This is the most expensive cup of coffee in NYC

You must be joe-king.

The Big Apple’s most expensive cup of coffee is being brewed by a UK company in the heart of Manhattan — but opinions are far from blended on whether the caffeine is worth the pricetag.

WatchHouse is hawking its 8-oz cup of La Negrita pourover at a jaw-dropping $28 — or $30 with tax included, before tip — a figure the company justifies based on the years-long process it takes to get the beanwater in front of their coffee-obsessed customers.

The La Negrita coffee at WatchHouse costs $28, making it the most expensive in the Big Apple. Matthew McDermott

But even ardent java junkies got a rude awakening when The Post conducted a blind taste test in Midtown.

“That’s pretty heinous,” Graham O’Donnell said when he learned about the price tag after taking a sip of the brew — which he admitted was still delicious.

Most of the nearly a dozen bystanders who were asked to guess the coffee’s price after trying it agreed the cost was ridiculous, but that the flavor was superior, too.

Not everyone was buying it, however.

“That’s horrible!” said Scarlett Graves, a visitor from Arkansas who told The Post she has a cup of Peet’s Coffee a day.

“Yuck! It’s really acidic,” she said, adding it was “silly” that it cost $28 and that “to me, $0. I wouldn’t buy that.”

Time Out New York called the coffee drink — which comes on a platter alongside a green tea palate cleanser — a “$28 investment poured in a glass vessel.”

La Negrita is the priciest cup on the shop’s Rarities pourover menu, which includes five others ranging from $14 to $28, and even briefly peddled a $58 limited edition option.

The La Negrita comes on a serving tray with a small green tea palate cleanser. Matthew McDermott

It could take as long as five years to grow the rare beans and turn them into beanwater. Matthew McDermott

Reps for the UK-based shop have said they were hawking as many as 400 cups per month across two Manhattan locations.

At that price, a WatchHouse barista making $18.92 per hour would need to spend 90 minutes crafting La Negritas before they could afford their own — but the intensive labor it takes to make each cup is exactly what makes it close so much.

“This takes quite a bit of equipment and a lot of labor, and also a strong understanding of science and what’s happening during fermentation to get the profile that you want,” explained “coffee lead” Sachi Patel.

Harrison Huang said the coffee and experience was well worth the $28 price. Katherine Donlevy/NY Post

WatchHouse offers six coffees from is Rarities menu, ranging in price from $14 to $28. Matthew McDermott

The La Negrita drink is produced from the “rare and so difficult to produce” Gesha bean, which takes up to five years before it can be plucked and shipped to a UK roastery, Patel told The Post.

“After the coffee is roasted, our senior coffee team in the UK will do quite a bit of recipe testing to find out the best water temperature and brewing method to brew the coffee at and then that will be communicated with all of head baristas at each location, who will make sure that the coffee is tasting the way we want it to,” said Patel, adding that the perfected beans are then finally fermented for 36 hours before being bottled for preservation.

The lengthy history is communicated to the customer during service, much like at a wine tasting — which could be an integral part of the price.

“At $28 I’m going to see my bodega man, put some weight at the bottom. We’d just be chilling and then I’d buy another cup,” said Jared Hunter. Matthew McDermott

And it certainly has a loyal cult following, with coffee lovers like Sarah Allmon, who emphasized the experience wasn’t for the average Dunkin’ enthusiast.

“They’re willing to go the extra mile to get a really good pour-over,” Allmon, 31, of the Upper East Side said, rating WatchHouse as one of the top 5 of the nearly 100 coffee shops she’s ever visited in the Big Apple.

“I think if you’re someone that’s really chasing that specialty coffee or seeing what is the unique option out there, I think that the rarities would definitely pull your interest.”

The Post conducted a blind taste test with New Yorkers on the street in which they were asked to guess the cost of an 8 oz cup. Matthew McDermott

Harrison Huang — a tourist from Los Angeles who described himself as a “really big coffee person” — agreed, telling The Post he stopped by WatchHouse as part of a self-conducted tour of several other high-end coffee shops during his trip to the Big Apple.

“For me, the most interesting part is to try different coffee beans and how the coffee shop is using their technique to kind of display — that’s a fun way to look at it, too,” said Huang, 31, as he sipped on a $14 Pepe Jijon,his second cup after trying a $23 Abu Lot.

“I’m not always looking at the coffee bean, but also the machine they’re using and how they are approaching this plane,” he said, “the whole environment is what I’m looking for.”

For those looking for a more classic, New York experience, Mohammad Ishmail has been hawking $2 cups of joe out of his breakfast cart just around the corner from WatchHouse’s Fifth Avenue location since 2011, describing his clientele as mostly construction and blue-collar workers.

“Coffee is coffee. That’s what matters,” said Ishmail. “At 5 o’clock in the morning, I have one and that’s good for me.”