Speciality Coffees are the new wine

Hold the milk and sugar — specialty coffee is the latest beverage meant to be savored for its complex flavor notes, mouth feel and aroma.

Sound a little like fine wine?

Bob Funk of Maywood's Moon Doggie Coffee Roasters thinks so.

"Depending on the way I roast it, coffee can show 20 different flavors from fresh butter and caramel to earthiness and rice," he says. "The more different coffees you drink, the more you start to notice these things."

For those used to paying for their morning caffeine with pocket change, the prices for these premium brews may come as a shock: Starbucks' specialty reserve coffees cost up to $7 a cup. At Maywood's Moon Dog Coffee Roasters, a 1-pound bag of their most expensive beans — the Kona Special Private Reserve — costs more than a dinner for two: $60.

Robert Gamer, a retiree from Franklin Lakes, cares so much about the taste of his coffee, he drives to Ridgewood every morning to have a cappuccino at the Ridgewood Coffee Company. He can find a cup of Joe closer to home, but to him it's just "dark brown water with caffeine."

On a recent morning at the Ridgewood cafe, he sipped his cappuccino, which was made from freshly ground single-origin beans with notes of "cherry, red wine, dark chocolate and toffee." He paid $3.50 for his hot beverage, but it's worth it for the "taste and the experience," he said. "Even when I go out of town, I look for a place that looks like they're serving the authentic stuff," he said.

Since the first Starbucks opened in Seattle in 1971, coffee has been evolving from its roots as the workingman's brew. The recent mainstream interest in high-end coffee beans is part of a wider trend across the food world. People are happy to pay more for heirloom tomatoes on their grass-fed burger, served with artisanal cheese. Experts say the higher price for specialty coffee beans comes because they're grown on small farms, and extra attention is paid in the entire production process from the farmer to the roaster.

"In America 20 years ago you couldn't find a decent cup of coffee," said Benny LanFranco, Fairway Market's coffee director. "But because of demand, farmers are producing better coffee and there is a new wave of brewing methods. Coffee is becoming more flavorful. Once you taste a good cup of coffee, you can't go back."

LanFranco travels the globe tracking down the best coffee growers. Among his favorites is an estate coffee from the Galapagos Islands that retails for $25 a pound at Fairway. "It's very clean and smooth with nice fruit and flora notes and a beautiful aroma," he said.

As the interest in high-end coffee increases, Funk of Moon Dog Coffee Roasters is trying to educate customers that these beans are best enjoyed freshly roasted and ground. At his small batch operation, he roasts beans three times a week and advises customers to buy only a week's portion of what they need.

"I hate to overuse the wine comparison, but if you left a bottle of wine sitting open on a shelf during the week it wouldn't taste as good. Coffee starts to lose its flavor the longer it sits around," he said.

Another common misconception is that specialty coffee needs milk and sugar to taste good, said Funk. "It covers up all the delicate flavors. If you're drinking fresh coffee it shouldn't be so bitter you have to add sugar," he said.

The brewing process has also become more sophisticated. The Englewood and Edgewater Starbucks are among a limited list of the chain's branches that have $11,000 Clover coffee machines, a high-tech contraption the squeezes every last bit of flavor out of fresh grounds. A specialty reserve coffee prepared on the Clover is more than double the price of a normal drip coffee. At the Edgewater branch the Maui Mokka — a reserve coffee "with warm brown spice notes and a chocolaty mouth-feel" — brewed on the Clover is $4.95 for a Grande, compared to $1.95 for a regular coffee of the same size.

Josh Alberg, head barista at The Ridgewood Coffee Company, also prepares specialty cups of coffees using a labor-intensive process that is the antithesis of the high-tech Clover machine. Their hand-poured coffees are brewed to order. The beans are weighed and ground, and then dripped into a glass cone with a filter. The process takes longer than a machine brewed cup, but Alberg says customers enjoy watching their drink being hand-crafted. "It's meant to be enjoyed for the taste rather than the utility of the caffeine. There are plenty of places you can get a cheap cup of coffee, but more than anything this is a high-end culinary approach," said Alberg.