Would you drink coffee produced
from coffee beans that
have passed through the digestive
system of a civet cat?
It doesn’t sound too appealing,
but that’s exactly how Civet
coffee, also known as Luwak coffee,
is produced—by processing the
feces of the cat. It’s the world’s
most expensive coffee and is now
being produced on a small scale in
India, according to a PTI report.
A start-up firm called Coorg
Consolidated Commodities (CCC) has started making
the coffee in Karnataka, hoping to sell it through a
local café as well as to wealthy consumers in Gulf
nations and Europe, where it sells
for as much as Rs 20,000-25,000
per kilogram.
Narendra Hebbar, one of CCC’s
founders, told PTI that the company
will collect civet poop from
plantations nearby, where the cats
eat the ripest coffee bean cherries.
“Civet cat eats the flesh of the
coffee cherries and not the bean,”
Hebbar said. “Natural enzymes
in civet’s stomach enhance the
bean flavor, and that’s why this
coffee is unique.”
It’s certainly unique, but for many people, that may
translate to uniquely unappealing.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
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