New World's Most Expensive Coffee Comes From Elephant Poop

If you're a coffee fan and love trying exotic varieties from around the world, why not try the most expensive of them all? Known as “Black Ivory”, this coffee originates from northern Thailand, where approximately 20 elephants are fed with the fruits of the coffee tree, which are later collected from their droppings for later use. sun-dried and roasted. Ew!

According to The Epoch Times, the enzymes in the digestive system of elephants metabolize coffee protein (which gives the traditional bitter taste to the drink), and because they are herbivorous animals, digestion of elephants involves a great deal. more fermentation than carnivorous animals, helping to impregnate coffee seeds with the taste of the fruits. The result is a soft, earthy, non-bitter drink.

Rare product

However, to produce just one kilogram of roasted coffee requires about 10, 000 beans, and annual production is approximately 50 kilograms. Due to poor availability, a cup of elephant poop coffee costs $ 50, and 450 grams of the product sells for $ 500.

There are other similarly produced coffee varieties, such as Kopi Luwak - which comes from the feces of a small mammal known as the civet - whose cup can cost $ 20. Another example is Jacu Coffee, which is originally sourced. Brazilian and each cup can cost between $ 10 and $ 15.