Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Civet cat coffee!


It came as a huge shock to me when Dr Pradeep Kenjige, head of the R & D dept of Coffee Day in Chickmagalur recounted the tale of Civet Cat coffee. Considered one of the most premium and expensive coffees in the world Civet Cat coffee has hammered home to me that we humans are a perverse lot, and in our lives there has to be that all important desideratum - which is preferably something other humans might not consider desirable.
It is said, Madonna loves it and wont drink any other - Kopi Luwak is made from the beans of coffee which have been eaten by the Civet Cat and passed through its digestive tract - and YES! defecated. Apparently in the stomach of the cat, enzymes seep into the beans which cut the bitterness and make it one of the most aromatic coffees in the world!
Look closely at my picture, you can see the civet cats pooh with the coffee beans totally intact.It's in the Amalgamated Coffee Bean museum in Chickmagalur. The cat looks for only the ripest coffee berries to eat for their pulp. So only 2000 kilos or so are made of this 'tasty' treat annually, as civet coffee is still gathered from the excretions of civet cats in the wild. Ugh!!

5 comments:

  1. Marianne: you are not the only one shocked by Civet Cat coffee. I am repulsed at hearing about this - I drink Bugisu coffee from Uganda and I am confident that it does not go through such a process.
    --GMP

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  2. Terrible thought! Though they assure us that the beans are washed really well and dried before use!
    Cant think of it!

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  3. i would like to try :) but it looks seems really expensive.... sigh :( life suxs sometimes... lol :)

    Anyways, very interesting post :) wish u took a closer picture though!

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  4. Ugh Siddarth! that was the Civets cats urrrf!! That was close enough!

    And if you want to try it,well you must be in Madonna's league!!

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