Elephant poop coffee. The Luwak animal is an unusual producer of elite coffee. I can say one thing: you shouldn’t chase exotic things, the result may not please you

In this article we will look at the types of most expensive coffee on the planet. But as Albert Einstein said, everything in the world is relative. So, the price of the most expensive coffee in the World can vary greatly depending on the place of purchase. Therefore, we will consider the average prices of the finished product.

Coffee is one of the most sold and sought after products in the world. Surely, almost every family has fans of its wonderful taste and aroma. With the help of a drink made from natural coffee beans, almost every second inhabitant of the earth wakes up and enjoys it in the morning. However, not everyone knows that the most expensive coffee, the special and delicious-tasting Kopi Luwak, is made in a very unique way. And it may shock many. So, Kopi Luwak - the most expensive coffee in the world - is made from animal excrement. Surprised? But, first things first.

Kopi Luwak - on average $100 for a cup of coffee.

The main character, thanks to which the most expensive coffee in the world is produced, is “musang”, also called civet. This animal is a mammal, its height is from 40 to 60 cm, and its average weight is 3-4 kg. Musangs are widespread throughout Southeast Asia, and on some islands of Sumatra, the Philippines, and Java. This species was most likely introduced to some of the islands. They mainly live in tropical forests.

So, how does the most expensive coffee in the world come from dung?

The production process is as follows. Musangs eat ripe coffee beans, which are partially digested in the stomach due to special enzymes, and then excreted. The remains of their vital activity are then collected by farmers. They are thoroughly washed, dried in the sun, and fried.

It’s hard to imagine who came up with the idea to make coffee this way. But he definitely didn’t make a mistake. After all, this variety is highly valued all over the world. Because of its value, civets began to be caught and caged. But this did not lead to a large increase in production, for several reasons. First, civets do not breed in captivity. Secondly, it is the enzyme that gives Luwak coffee its unique taste. They produce only 6 months of the year.

One color can eat 500-700 grams of coffee berries per day. Which will yield about 50-60 g of the required coffee beans. Which is quite small. Moreover, musangs must consume not only coffee beans, but also other plant foods. Including meat. Therefore, their diet is not limited only to coffee beans.

Some farmers keep animals all year round. Some are released for a while and then recaptured. This allows you to save on food for six months, when they do not secrete enzymes.

The cost of the most expensive coffee varies greatly depending on the place of sale. In countries far from production. The price can reach up to $100 per cup of this valuable drink.

The most expensive type of elephant dung coffee is Black Ivory, $50 per cup.

The incredible amount of money generated by the sale of Kopi Luwak has inspired the hard-working and inventive people of Thailand to organize coffee production in their homeland. Here, coffee products are extracted with the direct participation of elephants, namely the stomachs of the latter. In this regard, a zoo-farm was opened in the northern part of Thailand, where twenty elephants live, whose stomachs continuously process coffee beans. Thanks to elephants and their work, the world saw an equally expensive coffee, which has a great name - Black Ivory Coffee.

An original way to obtain “elephant coffee”

Due to the fact that the size of the elephant's stomach is significantly larger than the size of the musang's stomach, coffee berries in it coexist with other products of the animal's special diet. As a rule, coffee berries are combined with bananas, sugar cane and various vegetables. Due to this, coffee beans in the stomach are saturated with fruit and vegetable aroma, are processed by gastric juice, modify the original chemical composition and are naturally excreted from the body in the form of droppings.

Elephants are vegetarians, so many meat haters prefer Black Ivory Coffee. Note that to obtain a kilogram of the latter, you need to feed the animal over 30 kilograms of selected coffee fruits, which are collected by hand high in the mountains of Thailand.

One of the most expensive coffees in the world comes from Vietnam - Chon $50 per cup

Expensive coffee with an unusual taste is also available in Vietnam. The most expensive type of coffee here is called “Chon”. The process of making this Vietnamese coffee is no less complex. Here, coffee beans that have passed through the stomach of an animal are also taken as a basis. Only the main producer is not the musang, but the Asian marten. The difference from Kopi Luwak coffee is in the preparation. Chon is prepared directly under the cup in a special drip filter before serving. The Indonesian version is prepared in a cezve or a copper pot.

