Coffee Series

Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast, 1999, Excerpt

Like many fine beans, those that made this cup were processed by the “wet method,” but in this case, removal of the pulp, mucilage, and parchment was all natural, performed as the cherry progresses through the gut of a civet cat. Near its sexual organs, this mammal possesses a gland that secretes a musky oil long prized in the perfume industry.

The cat's meow in coffee

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069914.html

10 Mar 2009

Luwak coffee, which comes from Indonesia, arrived here around a year ago and sells for something like $600 per kilo. The luwak, an animal native to Indonesia resembling a cute cat, eats the ripe fruit of coffee trees (each piece contains two coffee beans side by side). When the luwak excretes the still intact beans, they are removed and roasted and ground into powder like any other coffee. Hard-core aficionados say the flavor is intense and defend the roasting process, noting that "the beans in any case are roasted and what can happen to them in the luwak's stomach?" Shenhav describes the taste and quality of luwak coffee as "creating sparks" and justifying the high price.