Round K café on New York’s Lower East Side has taken specialty coffee to new heights with its unique offering called Astronaut coffee.
The café’s owner Ockhyeon Byeon has been experimenting with the effects of atmospheric pressure on coffee, leading him to tie some beans to a weather balloon and set them free.
Byeon estimates that the balloon rose almost 50 kilometres above the earth before coming back down again.
The coffee enthusiast tracked his package via GPS, finding it five hours after launch slightly frozen and covered with water as the result of air pressure.
Round K sells the coffee in-house or as 60-gram bags for US$50 (about $63).