The unsurpassed smell, thickness and taste characteristics will not leave any lover of this drink indifferent. Main features: Chon has a very thick consistency, a transparent dark color and a bright smell.

Coffee entertainment for tourists.

There is little to surprise the modern tourist. But the residents of the island of Bali still did their best - here, especially for notorious extreme sports, farms have been opened to produce rare delicacies. “Coffee” animals are kept in cages and generously stuffed with coffee fruits, after which visitors are invited to get to know the number one coffee production technology in the world. Here you can also personally take part in the process of extracting exclusive coffee berries.

The entire procedure of making Kopi Luwak is done by hand. Every year a large number of connoisseurs of this unusual drink come here, the size of their wallets allows them to take part in this truly stunning action. The largest percentage of fans of rare coffee with a caramel taste and delicious aroma are the Japanese.

Every true coffee lover, if he hasn’t tried it, has at least heard about the world-famous Indonesian coffee luwak (kopi luwak).

Manufacturers and sellers award this coffee with all sorts of epithets: “the most expensive”, “the most prestigious in the world”, “elite”, “premium class”, “drink of the gods”, its taste is “extraordinarily soft”, “caramel”, “ with a delicate aroma of vanilla and chocolate,” and so on and so forth.

Although we ourselves don’t really like coffee and are not big connoisseurs of it, we still decided to find out better what this most expensive “bestial” coffee is.

Luwak in the local language is pronounced “luwak”, but since most people are more familiar with the pronunciation “luwak”, we will not retrain anyone and will continue to call it that way – “coffee luwak”.

To write this post, we visited several Balinese coffee plantations, as well as the annual Indonesian coffee festival in Ubud, where we tasted different varieties, compared regular coffee with Luwak coffee, and talked with local coffee masters.

So, meet the main character in the chain of production of the most expensive coffee, a small animal with sad eyes - the musang or palm civet ( paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

The process of making this exquisite coffee is as follows: civets eat fresh coffee berries, which are processed in their stomachs and intestines due to special enzymes.

Coffee beans, which naturally leave the digestive tract of animals, are dried in the sun, then thoroughly washed, after which they are dried again in the sun and only then roasted.

The best and most delicious coffee is produced by wild civets, who at night make their way to coffee plantations, where they feast on selected juicy and ripe coffee berries,

and as a thank you, they leave their waste, which farmers then find under the coffee bushes and carefully collect.

It is difficult to imagine in what fevered brain the idea of ​​scooping out grains from excrement and eating them was originally born, but the fact remains that this happened, and civets began to be caught and caged in order to put the production of Luwak coffee on stream.

Despite the assurances of farmers that civets continue to be fed exclusively with selected berries, this is hard to believe, and judging by the hungry eyes of the animals, they are unlikely to be very picky.

Each civet is fed about 1 kg of coffee berries per day, which yields only about 50 g of the necessary beans - this, in fact, explains the fact that Luwak is the most expensive coffee. Civets live not only on coffee rations - since they are predators by nature, their diet must also contain animal food - as a rule, they are fed chicken.

During the day, luwak are sleepy and lethargic and sleep most of the day, and their peak activity occurs at night, so the main feeding of coffee berries occurs in the evening, and chicken is given almost at night.

The high cost of this coffee is also explained by the fact that civets do not breed in captivity, so production can only be increased by using wild animals. In addition, a special enzyme that affects coffee beans is produced in their bodies only 6 months a year, and the rest of the time they are kept “idle”. Many even release civets into the wild, and catch them again before the season - this turns out to be more profitable than feeding them for nothing for six months.

The cost of Luwak coffee (kopi luwak) on plantations is about 150 thousand rupees ($15) per 100, with wholesale purchases about $100 per kilogram. In Europe, the price reaches $400 per 1 kilogram, and in retail, the price for this expensive coffee packaged in packs can reach $100 per 100 g.

We asked to see the plantation and were given a tour of the grounds.

They showed the unfortunate civets dozing in their cages. As a rule, they are quite aggressive, but during the daytime some individuals are friendly, so you can even pick them up. They feel soft and fluffy, like cats, and their faces are very cute.

