The higher cost means gourmet coffee drinkers aren't seeing the full benefit of a steep price drop in the past year.

WSJ: Roya Fungus Hurting Central America Coffee Crops

Despite a limping global economy, demand for gourmet coffee remains robust.

FORBES: Starbucks Earnings Guidance Creates a Bullish Buzz

That dealership is like a luxury hotel, with valet service, a plush lobby with a huge flat screen TV, gourmet coffee and free beverages.

FORBES: Low-tech Tactic Reaps Surprising Reward for Small Business Person

The trend cuts across Latin American countries that depend on washed arabica beans, which require subtle growing techniques and processing, and are the type nearly always used in gourmet coffee.

WSJ: Coffee Growers Forge a Futures Recovery

Along with the standard free bag of coffee beans, shareholders were treated to the kind of razzmatazz one expects from such a high-profile, global company - the largest retailer of gourmet coffee in the world.

BBC: Starbucks takes on its critics

No gourmet coffee machine rental.

FORBES: I Run The World's Most Dysfunctional Company

She was impressed by the retail chain's training program, which emphasized selling the gourmet experience of coffee.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Opening within the next few months on the same colourful 19th century strip of Corktown, Astro Coffee will offer up a rare cup of gourmet brew and the Sugar House Bar, named in reference to the infamous Detroit prohibition-era Purple Gang (formerly known as the Sugar House Gang), will serve up a myriad of classic cocktails.

BBC: The rebirth of Detroit amid modern-day ruins

In the morning, follow the scent of freshly ground coffee to the classic country inn dining room for the first of two included gourmet breakfasts sit beneath sunlit, palatial windows and dig into a three-course morning meal graced with fare like ricotta pancakes with raspberry syrup, or salmon Benedict in a pastry with asparagus.

BBC: Daily deal: A culinary coup in wine country