Are you curious enough to try out a cup of civet cat coffee from beans taken from the animal’s manure? If you are a coffee lover, then it is likely that your answer to that question is yes. For less adventurous people however, the mere thought of consuming anything that came in contact with poop is a turn-off. But civet coffee devotees say that you only have to drink it once to be converted.
Civet coffee is one of the world’s rarest and most expensive coffees, and it is produced in Southeast Asia and some parts of China. You may know it by another name, such as kopi luwak in Indonesia, and kape alamid in the Philippines. The name civet coffee comes from the fact that the beans are harvested from the manure of a member of the mongoose family called the civet cat, also known as the Asian Palm Civet. The best coffee cherries are gobbled up by the civet cat, and the seeds are partially digested in its digestive tract before coming out whole in the animal’s dung. Since the civet cats tend to use the same areas to mark with their dung, the farmers have no trouble finding and harvesting these coffee beans. These defecated beans are then subjected to a good cleaning, and are sun-dried. This process is said to get rid of any germs on the coffee beans.
It is not unusual to find a combination of Liberica, Exelsa, Robusta and Arabica coffee varieties in each batch of civet coffee, depending on what the animal ate. Each coffee variety adds a different flavor that is heightened by the enzymes in the civet cat’s stomach. When brewed, civet coffee has been characterized as thick and delectable, and the taste is said to be smooth, sweet, slightly dark and chocolatey. Unlike other coffees, civet coffee is does not have that sharp, pungent aftertaste.
Civet coffee is gathered by hand, and taken from excretions found in the wild, so only about 2000 kilos are produced annually. There are some tales of civet cat farms that coerce the animals to eat coffee beans, but allegedly these animals produce less under duress. Thus, the supply will always remain low.
You can find civet coffee fans around the world, from the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Prices for this bizarre food item can go as high as 100 dollars for 100 grams, or about $30 per cup, mostly due to restricted and labor intensive production. If you are interested in trying out some civet coffee, you can buy both ground or whole roasted beans in gourmet stores, in some Asian markets, or in online stores. However, the greater demand and short supply of this hard to find food item has also led to an increase in counterfeit or adulterated civet coffee beans in the market today, so buyer beware!