You’ve Had Worse Things in Your Mouth

I’ll admit, right off the bat, that I’ve run across some pretty disgusting food in my travels. Some of it has even ended up in my mouth, since I will usually try anything once, as long as it doesn’t appear to be poisonous and I’m allowed to spit it out, if I don’t like the taste.

However, I do draw the line at things that have been consumed by others, both animal and/or human first.

I recently came across something called Kopi Luwak, which roughly translates to “cat coffee.” Cat coffee, I’m told, is a much sought-after coffee served in the far eastern lands of Indonesia and Vietnam. It is made from coffee beans that are gathered from the “cat sh**” of a weasel like animal known as the palm civet. Its closest north American cousin is the skunk, I’m told.

This coffee has apparently been around for hundreds of years, with most people who’ve heard of it, thinking it was an urban legend. Well, I’m here to tell you Kopi Luwak is real and has made its way to America and is being sold at select coffee houses around the country. But I don’t think you can buy it at Starbucks, just yet.

It is being sold for about 10-dollars a cup, which to my mind is outrageous. But then I think Starbucks prices are outrageous.

I’m not a coffee drinker and never have been. Other than a sip of my sister’s vanilla bean frappachino, a couple of years ago, I’ve never had Starbucks coffee.

Back to Kopi Luwak. In some circles, it is actually called monkey coffee, but except for hanging in coffee trees, the cat has no resemblance to a monkey.

The cat loves to eat ripe coffee cherries and while digesting the fruit, it poops out the allegedly untouched coffee bean. Harvesters then walk around picking up coffee beans off the ground. After the s*** is cleaned off, the beans are shipped out to coffee houses to be brewed and consumed by the discerning coffee lover.

The washing, I’m told also helps lower the bacteria content making consumption safe, even though in China, civets have been linked to the SARS outbreak. The Chinese used to eat civet steaks until the SARS disease began killing people. Sale of civet meat has now been banned.

Some who have had the coffee say it has a strong aroma, why am I not surprised. They also say it tastes good, coffee-like but a little musty.

Thank you, but please don’t pass the coffee, somehow I can’t imagine it being good to the last drop.