Coffee plantation tour

After the cages with the animals, we watched how the grains, initially not yet separated from the excrement, were dried on special trays placed in the sun.

then the selected and washed grains are dried,

after which, completely prepared and dried grains await their turn for the next process.

So on the plantations you can see the entire process of coffee transformation - from the berries that grow on the trees, to the usual roasted beans or even ground coffee packaged in packs for sale.

We even had a hand in the roasting process - the boy stirring the beans honored us and handed us his ladle.

Luwak coffee tasting

After the tour we were invited to a table,

to a tasting ceremony, where they offered to taste several types of tea, as well as regular coffee.

We leisurely sipped tea, enjoying the views of the rice terraces.

But we were also offered to try kopi luwak, but for a fee - a cup of exclusive food costs 50,000 rupees ($5).

We tried it later, at the Food Festival in Ubud (which we'll talk about later) - if you drink it with as much sugar as the Indonesians like, you can't tell the difference.

Without sugar, the taste of Luwak coffee is slightly different - it is softer and less tart, but in our opinion, the price for it is increased more for the name than for the taste, although this is only our personal opinion, and we, again, are not coffee connoisseurs 🙂 In addition, many people enjoy purely psychological pleasure - sitting with a cup and realizing that you are drinking the most expensive coffee in the world)

In addition to civets, plantations often contain other animals, such as porcupines,

rabbits,

Bees and wasps are also bred there - wasp honey, by the way, has a very specific taste.

And also, in addition to coffee, spices and cocoa are grown on the plantations (we already talked about it in the article "").

In plantation stores you can buy packaged spices and other products with extracts of cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, nutmeg,

and also taste or smell unpackaged, freshly picked spices.

Where are the coffee plantations in Bali?

Most of the coffee plantations where Kopi Luwak can be found are located on the road leading to Kintamani ( mark on the map). There are several plantations there, we counted at least 5; on the road, as a rule, there is a large sign with the inscription Kopi Luwak.

There are not many accommodation options near the plantations; one of the few hotels nearby where you can stay is Bali Eco Advanture Resort. You can see other options here.

More than 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world every day, making it one of the top-selling beverages. This popularity is explained not only by its noble aroma and taste, but also by the many existing ones. The most devoted fans of the drink are ready to spend a lot of money for elite varieties of coffee, not even stopping at spending hundreds of dollars for a few tens of grams of their favorite drink. Below we present the top 10 most expensive coffee varieties.

Top 10 most expensive coffees

Black Ivory Coffee or Black Tusk

A kilogram of Black Ivory coffee costs up to $1,000, and the cost of one serving of a drink made from this type of grain can reach up to $50. “Black Tusk” is produced only in Thailand, and its high price is due to the small amount of coffee produced and the cost of maintaining elephants, with the participation of which the coffee beans are processed. The fruits with the coffee beans they contain are fed to elephants; in their digestive tract, the grains are exposed to enzymes, due to which the coffee from such beans gets a soft taste, with light fruity tones.

After entering the elephant's stomach, the grains are digested along with the food that the animal is fed - bananas, sugar cane, fruits. Undigested grains come out naturally, they are collected and sent for further processing. To obtain 1 kg of Black Ivory variety, an elephant must eat almost 35 kg of coffee beans mixed with fruit.

Kopi luwak coffee

Kopi Luwak is the second most expensive product, also due to the small amount of product produced (approximately 500 kg per year) and the participation of animals in the processing process. Only here there is not a Thai elephant, but a musang animal, which is also called luwak. The habitat of the musang is Indonesia, the Philippines and southern India. Accordingly, kopi luwak is produced in these regions. The eaten grains are fermented by the animals' gastric secretions, resulting in an unusual taste.

Coffee connoisseurs justifiably consider the taste to be incomparable, thanks to its softness and chocolate notes, with the presence of an elusive aroma of the jungle. The cost of 50 grams of this variety reaches $70.

