LONDON (AP) — It's an enormous price to pay for a little cup of coffee, but the man behind the pitch promises it won't leave a bitter taste behind as it comes with the sweetner of a share of a dairy farm.
A Scottish dairy is offering what it bills as the U.K.'s most expensive cup o' joe: 272 British pounds ($344) for a flat white — a double shot of espresso topped with a layer of steamed milk and a fleeting work of foam art.
The costly cup is actually a perk for purchasing shares in Mossgiel Organic Dairy's crowdfunding campaign to enlarge its sustainable operation and produce more milk. Investors who buy 34 shares in the farm get a certificate for a flat white that can be redeemed starting this weekend at one of 13 coffee shops in Scotland that use the dairy's milk.
“This coffee costs nearly 80 times the price of an average flat white in the U.K. — but it’s much more than just a lovely drink,” said owner Bryce Cunningham. "We know it sounds crazy, but when you break it down, it’s a pretty good deal. How much is the future of farming worth?”
The price tops the eye-watering 265 pounds that Shot London, a coffee bar in the posh Mayfair and Marylebone neighborhoods, charged for a flat white made with rare beans from Okinawa, Japan. The Telegraph reported in April that it was the most expensive coffee in Britain.
Before launching the coffee promotion, Cunningham had already raised more than a third of the 300,000 pounds he is seeking from small investors as he tries to get a 900,000 pound loan that will help him double operations and expand out of Scotland and as far as coffee shops in London.
Shareholders receive other rewards, too, such farm tours, milk delivery discounts and invites to special events. But investors are also given a standard warning that they could lose some or all of the money they invest — except for the coffee.
The tenant farm in Mauchline, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Glasgow, was worked in the 18th century by poet Robert Burns, who penned “Auld Lang Syne" and many other well-known works. Burns, who is considered the national poet of Scotland, wrote while working in the fields there for two years and his face graces each glass bottle of Mossgiel milk.
Cunningham, a former service manager for Mercedes-Benz, took over the operation in 2014 after his father and grandfather died in 2014 from terminal illnesses.
The collapse of milk prices that year and other problems forced him to sell off most of the herd and reinvent the business as an organic farm. He uses a process to “brew” the milk, instead of pasteurize it, that he said gives it the creamer taste and texture of raw milk without the health risks.
Todd Whiteford, one of the owners of The Good Coffee Cartel in Glasgow that is serving the costly cups, said they’ve been using Mossgiel's milk for several years. Despite “outrageous offers" from competitors to switch, he said other milk producers can't match the quality and consistency that makes for “rounder, smoother and sweeter” cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites — and better coffee art.
“Theirs is the best. I’ll argue with anyone about that,” Whiteford said.
Anyone who splashes out to buy a Mossgiel coffee, though, will be getting the same cup other Coffee Cartel customers can purchase for 3.10 pounds. But Cunningham says there will be a taste of virtue with every posh cup.
“They’ll have the self-transcendence that coffee is doing greater good than just perhaps buying it otherwise,” Cunningham said.
This undated handout photo shows Bryce Cunningham, farmer and owner of Mossgiel Organic Farm near Mauchline, drinking milk in a field with some of his herd of Ayrshire cows at Mossgiel Organic Farm, Mauchline, Scotland. (Mossgiel Organic Dairy via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s acting leader on Friday accepted the resignation of the chief of the presidential security service, Park Jong-joon, as he faced police questioning over how his forces blocked law enforcement efforts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol last week.
The acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, also expressed regret over the clashes between law enforcement officials and the presidential security service over the attempts to detain Yoon and called for lawmakers to reach a bipartisan agreement to launch an independent investigation.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are planning a second attempt to bring Yoon into custody as they jointly investigate whether his brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. The presidential security service blocked an earlier attempt to detain Yoon at his official residence, which he has not left for weeks.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police questioned the chief of the presidential security service on Friday as the two agencies clashed over attempts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are planning a second attempt to bring Yoon into custody as they jointly investigate whether his brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. The presidential security service blocked an earlier attempt to detain Yoon at his official residence, which he has not left for weeks.
Park Jong-joon, the presidential security chief, says that his duty is to protect the president and warned of “bloodshed,” as critics said that his agency is becoming Yoon’s private army.
Park ignored two summonses before appearing for questioning on Friday over allegations of obstructing justice, a week after his forces repelled dozens of anti-corruption and police investigators from Yoon’s official residence.
The anti-corruption office and police have vowed to make a second, more forceful effort to detain Yoon, warning that members of the presidential security staff could be arrested if they get in the way.
The embattled president remains holed up at his official residence in Seoul, where the presidential security service has fortified the grounds with barbed wire and rows of vehicles blocking the roads.
Yoon made a short-lived declaration of martial law and deployed troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, which lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and voted to lift the measure.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 and accused him of rebellion. His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.
There’s also speculation that police may attempt to detain Park and other leaders of the presidential security service before trying again to execute the detainment warrant against Yoon, which was renewed by a Seoul court on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters upon arriving for police questioning, Park again criticized the efforts to detain Yoon, saying that the investigation should proceed in a manner “appropriate for the status of an incumbent president” and the “dignity of the nation.”
“Many citizens are surely deeply concerned about the possible conflict and confrontation between government agencies,” Park said. “I came here today with the belief that under no circumstances should there be any physical clashes or bloodshed, and am hoping to prevent such incidents from occurring.”
Park said he made several calls to the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, urging him to mediate an alternative approach with law enforcement and also made similar requests to Yoon’s lawyers, but did not receive a satisfactory response.
Yoon’s lawyers accused the police of trying to undermine the leadership of the presidential security service.
“This is an abnormal move that displays a disregard for national security,” the lawyers said in a texted statement.
While the presidential security act mandates protection for Yoon, it does not authorize the service to block court-ordered detainments and some legal experts say the presidential security service’s action last week may have been illegal.
Asked in parliament about the presidential security service’s effort to block the detention, National Court Administration head Cheon Dae-yeop said Friday that “resistance without a legitimate reason can constitute a crime, such as obstruction of official duties.”
Although the president himself has wide-ranging immunity from prosecution while in office, that does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.
Yoon’s lawyers have questioned the legitimacy of a new detention warrant against Yoon issued by the Seoul Western District Court, arguing that the anti-corruption agency lacks legal authority to investigate rebellion charges or order police to detain suspects.
They also argue that detention and search warrants against Yoon cannot be enforced at his residence, citing a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge — which would be Yoon.
Yoon’s lawyers have urged the agency to either indict the president or seek a formal arrest warrant, a process that requires a court hearing. However, they have said that Yoon would only comply with an arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Court, which handles most key requests in high-profile cases.
They accuse the agency of deliberately choosing another court with an allegedly favorable judge, even though the official residence is located in the jurisdiction of the Western District Court.
Security personnel walk on a road lined up with buses blocking the entrance gate of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's residence in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Park Jong-joon, the chief of the presidential security service, arrives at the Joint Investigation Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Lim Hwa-young/Yonhap via AP)
