Jumbo coffee

Have you heard about the coffee which is prepared using civets?

In Indonesia, this luwak coffee became rather famous as the civets – an animal a little like a ferret – selected and ate the best coffee berries.

The farmers then used the residue of the coffee from the animal’s excrement to make coffee (thoroughly washed and treated beforehand of course!).

It is regarded as something of a delicacy.

However, another rather unusual animal-coffee story has just been reported in the news.

As hinted in the title of this article, the news relates to elephants!

Everything Lubbock has recently reported that resorts in the Maldives and in Thailand (Anatara properties) have just started to serve up coffee which has been taken from the dung of the giant animal.

Yes, you read that correctly!

Coffee has been made from elephant poo and you might also be surprised to hear that it is also considered a delicacy, that people are prepared to pay out a lot of money for.

The beans are called Black Ivory.

And the price tag?

A cool $1,100 per kilo.

Special beans (Arabica variety) are picked at altitude (some 5,000 feet) and fed to the elephants.

Apparently, the digestive system of the animal is useful in taking away the bitterness from the coffee beans (enzymes break down protein which can cause it).

The beans then undergo a four stage procedure in preparation.

The resultant coffee has been described as ‘milk chocolate’ with hints of nuts, earth, red berries and spice.

If you win the lottery, perhaps you can try some for yourself if you’re so inclined!