Blue Mountain Coffee

The top three is closed by Jamaican Arabica Blue Mountain, priced at $200 per 450 grams. This variety is grown on plantations located high in the mountains. The grains have an unusual blue-green color, which is due to the special composition of the soil and the unique climate. Thanks to such factors, this elite variety has a soft, slightly tart, nutty taste with a slight sourness.

A distinctive feature of Blue Mountain coffee is that even when it is strong, its taste is practically not lost. This variety enjoys a well-deserved reputation among gourmets, which is confirmed by its second name – “Royal”.

Coffee Hacienda La Esmeralda

Fourth place is rightfully occupied by the elite coffee variety Gacianda la Esmeralda, which has noble taste and aromatic qualities. The extraordinary taste of Hacienda La Esmeralda coffee is given by the volcanic soils near Mount Buru in Panama and special growing conditions, when the coffee tree is always in the shade of other trees. The cost of a pound of coffee (453 grams) of this variety is about $100.

As the name implies, this variety grows on the island of the same name, which is considered the most environmentally friendly corner of the planet. Volcanic, mineral-rich soil and environmental conditions have the most favorable effect on the quality of coffee beans.

Coffee from St. Helena is grown at altitudes of 3,000 meters or more, i.e. in almost ideal conditions required for Arabica trees. The price of 1 pound (453 grams) of coffee from St. Helena is $80.

Coffee El Injerto

High-quality Guatemalan coffee variety, the original taste of which is determined by the humid climate of the region. The El Injerto variety has received many awards from various exhibitions and is recognized as one of the best products in the coffee industry. One pound of coffee beans costs about $50.

Coffee Fazenda Santa Ines

Fazenda Santa Ines is an elite coffee variety grown in Brazil. High quality is ensured by manual picking and sorting during harvesting. Coffee lovers praise Fazenda Santa Ines for its chocolate flavor with a slight citrus aftertaste.

Fazenda Santa Ines reveals its entire bouquet of coffee in combination with milk and cream. For those who love and are willing to pay for quality, Fazenda Santa Ines will be the best choice. The cost of 1 pound (453 g) of this variety is $50.

Los Planes Coffee

Los Plains coffee is an internationally recognized variety grown in El Salvador and prized for its original cocoa flavor and light floral aroma. Los Planes coffee costs $40 per pound.

Kona Coffee

Kona Coffee is a little-known, but nevertheless very high-quality variety of Hawaiian coffee. Thanks to the volcanic soil rich in minerals and favorable conditions for growing Arabica, it has an original taste and rich aroma. 450 grams of Kona Coffee costs $35.

Coffee Blue Bourbon

Blue Bourbon closes the list of the most expensive coffee varieties. Experts rate the taste of coffee as very soft, with slight sourness and a vanilla aftertaste. The aroma contains well-recognized floral motifs. Produced in Rwanda and costs $35 per pound of grain.

If you haven’t seen it, be sure to watch an excellent American film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman called “Until I Play the Box.” One of the heroes of the film, a millionaire and a big snob, was very fond of periodically drinking exquisite Luwak coffee - the most expensive coffee in the world.

Good day, friends.

Well, wealthy people can afford it. The second main character found information about how this drink is prepared and informed his friend. Everything that was in the proposed description is completely true...

In general, we will not retell or go deeper into the plot. Let's focus on what kind of Luwak coffee it is, and how it is obtained. Read it, we hope it will be interesting!

The Indonesian island of Java is considered the birthplace of all coffee. A long time ago, Arabica, Liberica, and Robusta were grown in Java, and everywhere. However, at the end of the 19th century, a rust fungus affected all Javanese coffee plantations in the lowlands, and only those plantations that were located at an altitude of more than one kilometer above sea level survived.

The most unpretentious type of coffee turned out to be robusta, which makes up 90 percent of the total product grown in Indonesia. As for Luwak coffee, it is not entirely of plant origin!..

The most expensive coffee in the world: how is Luwak coffee made?

The process of emergence of Luwak coffee is quite unusual. No, at first everything proceeds according to the standard pattern: there are coffee trees, beans grow on them - as in all other cases. Then the ripest of these beans are eaten by a creature that goes by several names: palm civet or marten, civet, punch cat.

