Not actual Cat Poo, but in Ubud we had a chance to taste one of the most expensive coffees in the world: Kopi Luwak.
The peculiarity of this "Kopi" (the Indonesian word for "coffee") is that it comes from coffee beans that have been digested by a Luwak (an Asian civet cat). To summarize the process:
- Civets eat coffee berries
- Civets digest coffee berries
- Civets poo the indigestible coffee bean remains (in little clumps)
- Humans pick up the poo
- Humans roast and grind the partially digested coffee beans
- Humans make coffee and drink it.
For some reason, this is a prize delicacy… so we had to try it. In Canada, Kopi Luwak Coffee costs around $100 per 100 grams (but it can also be much higher based on some unknown criteria)….ichhh. Since Indonesia is one of the places where Kopi Luwak is produced, a cup costs only $6.
Dom doesn't really drink coffee (4 cups in his entire life), so Jen was the one to taste it. Her comment: "mmmm coffee…with an after taste of ass"… just kidding... actually it tasted a lot like any other coffee but it did have a rather unique semi-sweet aftertaste.. worth $100 for 100g? Our tastebuds aren't advanced enough to think so, but we'd consider drinking a cup of it again when we return.. :)
Here's what the beans look like when you buy them.
And here is an image of a civet with some coffee berries.
