We can only wonder why the rich love this
Before you take a sip of Civet coffee, the world’s most expensive coffee, there are two things you should know: 1) A single kilo of it costs between ₹20,000 to ₹25,000; for those who don’t buy their own groceries – that’s approximately 25 times (2500% more) of what your everyday brew retails at, and 2) It is made from the droppings of the Civet cat.
That’s right, droppings as in that smiley brown emoji you love sending your sibling.
Though it is a common drink of the elite in both the richest parts of the Middle East and Europe, you won’t have to go too far to take a sip. Civet coffee is made right here in India, in Karnataka’s Coorg and Chamarajnagar districts. Its high price comes from the uncommon (to say the least) method that is involved in its production.
There’s a reason why the most expensive coffee in the world derives it’s name from the civet cat, a largely nocturnal creature that resembles any child a raccoon and a cat may have some day. The end of the civet’s digestive process is the beginning of the coffee’s life cycle.
When the civet eats the flesh of the coffee cherries, the natural enzymes in the animal’s stomach enhances the flavour of the eaten bean within those cherries. The bean is then found in the poop of the civet, processed and, after a routine check, packaged. The fact that it has been through the civet’s digest tract is what apparently makes it nutritious and its steep price tag attributed to the high cost that goes into sourcing the animal and quality certification.
However, unlike other countries where civets are caged and fed forcefully, India uses a more natural method: the waste of wild civets is collected from coffee plantations that stand at the edge of the forests in Coorg and Chamarajnagar. That’s great news for farmers too because though we’re no coffee experts ourselves, we’re going to guess that locally sourced organic coffee bean-laden poop fetches a better price than the cage manufactured variety.
source: http://www.gqindia.com / GQ / Home> Live Well> Drink / by Tracy Ann / September 20th, 2017
