Would you pay 15 pounds for a Michelin star prized cup of coffee?

By exploring the world of coffee, we've seen and heard a lot - like a cup of coffee can cost 15 pounds if served in a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The universe of coffee hides lots of strange things. On one hand, coffee is a daily beverage, accessible to everyone and quite affordable, on the other, it is not uncommon for quality and specialty coffees that can sometimes be quite expensive. A simple cup of coffee at the Alain Ducasses London Restaurant can cost quite more than our daily coffee.

French Alain Ducasses is one of the most successful and recognizable chefs internationally. Award-winning with one of the most acclaimed gastronomic distinctions, Michelin Star, Ducasses can boast that he is one of the two chefs in the history of the institution that has managed to assemble 21 stars - a sign that all his activities and all restaurants are at a very high level.

Hollywood star Burt Lancaster has said he judges a restaurant "from his bread and coffee", that is, the things that many restaurateurs and many chefs do not give the proper meaning. In a restaurant of the Alain Ducasses, however, everything is kept up to the smallest detail, and coffee could not be an exception. In his latest restaurant in London, the coffee served costs 15 pounds - although his price is justified by both his quality, experts say, and the overall experience offered to the lucky (or to others, naive) which will allocate such a sum for a cup of coffee.

The blend chosen by the Ducasses comes from Yemen, and its purpose is a dip in the roots of coffee, as the Yemeni beans were the first to taste the man in the form of a beverage. Because of the small production and the multi-year civil war that plagues the Arab country, Yemeni's coffee is scarce, expensive and its import quite difficult - finding quality coffee from Yemen is even more difficult, so the price of the raw material is rising significantly. But what elevates the cup's price is the total experience that is unforgettable to anyone who loves coffee.

The coffee enthusiast who will order coffee in the Alain Ducasses restaurant in London will see and smell the beans geting roasted in front of him, having the opportunity to compare aromas with beans from Ethiopia and Panama, under the guidance of an experienced barista. Afterwards, the coffee is extracted and served in a crystal glass, accompanied by a small dessert, which is the exclusive creation of the chef for this coffee, in order to perfectly accompany its aromas.

The barista's guidance continues as it unfolds the aromatic coffee profile, which includes notes of bergamot, bitter chocolate, fruity acidity and honey. The barista, referring to the full history of the coffee and describing its taste profile, guides how one should drink his coffee, sipping so that it unfolds the whole range of its perfumes. As far as the coffee itself is concerned, the tasters who tried it said it was particularly delicious, with a strong aroma and of course, extracted to perfection.

In the world of gastronomy, and therefore in the coffee world, it is true that you usually pay for the whole experience and not the very delicacy. There is no doubt that the coffee in the Alain Ducasses restaurant will be remarkable and that it will carry something of its unique talent and star - it is an experience that one does not live everyday and which, perhaps in this light, it's worth living for once. On the other hand, the world of coffee is full of good, quality blends that can give you extraordinary cups, and certainly cheaper than Ducasse's "tricks"!