Wagyu Vs Kobe Beef: Which Is More Expensive?

If you to need to know the difference between wagyu and Kobe beef, you're probably in decent financial shape. Though these labels refer to separate things, both indicate that you're dealing with some of the world's best meat — and, therefore, some of the most expensive. Though American beef can be sold as "wagyu" if it comes from the correct cow breeds, both wagyu and Kobe beef are most commonly associated with Japan, where such cows (and their fancy designations) originated.

What's the difference? Let's draw an analogy using Champagne: All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne — which, by law and tradition, must come from the Champagne region of France. Likewise, the term wagyu refers to an overall category of fancy Japanese beef — its name literally breaks down to "wa," meaning "Japanese," and "gyu," meaning "cow." Kobe beef is a type of wagyu, bred and raised in a specific part of Japan according to exacting standards.

In other words, all Kobe beef is wagyu, but not all wagyu is Kobe beef — the rarest and most expensive type of wagyu you can get. How expensive? As of this writing, at a California importer called The Wagyu Shop, a single 10-ounce ribeye of wagyu from the island of Hokkaido costs $149, which is hardly pocket change. The same cut and weight of Kobe beef, however, goes for $349, so don't overcook it!

The main thing that makes wagyu special is its marbling. In Japan, the four breeds of cow that provide most of the wagyu imported to the U.S. were originally draft animals. These cows store a lot of intramuscular fat that, in olden times, they would've converted into energy while working the fields. Today, though, that intramuscular fat yields beef so well-marbled, it's practically buttery.

Japan uses a scoring system ranging from 1 to 12 to assess marbling in beef. The highest American standard, the USDA's Prime designation, is about a 4 on the Japanese scale, with most wagyu coming in between 6 and 9 — suffice it to say, it's exceptionally good meat. (Here's more on that rating system if you're curious.) But Kobe beef must adhere to other criteria, too. It must come specifically from the Tajima bloodline of Japanese Black cattle, and it must be born and processed in Hyogo, a prefecture whose capital city is Kobe. That bloodline isn't enormous: All legitimate Kobe beef comes from cows fathered by one of just 12 bulls kept by the Hyogo government.

That means true Kobe beef is vanishingly rare in the U.S., served on the menu of just a handful of restaurants nationwide. That also means you'll occasionally come across "Kobe" beef that's no such thing — watch out for scams involving both wagyu and Kobe. Still, wagyu is more common, and if that's what you find yourself settling for, well ... there are worse problems to have.