lola desire
08-19-2003, 09:22 AM
coffee is good and all... but someone has gone too far.
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/news/newsletter/images/kopi_luwak1.jpg
excerpt:
According to local legend, the palm civet, in spite of its categorization as an omnivore, is a fastidiously picky eater. Thus, it is thought that this musky epicure selects only the coffee cherries that are at their very peak of ripeness and savor. (Other foodstuffs selected by the civet at their very peak of ripeness and savor include: insects, palm sap, birds, voles, spiders, squirrels, and frogs.)
As the civet's gustatory interest is strictly in the outer, pulpy portion of the coffee fruit, it allows the commercially viable pit (containing two of what we know as the coffee bean), to pass through its digestive tract physically unscathed, though perhaps somewhat morally cheapened.
Like the common house cat, the civet habitually tends to void its bowels in the same spot every day. Thus, it's the work of but a moment for cheerful coffee plantation workers to run their fingers through the creature's rich, loamy feces and glean the treasures within, which are then washed (thank god for small comforts), roasted, and sold as "the world's finest, and most expensive, coffee," at prices often exceeding $200 per pound.
You read that right. This little creature that locals apparently call "luwak" comes along, eats the berries off of a coffee bush, they pass through its digestive tract -- fermenting all the way -- only to be pooped out the other end, gathered up by locals, and sold to stupid people who are willing to pay for rare coffee beans that have literally been through the wringer. Of course, I could not resist the temptation to be one of these stupid people.
full post on marsupial-poop coffee (http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/forum14/html/000055.html)
[ August 19, 2003, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: lola desire ]
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/news/newsletter/images/kopi_luwak1.jpg
excerpt:
According to local legend, the palm civet, in spite of its categorization as an omnivore, is a fastidiously picky eater. Thus, it is thought that this musky epicure selects only the coffee cherries that are at their very peak of ripeness and savor. (Other foodstuffs selected by the civet at their very peak of ripeness and savor include: insects, palm sap, birds, voles, spiders, squirrels, and frogs.)
As the civet's gustatory interest is strictly in the outer, pulpy portion of the coffee fruit, it allows the commercially viable pit (containing two of what we know as the coffee bean), to pass through its digestive tract physically unscathed, though perhaps somewhat morally cheapened.
Like the common house cat, the civet habitually tends to void its bowels in the same spot every day. Thus, it's the work of but a moment for cheerful coffee plantation workers to run their fingers through the creature's rich, loamy feces and glean the treasures within, which are then washed (thank god for small comforts), roasted, and sold as "the world's finest, and most expensive, coffee," at prices often exceeding $200 per pound.
You read that right. This little creature that locals apparently call "luwak" comes along, eats the berries off of a coffee bush, they pass through its digestive tract -- fermenting all the way -- only to be pooped out the other end, gathered up by locals, and sold to stupid people who are willing to pay for rare coffee beans that have literally been through the wringer. Of course, I could not resist the temptation to be one of these stupid people.
full post on marsupial-poop coffee (http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/forum14/html/000055.html)
[ August 19, 2003, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: lola desire ]