A trendy Oakland coffee shop is charging a whopping $20 for a cup of coffee made with incredibly rare beans that have gone through the complex “co-fermentation” process.
Ain’t Normal Café, described as the Bay Area’s coffee hypermarket, has a wide range of unique international roasts and is selling its hot and cold drinks at eye-watering prices.
While the standard menu features average Oakland coffee prices ($4.50 for a latte, $5 for a shot, $5.50 for a mocha), there are some specialty items offered at a higher cost .
One of the rare beans listed on the menu as ‘Colombia Strawberry’ was priced at a staggering $20. It has reportedly been a hit with avid coffee drinkers, who have given it extravagant reviews.
A trendy Oakland coffee shop is charging a whopping $20 for a cup of coffee made with incredibly rare beans that have gone through the complex “co-fermentation” process.
Ain’t Normal Café is located at 5701 College Avenue, near the UC Berkeley campus, making it the perfect study spot for college students who don’t mind spending a small fortune on their daily caffeine fix.
Coffee enthusiast @coffeewgiselley on Instagram visited Ain’t Normal with a friend and ordered vanilla iced lattes.
The beans are incredibly rare in the Bay Area and apparently flaunt sophisticated fruit notes, such as grapes, peaches and melons.
According to one customer, the one-of-a-kind cup of coffee was served in a bright yellow mug and at first appeared to be a simple black coffee.
When the coffee-savvy customer took a sip, he “fell into a barrel of strawberries,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “It was complex, with notes of yogurt and such bright acidity that it lit up my brain.”
This elevated coffee experience is created through co-fermentation, a process in which coffee cherries are fermented with elements such as fruits, spices, yeasts and a world of other intriguing flavors.
Co-fermentation is a long and tedious process involving expensive equipment and dedicated coffee scientists, which has made it the subject of controversy.
The long extraction technique leaves room for error, meaning coffee beans carefully grown in countries like Colombia and Ethiopia and imported to the United States could be wasted on a bad batch of co-fermented roasts.
Ain’t Normal Café, described as the Bay Area’s coffee hypermarket, has a wide range of unique international roasts.
One of the rare beans listed on the menu as ‘Colombia Strawberry’ was priced at a staggering $20.
The cafe also offers delicious food at slightly more reasonable prices for the Bay Area, including avocado toast, a California classic, for $12.
But the laborious process is a hit with many coffee connoisseurs, who appreciate the vibrant flavor profile of the drink, which is fascinatingly created without added syrups or sugars. It’s not normal to even offer a $26 coffee subscription to customers.
But the laborious process is a hit with many coffee connoisseurs, who appreciate the vibrant flavor profile of the drink, which is fascinatingly created without added syrups or sugars.
Ain’t Normal had previously experimented with cinnamon-processed beans and mangoes, and even a $10 watermelon-processed coffee that tasted like Hubba Bubba bubble gum.
Ain’t Normal even offers a $26 coffee subscription for customers who want to try the unique blends on offer.
Ain’t Normal Café is located at 5701 College Avenue, near the UC Berkeley campus, making it the perfect study spot for college students who don’t mind spending a small fortune on their daily caffeine fix.
The cafe also offers delicious food at slightly more reasonable prices, for the Bay Area, including avocado toast, a California classic, for $12 or an Italian hoagie for $18.
Another Bay Area cafe caused chaos when they charged an exorbitant $75 for a cup of coffee in 2019.
Klatch Coffee scored 10 pounds of Elida Geisha 803, the highest-scoring winner of all time in the Best of Panama coffee contest.
The coffee shop sold the exotic drink for $75 per cup, after paying more than $8,000 for the 10-pound bag of beans they received.
This elevated coffee experience is created through co-fermentation, a process in which coffee cherries are fermented with elements such as fruits, spices, yeasts and a world of other intriguing flavors.
Pictured: The Ain’t Normal food menu, where a turkey sandwich costs $18
Ain’t Normal has previously experimented with cinnamon-processed beans and mangoes, and even a $10 watermelon-processed coffee that tasted like Hubba Bubba bubblegum.
The standard menu includes average Oakland coffee prices: $4.50 for a latte, $5 for a latte, $5.50 for a mocha; There are some specialty items offered that cost more.
Klatch, for its part, explains on its website that it has floral and fruity flavors. “Geisha is a rare variety of Arabica coffee that came to Panama from a research laboratory in Costa Rica, but has its origins in Ethiopia,” he reads on the site.
‘It is known for its floral, tea-like and stone fruit flavours, with common flavor notes being jasmine, bergamot, sugar cane and stone fruit (peach or apricot).
‘Natural describes the processing in which the cherry is dried for many weeks, imparting mixed fruit notes such as strawberry, raspberry or blueberry.
Previously, Klatch had sold the Esmeralda Geisha, which he bought for $601 per pound. The 250 eight-ounce glasses available were $55 each.