San Francisco's $15 coffee is already sold out

Equator Coffee's Market Street location offers up $15 Finca Sophia. Equator Coffee's Market Street location offers up $15 Finca Sophia. Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close San Francisco's $15 coffee is already sold out 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

For a moment there, we finally had a cup of Joe worthy of sidling up to San Francisco's famous $4 toast. But that moment is gone.

Equator Coffee's Market Street location was pouring over a cup of Finca Sophia beans for an unheard-of $15 this week, until I bought the last cup on Wednesday afternoon.

"You're the last one who's going to get this this year," said Equator spokesman Asaash Saini. "We actually sold about 20 at this location, and that's all we had really planned for."

Saini said Equator decided to put the price right on their signage, essentially daring people to come in and ask about it so that baristas could "educate" people on the product.

That backstory: Finca Sophia is essentially a new chapter for Equator, a company that rose up as a wholesaler to La Boulange and other shops, and has more recently become a popular retail chain.

Premium content from SFChronicle.com: How Equator regained its relevance

For them, the $15 beans represent the next logical step: Their own beans grown their way on a farm that they hand-picked. Saini says Equator planted the respected Gesha variety at the highest known coffee farm in Panama and that it took roughly twice as long to get this initial yield as a typical farm would have.

"After years of planning and preparation, we are finally ready to release the inaugural harvest of Finca Sophia," Equator stated on the company website.

The model seems to follow the boutique wine industry, where Equator has poured a ton of energy into a single parcel, hoping to create a drink that will fetch a premium from discerning customers.

The last cup may have been wasted on me. I could tell it was high quality in the same way a novice wine drinker can usually separate a bottle of Silver Oak cab from two buck chuck, but I can't say I would regularly shell out that kind of coin to upgrade from Equator's other offerings.

Anyone interested in trying it may still be able to score a cup at Equator's Mill Valley locations. The variety should return next year with a bigger yield, but that's unlikely to drive the price down. It may mean you have the opportunity to spend $15 for more than a week. On the bright side, that's still cheaper than that bottle of Silver Oak.

Editor's Note: After publication of this story, Saini reached out to SFGATE after publication to say a few more cups of the coffee had been transferred from Marin to the 986 Market Street location.