Sugar with your civet cat coffee?

This is really weird. Aparently civet cat coffee is all the rage in Southeast Asia:

SARS fears have stopped the Chinese from eating civet cats. But that hasn’t turned off others from sipping the strangest of brews — one they insist is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the weasel-like animals.

The story goes like this: Civets live in the foliage of plantations across Southeast Asia. These fussy foragers pick the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system break down the flesh of the fruit before the animals expel the bean.

Workers collect beans from the plantation floor, wash away the dung and roast them to produce a unique drink that devotees might say is good to the last dropping.

I think I’ll stick with Maxwell House.

The Discussion: 4 Comments

Sometimes I think humans ask for it… wierd diseases, etc.

Happy CNY!

January 21, 2004 @ 1:41 pm | Comment

It’s called “kopi luwak” in Bahasa Indonesia where it is largely gathered and, I promise, it is exceptionally good.

January 21, 2004 @ 3:03 pm | Comment

I’d rather die.

January 23, 2004 @ 10:00 am | Comment

I always thought that Asians ate crap, but I was wrong. They drink it.

August 12, 2004 @ 1:02 pm | Comment

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