“I can't say much though, I grudgingly support my wife's Starbucks habit at $5/drink and just a few years ago I found that just as ridiculous.”

Well, in this case what you’re paying for is not the coffee per se.

I agree with the sentiment. I am willing to pay more for my beans, but brew my own coffee at home and at working using a good burr grinder and an Aeropress. The lower temperature and higher pressure method makes such a smooth cup without bitterness that you can actually start tasting the coffee. I like the analogy of the camera-- you can buy a great lense, but if your hand shakes then the picture won't come out well.

Same for me. I once visited a coffee farm at Kona: the coffee was nice, but not that special. (For one thing, the coffee was in thermal carafes, with small paper cups next to it. Think Trader Joe's.)

I feel how the coffee is prepared matters more than where it is from. Or maybe I lack the taste buds to feel it properly. Oh well.

Bean source, processing, roasting profile, freshness, grind, temperature, and brewing method all play a part in making a good cup of coffee.

And of course taste is subjective so it's hard to get an absolute answer here. Kona coffee is likely overpriced and overhyped. In my opinion there's a diminishing return on coffee taste past a certain point. I haven't seen any indications that the really expensive coffees' tastes are proportional to the price, it's just that demand is high because they're famous in some way (Kona, Blue Mountain, Kopi Luwak)

For a real eye opener of "bean origin affects flavor", try some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans from a reputable roaster. You should get strong blueberry notes from the coffee, quite different from other regions' coffees. It'll be more expensive than a bag of whatever supermarket coffee, but there's a clear distinction in taste. Whether you like that taste is entirely another thing, but drink whatever tastes good to you!