[CoolestBeans]

My parents love watching those videos so I know what you're talking about. There's four factors I think.

One, the quality of the saffron makes a big difference in price. Longer deeper red strands are much more expensive than shorter and more yellow strands. I suspect they are not using the most expensive saffron in their teas.

Two, there's a lot of markup purchasing saffron from most retailers, especially here in the US. You can get that amount of saffron for far less than $10,000 if you know someone who has a connect.

Three, as you said the majority of saffron production is from Iran. Some friends I know are getting their saffron from the UAE but I'm pretty sure its being re-exported from Iran.

Four, those videos are ultimately productions. If you compare the earlier videos to the later videos on some of that channel you can tell they've upgraded their digs. They might just be exaggerating for the camera.

[jorvi]

There is also a lot of "fake" saffron. Keuringdienst van Waarde (Dutch TV show that analyzes the quality / scams in food) has a whole item on it: https://kro-ncrv.nl/programmas/keuringsdienst-van-waarde/pep...

[poulsbohemian]

No kidding - last time I saw a video they were using better Shun knives than the ones I use in my kitchen. A big step from what they had in their first videos, and kinda neat to see the upgraded life their worldwide platform has given them