On the island of Java itself it is called musang or luwak. This is a living “coffee processing machine”. The food eaten is processed in the animal’s body, but the coffee beans are not digested and are excreted along with the feces. These “crapped” beans are the raw material for the product known as Luwak coffee - the most expensive coffee in the world.

You are disappointed?

However, gourmets advise not to attach importance to this. After all, in the end, it is not excrement that is brewed (and thank God!), but coffee beans - carefully washed by the service staff, dried, roasted and packaged.

This is what the “source” of Luwak coffee looks like

So, the animal involved in the production of Luwak coffee has a body almost a meter long and a tail almost the same length. Moreover, this person has a strong tendency towards libations. We are talking about the consumption of low-alcohol punch by the palm marten - a mash made from palm juice, which is snacked on with various berries, including coffee berries.

Musang Luwaks lead a bohemian lifestyle: during the day they sleep off the labors of the righteous in caves, and at night they go out to “production”. They will drink punch and eat ripe, exceptionally ripe and very aromatic beans.

So, the initial stage of making coffee from the Luwak animal is based on finding the best berries and eating them.

Luwak coffee: how it is made

At the second stage, when the musangs digest the pulp of the beans, the grains remain intact and unharmed, and they are safely excreted during bowel movements. By the way, the gastric juice of punch cats includes a special substance - cebitin, which breaks down the proteins of coffee beans.

This gives Luwak coffee an exclusive taste with a barely noticeable bitterness and various shades: from the taste of butter to the taste of honey. Experts note that after drinking the drink, a surprisingly pleasant aftertaste remains in the mouth. The richness of the taste is enhanced by the specific method of roasting the beans over low heat.

In addition to collecting animal feces left in the wild, there is another opportunity to obtain raw materials for Luwak coffee; production is established on farms. Here the musangs are kept in captivity, and they eat only the beans that the farmer offers them, and not those that they usually pay attention to when in the wild. Add to everything else stress, a sedentary lifestyle and a bunch of diseases that arise in connection with this...

Meet: musang is a living and walking “factory” for coffee production

Gourmets note that the drink obtained artificially is inferior in quality and taste to that produced in the old way. Now you know how Luwak coffee is made.

Luwak coffee

When the public learns that coffee from the Luwak animal is made from beans extracted from feces, the question inevitably arises: who, I wonder, thought of picking them out of poop?

It turns out that during the colonization of Indonesia by Holland, Europeans prohibited the local population from collecting coffee beans from trees. Disobedience was met with severe punishment. So the aborigines were forced to use civet poop to prepare an invigorating liquid.

The animals that make Luwak coffee consume on average about one kilogram of berries per day. The output from each individual is approximately 50 grams of grains. Few? Undoubtedly. This is about why Luwak coffee is incredibly expensive.

At the farm, the gluttony of the musang is carefully observed. They feed with fruits and rice porridge with chicken. The coffee bean films that the animals spit out are removed from the tray so that they can eat even more berries.

Unfortunately, luwak musangs do not reproduce in captivity, and therefore, to maintain the size of the population, wild animals are captured.

Luwak coffee: where is it produced?

Traditionally, coffee made from Luwak excrement comes to the market from Indonesia (from the islands of Java, Sumatra, Bali), as well as from the Philippines. Many of our tourists are not averse to going on excursions to farms where punch cats are kept, and drinking a cup of drink there. The product is also sold in supermarkets, but much more expensive.

By the way, these are not all the countries where Luwak coffee is produced. Its release has also been organized in Vietnam and India.

Luwak coffee production in Vietnam

Plus, there are reports that manufacturers have learned how to imitate the aroma of civet, i.e. to artificially achieve an elegant taste of the drink does not add optimism.

How to brew Luwak coffee

First, we will describe how the Vietnamese, whose product received high marks from tourists, cope with brewing this type of coffee.

Vietnamese Luwak coffee is prepared in a mug. Its bottom is poured generously with condensed milk, then ground coffee powder is poured through the filter. The entire consistency is pressed down with a press, and again boiling water is poured through the filter (to slow down the process).

At home, it is best to prepare coffee from the Luwak animal in a Turk. Some coffee lovers are sure that the drink must be consumed in its pure form, in other words, without any additives or sugar.

