Amazing coffee beans that can cost up to $400 per pound are being produced with the aid of the civet (called a luwak in its native land), a polecat-like animal of Asian origin. The origins of Kopi Luwak in Indonesia go back to the Dutch occupancy of Indonesia, where the rich landowners did not allow the native workers to have any of their precious coffee beans. Coffee has its powerful draw as we all know, and the workers had to find a way to get some beans for themselves. The solution came from the forest critters that fed on the crops of coffee... The red outer fruit that the cats love to eat was digested, but the bean remained whole, altered by its journey through the digestive track, fermented in a way that man could not replicate, and done is a significantly less amount of processing time. The civet droppings were collected and cleaned, then roasted and ground by the Indonesian workers, and discovered that the resulting flavor of the brew was superior to a regular roasted coffee bean.
The demand for these beans has grown 50% in the past year, and does not seem to be slowing its growth. One producer explained in an interview that he was going to triple his civet poplulation, from about 50 animals to 150, in order to try to keep up with the demand. It has been reported that several London coffee houses offer Kopi Luwak for what is equivalent to $100 USD. And at the source, one cup of the brew is nearly $9--where the average worker only makes $2 per day, it is still a huge price to pay.
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