Food & Wine on the $64 Cup at Queens of Mayfair

In a September 2020 feature by Jelisa Castrodale, the US food press covered Queens of Mayfair, the coffee shop opened by sisters Victoria and Grace Sheppard, and its partnership with Difference Coffee, calling it the only café where you can drink the same beans served in more than five dozen Michelin starred restaurants.

The story centres on the most expensive cup of coffee in the United Kingdom, at £50 ($64) per serving: an Ethiopian coffee that took first place in that year's Cup of Excellence competition, with Difference Coffee one of only two British companies invited to purchase the winning lot at auction. The coffee sold for $185.10 per pound, at the time the highest price ever paid for an Ethiopian coffee, and each serving was hand ground and brewed in a V60 before being poured into a crystal wine glass.