Klatch Coffee
Klatch Coffee is a family-owned roaster and café chain based in Rancho Cucamonga, California, founded in 1993 by Mike Perry, a former chemical engineer (Klatch Coffee newsroom, accessed 2026-07-23).
It matters to this wiki for a specific reason: Klatch is where record-breaking auction coffee actually gets drunk. Most of the buyers in these notes — Saza Coffee, Julith Coffee, JD.com — are named on the bid sheet. Klatch is the one that repeatedly took the winning lot from Elida Estate, roasted it, and put it on a menu board at a suburban café, which is how “the world’s most expensive coffee” became a number ordinary people encountered: $75 a cup.
The company
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993, Rancho Cucamonga, California |
| Founder | Mike Perry — green buyer and roastmaster, chemical engineering background |
| Leadership | Mike Perry with his daughter Heather Perry, vice president |
| Legal name | Klatch Coffee, Inc. |
| Headquarters | 8767 Onyx Ave, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 |
| Cafés | Southern California — Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, San Dimas, Fontana, Redondo Beach; plus LAX and (from 2019) San Francisco |
| Model | Sources, roasts and brews its own coffee — “Peak of Flavor” roast style |
The 1993 founding date, Mike Perry’s chemical-engineering background, and the father–daughter leadership all come from Klatch’s own newsroom boilerplate, which describes it as “founded in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. in 1993 by Mike Perry, a former chemical engineer who blends science with a passion for great coffee.”
The $75 cup
In May 2019, Klatch bought 10 pounds of the Elida Geisha Natural that had won Best of Panama in 2018 at a then-record 1,200 a pound, and Klatch sold it by the cup at $75 for eight ounces across its Redondo Beach, San Dimas, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga shops and its LAX location (CBS Los Angeles, 13 May 2019, accessed 2026-07-23).
The following season Klatch went again, this time for the lot that broke four figures: the Elida Geisha 1029, which scored 95.25 at Best of Panama 2019 and sold at **1,000/lb. Klatch poured it at roughly $100 a cup at its Rancho Cucamonga roastery and its newly opened San Francisco store, and shipped it nationwide. Trade press recorded it as Klatch’s third record-breaking coffee from the Lamastus family’s Panamanian estates in three consecutive years (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, accessed 2026-07-23).
| Year | Lot | Score | Green price | What Klatch charged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Elida Geisha Natural (Best of Panama winner) | 94+ | $803/lb | **1,200/lb roasted |
| 2019 | Elida Geisha 1029 (Green Tip Natural) | 95.25 | $1,029/lb | ~$100 per cup |
Mike Perry was not only a buyer of the 2019 lot but a judge of the competition that crowned it: as an international judge at Best of Panama, he gave the Elida Geisha 1029 a score of 97+, “the highest score he’s ever awarded any coffee” (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, accessed 2026-07-23). Judging and buying at the same auction is normal practice in this world — the judging panels are drawn from the roasters who bid — but it is worth knowing when reading a score.
To verify
Who actually bought the 2019 record lot. Klatch’s own release and the trade press say Klatch purchased the Elida Geisha 1029. The producers, however, credited Saza Coffee with leading the buying consortium, naming Klatch, Willoughbys Coffee & Tea and Dragonfly Coffee Roasters as the other members (AgroNosotros, accessed 2026-07-23) — which is what the Elida Estate and Saza Coffee notes already record. The likeliest explanation is that every consortium member announced the win as its own, but Klatch’s exact share of the lot is not documented in anything consulted here. Do not describe Klatch as the sole buyer.
The people
Mike Perry — founder, green buyer and roastmaster. His chemical-engineering training is the stated basis for Klatch’s “Peak of Flavor” roasting approach, which the company describes as combining science with sensory judgment. He travels to producing countries each harvest to cup and select coffee (Beanz roaster profile, accessed 2026-07-23).