Others, on the contrary, do not imagine coffee as unsweetened. Moreover, according to some recipes, sugar should be added during cooking. As a result, the taste of the drink is bright, and the noble coffee foam is preserved better with sugar.

At home, it is best to prepare coffee from the Luwak animal in a Turk.

You can try adding a small pinch of table salt during cooking. They say that this makes the drink richer.

How to brew Luwak coffee classically:

• slightly warm the Turk over the fire;
• then add ground coffee into it. If necessary, add spices and sugar;
• Warm the Turk again, fill it with very cold water almost to the top and mix everything with a spoon. The slower the drink is brewed, the tastier it comes out;
• After waiting for foam, remove from heat and cool. Then repeat the procedure a couple of times. It is necessary to take into account that the drink should not boil and the foam should remain intact - otherwise the coffee aroma will quickly disappear;
• remove the foam with a spoon;
• pour the coffee into cups (if everything is done correctly, the foam will occupy the entire surface of the drink).

In addition to sugar, and in rare cases, salt, spices, alcoholic beverages, and milk are added to Luwak coffee. Experimenting with their combination and quantity allows you to get an unimaginable number of recipes. The following spices are suitable for making coffee: cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, ginger, allspice, cloves and more.

How to brew Luwak coffee - recipes

And now about how to brew Luwak coffee using ready-made recipes.

"Mediterranean coffee":

• glass of water;
• 2 teaspoons coffee;
• cocoa, cinnamon, anise - ½ teaspoon each;
• ginger and orange zest - a quarter each.

"With cinnamon and black pepper":

• coffee is prepared in the usual way;
• Put a pinch of cinnamon on the bottom of the Turk along with sugar, and at the end of cooking, throw a peppercorn into the resulting drink.

“With cardamom and spices”:

• 1.5 glasses of water;
• 3 teaspoons coffee;
• 5 boxes of green cardamom;
• ½ cloves;
• anise and ginger powder.

Add finely chopped cardamom, cloves, a quarter spoon each of ginger and anise to a well-heated pot over low heat.

Kopi Luwak coffee package

As soon as the aroma of spices spreads throughout the kitchen, pour coffee inside, mix with spices by shaking the Turk, and add filtered water. Place on low heat, wait for the foam to rise, ideally three times, if you’re lazy, then once will be enough.

Luwak coffee reviews

As most gourmets admit, the described drink causes mixed reactions. Not everything is pleasant and good, which is expensive. So, Luwak coffee reviews:

• a girl wrote on one of the forums that what always stopped her from purchasing Luwak coffee was the originality of production and the number of counterfeits (and in Russia this is generally a problem!). Apparently I bought a lot of materials and videos on this topic. My intuition didn’t let me down, I bought a quality product. Appreciated him;
• She is echoed by a guy who admits that the coffee is excellent, the taste attracted him with a slight sourness, which does not spoil the taste, but, on the contrary, complements it. It’s expensive to drink such a drink every day, but on weekends it’s just right;
• a group of friends tasted coffee, each of them was satisfied. What was especially striking was that the drink completely lacks the bitterness inherent in regular coffee. The aroma is subtle and pleasant. The only problem is the hefty cost of the product;
• another guy admitted that he was thinking about how he could spend so much money on coffee! Coffee! It turned out that the taste is more than unusual - soft, and seemingly weightless;
• Among the words of praise there are also critical ones. There are people who claim that Luwak coffee tastes simply disgusting. Firstly, lifeless, secondly, faded. So, not for everyone...

How much does Luwak coffee cost?

The cost of Luwak coffee is not just high, but very high. In general, it ranges from $250 to $1,200 per kilogram. The inability to obtain Luwak coffee in Indonesia on an industrial scale dictates its high price.

But, despite the high cost, the goods are sold out with a bang!

There are no fewer people wanting to try this unusual coffee drink. Even the prohibitive cost of Luwak coffee does not stop enthusiasts. Everyone wants to understand what is so special about it. After a test, someone assures that he has figured it out, another only pretends, but in fact does not find anything special in it, and the third does not hide his annoyance at wasted money.

