The caffeine in this cup of coffee isn’t the only thing that will wake you up — the price tag will, too.
Extraction Lab, a new java joint in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, that opened last Friday, is serving up the most expensive cup of coffee in the country at up to $18.
Annie Gaarder, a 30-year-old actress who was on her lunch break, called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to try America’s priciest coffee.
“I would probably rather have a meal, but it was delicious,” she said. “Next time, I’ll get a lower-priced coffee. This was the life experience for me.”
She usually adds cream, but skipped it because she “didn’t want to ruin it.”
The shop’s $14.75 brew, called the “Jeremy Zhang Gesha,” is a rare Ethiopian Arabica bean that is grown in Panama and made — like all the shop’s coffees — in a $7,000 coffee maker called the Steampunk.
The shop says it will soon be selling an $18 cup, featuring an even higher-grade version of the Ethiopian Arabica bean.
Brooklyn is already buzzing about the new coffee shop — though not everyone is willing to cough up the money.
“This is so cool and dope. I wouldn’t be opposed to buying an $18 cup of coffee. It’s like craft beer, but it’s the craft beer of the coffee world,” said Claire Andrews, 26, who works near the 35th Street shop.
Instead, Andrews opted for a $3 Finca Santa Rosa from beans grown in El Salvador and then roasted in Arkansas — the cheapest coffee on the menu.
“I wouldn’t spend $18 on a cup unless it’s a one-time thing,” said Alexa Peretz, a 26-year-old actress who got an herbal tea for $4.75.
The shop’s specially designed Steampunk coffee and tea maker, which is created by Alpha Dominche, brews the coffee in a sequence of glass chambers leading to a beer-style tap. It can control temperatures, the amount of water added, and brew time.
Alpha Dominche CEO Thomas Perez said his goal with Extraction Lab wasn’t to create the country’s most expensive coffee, a title formerly held by Equator, a California shop that sold a $15 cup of coffee.
“We don’t want customers to be intimidated when they walk in,” Perez said. “We want to create an open community. That’s why the counters are low.”