Specialty coffees become the new wine

Trend perks up sales of single-cup machines that use high-end beans and pre-packaged pods

Dec 15, 2007 04:30 AM

Vicky Sanderson
Special to The Star

Matthew Lee isn't surprised that Torontonians recently lined up to pay $220 for a pound of Esmerelda coffee beans, a coveted bean variety from Panama that's often described as having "notes" of jasmine and bergamot. It's reflective, he says, of coffee's elevated status as "the new wine."

"Over the last five years, people are really interested in specialty foods and drinks rather than the regular types that they have been used to," says Lee, who owns Manic Coffee (426 College St., 416-966-3888), a gourmet coffee shop that will begin offering brewing classes and coffee "tastings" in the new year.

Increasingly sophisticated coffee drinkers are developing highly particular tastes for favourite brews and blends. That trend is fuelling sales of single-cup coffee makers, which use either beans, ground coffee or pre-packaged pods.

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