Further evidence that the U.S. coffee market is still finding its upper end: Torke Coffee in Sheboygan began selling a luxury blend today called “Royal Diplomat” that goes for $83 a bag. Each bag contains 14 ounces of coffee sourced from three different countries (Torke’s VP of sales, Aaron Guenther, declined to disclose which countries, exactly) and specially blended to taste … good. Guenther says the company already has about 10 wholesale customers lined up, including some high-end restaurants and retailers in Door County and the Chiseled Grape Winery in Grafton.
Guenther says Torke concocted the coffee after hearing from a number of customers that they wanted a luxury-style coffee they could turn around and sell at a high price point. “Nobody really has a price point this high,” he says. “We’re not sure what people are willing to pay.”
As with fine wine and cigars, they may be willing to pay quite a lot. Guenther says Royal Diplomat, even at $83 a bag, has been surprisingly well-received. “We have demand, and we have a great product,” he says. “It’s going to sell.”
Until now, the most Torke has charged for a pound of coffee is $10 or $12.
Royal Diplomat is the first of three batches of ultra-high-end coffee planned by Torke. Each is the product of roasting about 70 kilos of green coffee. The second installment, planned for early 2013, will be called, “Diplomat Reserve,” and the third, scheduled for mid-2013, will go under the name, “Consulate Select.”
Guenther declined to say what the “Q grades” for the coffees used in Royal Diplomat were, saying that could reveal to other roasters the sources used. “The sourcing was very unique,” he says. (“Q” grading is a 
100-point scoring system for coffee quality prescribed by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Specialty roasters, such as Alterra and Stone Creek in Milwaukee, tend to use beans that score 85 or higher.)
Torke’s facility in Sheboygan is equipped with two 485-pound Burns-brand roasters, from where the coffee is transferred to a cooling chamber and a series of rolling grinders. For much smaller batches, the Torke plant uses its “micro-roastery,” which contains a 50-pound roaster, another that does 20 pounds, and a pair that date to the 1930s — the company started in 1941 as a door-to-door delivery service.
Having an old roaster on hand is something of a tradition in Wisconsin coffee: One of Alterra’s two Probat machines dates to 1932, although it’s been extensively updated. Around the corner in the company’s Riverwest headquarters is another, smaller roaster that dates to 1908 and looks more like a miniature artillery battery than a crucible for baking coffee.
For more on the city’s coffee wars, see our September feature.
