NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Forget stock options or corporate jets. The latest trend in high-end perks for employees is a really good cup of coffee, according to a published report.

The Washington Post reports that a growing number of offices, particularly in the biotech industry, are now providing gourmet coffee brewed on high-end professional coffee machines. For offices that don't provide such quality caffeine for its workers, a growing number of coffee clubs split the costs between employees who care about such fine coffee.

The newspaper says that some companies are not only paying for coffee from Starbucks (Research) for their employees, but paying extra for cups and other paper goods with the Starbucks logo to please employees and impress visitors.

K12 Inc., a McLean, Va., publisher with 200 employees, introduced free Starbucks for employees four months ago. The company's finance chief, John Baule, told the newspaper the increased cost of the coffee is covered by improved productivity as employees are not making 40-minute round trips to the nearest Starbucks. One K12 employee said getting the Starbucks coffee was like getting a raise since she had been spending between $6 to $12 a day on the coffee herself.

But even Starbucks is considered a bargain brand compared to some of the high-end coffee found in other offices by the Post.

The University of Maryland's Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has a coffee club where each member contributes one pound of high-end coffee each month. Doug Cohen, a club member referred to as the club's "ayatollah of coffee" by his boss, buys a $28 a pound brand of coffee that is grown in Lehuula Farms in Kealakekau, Hawaii, and airfreighted to him the day after it is roasted.

Cohen's club has an $800 machine, which it allows the non-club members to use for brew cheap coffee for 25 cents a cup.

The Post reports that Fleming-AOD, a small Silver Spring, Md., company that processes billing data for hospitals, has two $1,400 Italian espresso makers in its office to provide cover when one machine needs servicing.

The newspaper cites trade publication Automatic Merchandiser as estimating that office coffee service nationwide is a $3.4 billion a year business, and growing.

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