£50 for a coffee? Make sure you don’t spill any!

WITH its £50 price tag, it’s perhaps best to stick to one shot.

For a coffee deemed the finest in the world is selling for 20 times the cost of a regular cup from a high street barista.

It is Britain’s most expensive and comes from exceptionally rare and prized Ethiopian beans that went for £2,000 per kg at auction.

They recently won this year’s Cup of Excellence contest involving coffee suppliers from all over the world.

But caffeine connoisseurs with deep pockets who fancy a taste need to act quickly.

There are only 15 servings available at coffee bar Queens of Mayfair in central London.

Servings come in a crystal wine glass and amount to one large cup or two small ones for sharing.

The beans are ground by hand and brewed in a special V- shaped filter with fine paper to let coffee come through drip by drip. Sup plier Difference Coffee – which sells to Michelinstarred restaurants – says the flavour intensifies as the drink cools with ‘ a light, fruity and floral’ taste.

Victoria Shepherd, 31, who co- owns Queens of Mayfair

with sister Grace, 29, said: ‘The Ethiopian Cup of Excellence is brewed completely differently. It’s ground by hand and the beans have to be served within 15 minutes or they lose the flavour complexities.

‘It’s three minutes’ brewing time and we use a standard 15g dose with 250ml of water. It’s 15 times the normal price of a cup of coffee in Mayfair but the producer gets 155 times what they would be paid for a standard cup.’

Victoria said she already has six bookings. Queens of Mayfair already has a £25 coffee called Geisha Esmerelda.

The Ethiopian producers of the coffee will get the full auction price for their beans as part of a Fairtrade deal.

‘Full of flavour complexities’