'Civet coffee' sells - despite Sars

BBC | 19 January, 2004

[traumer]

Experts say that the coffee has a unique aroma

Fears that Chinese civet cats may help to spread Sars have lead to thousands of the animals being slaughtered, but they do not seem to have affected demand for a rare coffee harvested with the animals' help in Indonesia.

"Kopi Luwak" or " Civet Coffee" is made with beans that have been partially digested and then excreted by civets.

The animals live in plantations and are apparently expert at picking out the finest coffee berries. Their digestive systems break down the fruit and then expel the beans.

These are gathered by plantation workers who then wash off the dung and roast the beans to produce a coffee which experts say has a unique flavour.

"Our coffee has a strong taste and an even stronger aroma," Agus Susanto, a Jakarta cafe owner told the Associated Press news agency. He said he was still selling Kopi Luwak, even though China has exterminated thousands of civets in recent weeks because of an apparent link to the Sars virus.

"There are many different kinds of civets in this world The Indonesian ones are different from those in China", said Mr Susanto.

Victor Mah, a coffee dealer from Singapore, told the BBC that the quantities of the coffee were "miniscule" and it was unlikely that anyone would have had it without knowing it.

[traumer]

Good morning. Coffee anyone ??

[sd-joe]

to produce a coffee which experts say has a unique flavour

I bet it does.

[jocon307]

ACK! This is truly disgusting, I'll stick with Juan Valdez, thank you very much. Viva Columbia!

[evets]

"...wash off the dung and roast the beans " Hey, it's not like they're brewing civet dung! ha ha (This coffe was just 'ground' this morning.)

[anniegetyourgun]

I would never run my coffee through a civet. Filters work just fine for me.

[traumer]

Any Starbucks management freeper out there?

[kenth]

You sure Jaun Valdez doesn't have his own "special roast"?

[EggsAckley]

This is one of those things that makes you think, what WERE they thinking when they "discovered" this treatment for a food item. Kinda like, who ate the first artichoke?

[cyborg]

hehehehehe

[joesnuffy]

what the heck?...I spose they roll their powdered donuts in kitty litter as well......
ah... hi toned culture.....

[BenLurkin]

"Kopi Luwak" or " Civet Coffee" is made with beans that have been partially digested and then excreted by civets.

Yikes, be on the lookout for that stuff and AVOID it.

[BlazingArizona]

Mmmm - nothing like the smell of cat poop brewing in the morning!

[LPStar]

You don't have to worry about getting it accidentally - it's several hundred dollars per pound :).

[manic4organic]

And I thought the Chinese were wacky for ingesting tiger penis.

[NautiNurse]

I coughed up a fur ball just thinking about it.

Frankly, domestic shorthair java is purrrrfect.

[turbojugend]

Tried this when I visited China. Tasted like shiat.

[nothingnew]

"This coffe smells like sh*t!...mmm, It's rather nutty."

FMCDH

[Rebelbase]

That "unique flavor" in the morning gives me a bad attitude all day long.

[sd-joe]

LOL

Are we missing a money making opportunity? Can I get my cats to eat coffee beans?

[The Great RJ]

I'd like to know who came up with the idea of going through cat dung looking for undigested beans and then making coffee out of them. Brave was the first person to eat an oyster, but this is ridiculous.