Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The most expensive coffee in the world comes from the poop of a cat

…to be precise, this coffee comes from the poop of the Asian Palm Civet, locally-known here as alamid. This cat-sized mammals are fond of eating ripe coffee berries, which they excrete with the partially-digested beans in their poop. Thus, the name Civet coffee.

In Indonesia the coffee is known as kopi luwak, in Vietnam it’s synonymous with their weasel coffee, in the Philippines it’s known as kape alamid.

civet1

Coffee beans from the poop of the civet.

civet2

Roasted Civet coffee beans in jars, ready for grinding.

The other week, Oki texted me that she was having a cup of civet coffee somewhere in Makati trying to wind away the time. She expected it to be expensive but she was affronted by the price anyway. She said a cup of civet coffee cost her 250 pesos (around $5 a cup). But she loved it.

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Postscript: I might change web address again. I am setting up a new site, mainly for photoblogging. ;-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

$5 for a coffee... about the standard price in Europe for a normal coffee, never mind a fancy one! I'd like to try a cup of this but I doub't I'll make it my regular habbit. Where in Makati was this?

pieterbie said...

5 bucks a cup, reminds me of my time in Paris and coffee in the Café Marly in the centre court of the Louvre museum, a small cup of espresso cost 5 euro there.
To be honest with you: the idea of coffee made from beans that have come out of a cat-like creature's ass does not make me feel like a cup of coffee.
Please tell Oki she is weird. No, that is just a joke.
Great photos!

Anonymous said...

Mike,
Kape Alamid is (almost) available in most coffeeshops around Makati. But the one that Oki had was in Bo's Cafe. They also have it in Kape Isla (the one in Serebdra, Bonifacio High Street across Market!Market!). Kape Isla sells mostly local brands i.e.,figaro classico, monk's blend, cafe de lipa, cordillera coffee, kalinga brew, sagada coffee, etc.

Peter,
that iss the usual and initial reaction but the beans go through a rigourous and (very hygenic) process before they roast the beans for hours and grind them. what actually makes this coffee expensive is the natural process that the beans have to go through acquiring that excellent taste which coffee conneiuseurs would love.

anyway, i've read an article in the LA Times and found out that this coffee is worth $600 a pound.The article also explains why this particular coffee is excellent in taste and expensive. here's the link: http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-coffee13jul13,0,2098980.story?coll=la-home-center

Anonymous said...

ehehe! I'll just stick to my good ol' chocolate cuppa!

Looking forward to your new site. :)

Anonymous said...

Heh, I saw the title saying most expensive coffee and I immediately thought of civet coffee. Is it really worth the money, I wonder? Good job on showing off the cat poop anyway :)

Anonymous said...

jim,
tikman mo...masarap siya! hehehe.

phil,
civet is all getting popular in Europe. most of the beans of course are imported from SE Asia. It's good! I cannot go down on the detail and the nitty-gritty of the taste as i might not describe it aptyly but the aroma and taste is really good. it has this subtle tinge of bitterness that lingers in your tastebud. never mind that it came from the civet poop...the beans did go through some process before they roast them for hours so it's very hygenic in that sense.

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