Heather Perry — his daughter and Klatch’s vice president. She is a two-time United States Barista Champion and placed second at the 2007 World Barista Championship, and she later served as president of the Specialty Coffee Association (Chief Executive magazine contributor bio, accessed 2026-07-23; Coffee Explorer — 2007 U.S. Barista Champion, accessed 2026-07-23; Klatch newsroom boilerplate, accessed 2026-07-23). A barista championship is a timed competition where competitors serve espresso, milk drinks and a signature drink to judges — winning the national title twice is rare.
To verify
Heather Perry’s exact titles and years. The 2007 US Barista Championship win is documented; the second title year is not confirmed in anything consulted here (2003 is commonly cited but unverified). Separately, Klatch’s company profile claims the coffee it used took “World’s Best Espresso” at the 2007 World Barista Championships (LinkedIn company page, accessed 2026-07-23) — a self-description that sits awkwardly against the independently reported result, which is a runner-up finish overall. Whether “World’s Best Espresso” was a real side category or marketing shorthand needs checking against SCA/WBC archives.
To verify
“2009 Micro Roaster of the Year.” Klatch’s own company profile claims the title (LinkedIn, accessed 2026-07-23). The phrasing matches Roast magazine’s long-running Micro Roaster of the Year award, but no source consulted here names the awarding body, and the claim is self-reported and single-sourced. Confirm against Roast magazine’s own archive before repeating it as fact.
Sourcing
Klatch describes its buying as direct trade — long-term relationships with individual farms rather than anonymous commodity purchasing, symbolised in its own marketing by “a simple handshake” (Beanz, accessed 2026-07-23). That is a company claim about its own practice, not a certification: unlike Fairtrade or organic, “direct trade” has no independent auditor behind it. What is independently visible is the Elida Estate relationship, which shows up in the auction record three years running.
To verify
The company’s earlier name and current store list. A 2007 press release refers to the business as “Coffee Klatch Roasting” rather than Klatch Coffee, suggesting a rename at some point; no source consulted here dates it. The café list above mixes 2019-era reporting (LAX, San Francisco) with a later company profile (Fontana), and retail footprints go stale within months — treat it as “several Southern California locations plus a roastery” rather than a current directory.
Why it belongs in this wiki
Record auction prices are usually quoted as green-coffee figures — dollars per pound paid to the farm. Klatch is one of the few places where you can see what happens on the other end of that chain: an 75 cup, roughly a 9× markup over the roasted wholesale price once labour, waste, roasting loss and scarcity are priced in. It is the clearest available worked example of Premiumisation reaching an actual customer, and a useful counterweight to the assumption that record prices stay locked inside a collector market. Compare Angelino’s Coffee, the other US roaster to take a world-record lot.
Related
- Elida Estate · Best of Panama · Best of Panama results archive · Wilford Lamastus
- Saza Coffee — co-buyer and credited consortium lead on the 2019 record lot · Angelino’s Coffee
- Buying consortium — why “who bought it” has more than one honest answer
- Geisha · Natural process · Coffee scoring · Cupping
- Specialty Coffee Association · World Barista Championship · Premiumisation
- Mike Perry · Heather Perry
Official links
Sources
- Klatch Coffee — newsroom: Elida Geisha Green Tip Natural — accessed 2026-07-23
- Klatch Coffee — official site — accessed 2026-07-23
- Tea & Coffee Trade Journal — Klatch Coffee serves most expensive cup of coffee — accessed 2026-07-23
- CBS Los Angeles — World’s most expensive coffee costs $75 a cup — accessed 2026-07-23
- AgroNosotros — Elida Estate Gesha earns $1,029 per pound — accessed 2026-07-23
- Chief Executive magazine — Heather Perry contributor page — accessed 2026-07-23
- Coffee Explorer — 2007 U.S. Barista Champion — accessed 2026-07-23
- Beanz — Klatch Coffee roaster profile — accessed 2026-07-23
- LinkedIn — Klatch Coffee, Inc. company profile — accessed 2026-07-23