The Philippines produces one of the world's most expensive and coveted kinds of coffee. It comes from the droppings of a nocturnal, cat-like animal called the palm civet.
Civet cats have a taste for the sweet, red coffee cherries that contain the beans. The beans pass through the civet whole after fermenting in the stomach and that's what gives the coffee its unique taste and aroma.
The droppings collected into two containers – one for the old ones, which resemble chalky beans, and one for the fresh ones, which look like yellow beans in gravy. Gravy…?? No, best not ask.
The beans are rinsed in forest streams (at least that's a relief!) and then dried. It goes through some kind of natural processing, which makes it oily and aromatic, with an exceptionally good flavour….like fermented plum and dark chocolate with hazelnuts.
And I though they said "you can't pooh pooh things before you try them".
Hmmm… Should I add it to my list of sustainable, alternative livelihoods for promoting to upland communities, I wonder ?
April 11, 2006 at 8:25 am
I wonder if all those New Yorkers popping into Starbucks for a morning hit know where their cup of black stuff has really come from!!