed prices to new heights.”
Moment then month, the ceiling rises, pushed through hyper-competitive patrons. Rapid ahead to the 2025 BoP public sale; Hacienda L. a. Esmeralda gained US $30,204/kg for a 98-point washed Gesha – considerably surpassing the former global listing of US $13,518/kg all set at a personal public sale in 2024.
As unutilized data are all set, the successful manufacturers who can have the funds for to develop those coffees are catapulted into the halls of status, receiving reputation and accolades.
“This year, record scores and prices were the result of deeper innovation, especially in processing, sorting, and dry milling,” Rachel says. “But more than that, they reflect the long-term commitment required to grow truly extraordinary coffees.
“Nido, which broke records by placing first in both the Washed and Natural Gesha categories, came from a plot that took over 13 years to develop,” she provides. “More than a decade of work went into a single coffee, hoping that, one day, it would reveal something unique in the cup.”
Acknowledging manufacturers and roasters at espresso auctions
Auctions handover as focused platforms, connecting patrons in quest of high-end coffees with the petite selection of manufacturers who can develop them, facilitating a success direct industry relationships.
“As long as these producers continue to push boundaries in agronomy, processing, and storytelling, buyers will continue to invest in those efforts,” Rachel says. “That said, it’s also important to protect the integrity of these competitions.
“The moment quality or transparency is compromised, the value of the auction diminishes. So it’s up to all of us – producers, judges, roasters, and buyers – to keep raising the bar together,” she provides.
Manufacturers, for sure, play games a key position in using the prominence of espresso auctions. However the society who roast the espresso offered at auctions, continuously at the back of the scenes, also are crucial.
“BoP is probably the highest-stakes roasting event in the world,” Ben says. “Thankfully, we were working with some of the best roasters in the country and had four Stronghold 7Xs.
“We spent two weeks beforehand designing roast profiles that would express the best qualities of the coffees in each category: Gesha Washed, Gesha Natural, and Varietal,” he provides. “Each coffee responds differently, but the combination of the roasters’ skills and Stronghold machines ensured we were able to roast each coffee to the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama’s strict quality standards.”
With out aid, consideration to feature, and consistency within the scorching procedure, espresso auctions would effort to achieve the degrees of good fortune not hidden lately.
“High-level equipment like Stronghold roasters plays a vital role in showcasing a coffee’s full potential. At competitions, consistency is everything; each lot must be roasted and cupped to highlight its best attributes without introducing bias or error,” Rachel tells me.
“Machines like Stronghold offer precision and repeatability. Its technology allows roast profiles to be adapted and fine-tuned, which is especially important when working with delicate varieties like Gesha and Laurina.”
Why we’ll proceed to look record-breaking costs at espresso auctions
Because the public sale style proliferates – diversifying into digital, regional, global, and personal codecs – it’s going to proceed to have extra affect over the broader espresso trade.
Concurrently, as distinctiveness espresso markets like China, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – the place status and exclusivity power emblem enchantment – mature, patrons may stock expanding their bids.
Just like wine, whiskey, and tea, listing costs affect perceptions of espresso’s worth and high quality possible extra widely. The most expensive tea in the world – a Da Hong Pao dark oolong tea from China – sold for an astounding US $1.2 million/kg, consistent with Paper & Tea. Thus, there’s possible for distinctiveness espresso, in particular extremely prized Panama Gesha, to achieve indistinguishable heights.
“BoP has helped shape the global specialty coffee landscape for decades. When coffees from Panama break records at auction, it doesn’t just benefit local producers – it sets a higher standard across the industry and encourages buyers to value exceptional coffee from other origins as well,” Rachel says.
Certainly, we have now not hidden alternative data damaged at auctions just lately. A non-public public sale in Ethiopia just lately fetched a absolute best bid of US $1,604/kg – probably the most ever paid for Ethiopian espresso.
Past Gesha, alternative types are gaining traction at auctions.
“There’s heightened interest in new varieties. Gesha is still the most sought-after, but other varieties are gaining attention,” Ben tells me. “Coffees like Laurina, Chiroso, Mokkita, and Sidra are also a way for producers to stand out. I predict this will continue to grow, and we will see a migration of well-known varieties from other producing countries as producers experiment.”
Hacienda L. a. Esmeralda gained the third-highest bid on the 2025 BoP for its Laurina espresso, fetching US $8,040/kg. Even if interest in this coffee has been growing for some time, a tall public sale worth may additional pique hobby, pushing extra roasters to supply this espresso.
Regardless of how auctions evolve, scorching will play games a central position in day good fortune.
“I believe that Stronghold is a game changer for the Best of Panama, and could be for other auctions in the future, for designing roast profiles, executing roasts, and batch to batch consistency,” Ben says. “The user interface is simple to use and utilises an infrared probe to give highly accurate readings. This ensures that anyone can follow a roast profile and that it will give the same taste profile consistently.
“The roasting team must roast each coffee multiple times (national, international and finals round), which could lead to consistency issues; however, Stronghold’s ability to automatically repeat roasts and its between-batch algorithm ensured that we were able to reproduce the same roast colour and quality every round,” he provides.
“This not only resulted in some of the highest scores in the history of the best of Panama, but we also used a lot less coffee during the roasting process as there were fewer re-roasts required.”
They won’t all the time replicate the realities of the marketplace, however auctions are depart an indelible mark at the distinctiveness espresso sector. Over the approaching years, they’re more likely to turn out to be much more widespread, particularly because the call for for ultra-rare, unique coffees grows.
In flip, costs at espresso auctions will proceed to split data, reflecting the hardened paintings and experience of manufacturers – however the society who roast those coffees additionally deserve one of the most highlight.
Loved this? Next learn our article on how roasting champions are redefining profile development.
Photograph credit: Stronghold, Paul Castillero, Fernando Gutierrez
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