{"id":606621,"date":"2026-09-20T23:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T23:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606621\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T23:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T23:28:10","slug":"christchurch-cafe-rook-sells-100-cups-of-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606621\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch cafe Rook sells $100 cups of coffee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s just such a rare variety from like a very specific area, from a very specific farm, and you get the trustworthiness of Kyle [Cabangun], who\u2019s just a fantastic barista, so it\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime chance really,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe special beans from Panama are said to be particularly rare. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

A self-confessed coffee aficionado, he has had expensive cups before, \u201cmaybe $20 to $30 per cup, but this is definitely the most expensive I\u2019ve had\u201d.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t quite sure what to expect, but said: \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve smelled, it\u2019s probably going to be something floral and really beautiful and nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be really interesting to see what it comes out like, particularly with the brewing method that he\u2019s chosen.<\/p>\n

After watching the \u201cnerve-wracking\u201d process of it being made, Maxwell sat down to enjoy his coffee.<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere was much anticipation at Rook Cafe this morning as the $100 coffees were being made. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

His first reaction was that it tasted quite \u201cfloral\u201d but he was interested to see how it changed when the temperature fell.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut first thoughts: really good. It\u2019s fantastic so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tallon agreed but added: \u201cIt\u2019s quite a lot to think about, when you\u2019ve got a $100 price tag in the back of your mind. But it\u2019s really nice, I can\u2019t wait for my second sip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another early customer, Lily, said it was \u201cworth every cent\u201d and a \u201conce in a lifetime opportunity\u201d. She also described it as \u201cfloral\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s lovely, really lovely,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"LilyLily was one of the first customers to buy a $100 cup of coffee from Christchurch cafe Rook and was impressed. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

Rook had presold a number of cups, but early birds like Lily can still grab a taste of the limited supply, with only 14-15 cups likely to be available.<\/p>\n

Cabangun prepared the beans in a hand grinder to avoid losing any coffee before using a paper filter and adding hot water.<\/p>\n

They compared the price tag to that of high-quality wine.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee, if anything, is harder to grow and produce than wine,\u2033 Cabangun said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis cup of coffee is some of the highest-quality coffee you\u2019ll probably ever try. Coffee is graded on a scale of 0-100, and this sits at 94-96 on that range.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Thorpe is a senior journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI mean, it\u2019s just such a rare variety from like a very specific area, from a very specific…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3548,138,1882,4487,17379,124,59264,14739,22220,3025,111,139,69,1118,298873,24035,1128,58218,6923,102,2963],"class_list":["post-606621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-3548","tag-business","tag-cafe","tag-christchurch","tag-coffee","tag-could","tag-cups","tag-expensive","tag-going","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-rook","tag-selling","tag-sells","tag-single","tag-what","tag-with","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}