They sell Luwak coffee photos in chic, beautifully designed packaging. Well, of course, an expensive product should be presented as befits the level of prestige of the product! In beautiful jars, wooden boxes, in metallized bags. Packaged in both 100 and 1000 grams.

And they buy Luwak coffee from us; the price in Russia, if it differs from the world price in terms of rubles, is not radically different. Well, you need to understand that there is mark-up both due to transport costs and due to the intervention of resellers. So for a 300-gram package of Luwak coffee (price in Moscow) you need to pay a little more than five and a half thousand, for a 200-gram package - about five thousand.

If you like to experiment, be sure to try it.

And finally. There are many interesting videos on the Internet that can be loosely combined with the term coffee luwak video. In them you can glean information about the life activity of the Musang animal and how raw materials are collected in Indonesian forests. Thank you for your attention, see you again!

Coffee has never been a cheap product. History remembers the times when coffee beans were worth their weight in gold. And this is not an exaggeration.

The Europeans, having found a “gold mine”, began from the middle of the 18th century, plantations with coffee trees were actively developed all over the world, where only the climate allowed them to do this: in Colombia and Mexico, India and Indonesia.

Coffee became cheaper, but still brought enormous profits to those in whose hands were its production and sales. You can read about how and where coffee is grown in the world.

Even nowadays there are varieties that are available to only a few due to their high cost. We are no longer talking about coffee as such, but about the exclusivity of certain types of raw materials, unusual methods of obtaining and processing them, and the significant expenses associated with this.

A list of all coffee varieties with names and their characteristics can be found in the article.

You can find a review of the most expensive tea in the world.

The world's most expensive coffee made from dung

Most of the most expensive varieties of coffee in the world are obtained by exploiting “our little brothers.” And you can’t even ask for better assistants.

The fact is that animals and birds are endowed by nature with amazing extrasensory perception, which tells them which coffee fruits are the ripest and tastiest, and which ones are best ignored.

Human assistants include lemurs in Bali, monkeys in Indonesia, elephants in Thailand, bats in Costa Rica.

The most famous among these varieties is Indonesian coffee., which is called Kopi Luwak. The person’s “partner” in this case is the musang animal, or Malayan palm marten, which lives in Southeast and South Asia.

Gourmets consider this type of coffee to be the drink of kings, although they know very well what it is made from - excrement.

However, this is not entirely true. They are made, of course, from coffee beans, but only after they are eaten by a cute animal, go on a journey through its digestive system and again end up outside to undergo the necessary “sanitation” in skillful human hands.

Coffee beans are the favorite food of musangs. They will never eat “greens”; they will choose the ripest and most delicious fruits. They will be found on the tree and under it - at least a kilogram in one day.

Scientists have found that of this total amount of coffee beans, only 5 percent remain undigested, and they leave the animal’s body safe and sound.

However, being inside the animal, they manage to pass treatment with gastric juice and an odorous substance called civet. Both are good for the grains.

They are thoroughly washed, dried, and fried. Manufacturers guarantee 100% purity and safety of the finished product, although the details of raw material processing are kept secret.

Those who have tried this coffee note the whole a bouquet of exquisite flavors - vanilla, dark chocolate and caramel.

Analogues of this drink, which are produced in Ethiopia, according to tasters, are significantly inferior in quality and cannot be considered a worthy replacement for the Indonesian Kopi Luwak.

The famous coffee from Indonesia is not a cheap pleasure. On average 25-35 thousand rubles. costs one kilogram of roasted beans.

Chon from Vietnam

Chon coffee from Vietnam is produced in almost the same way as Indonesian Kopi Luwak. Coffee beans are eaten by Asian palm martens.

It is believed that after being in the body of this animal, the grains acquire healing properties, so a cup of Chon coffee is not only tasty, but also healthy.

The drink is surprising aromas of hot chocolate, cocoa, vanilla and caramel. It has a persistent, very pleasant aftertaste.

Interestingly, the Vietnamese method of preparing coffee differs significantly from the generally accepted one. It is never cooked in Turk.

Condensed milk is poured into the bottom of the mug, then a device called a “fin” (metal filter) is installed. Pour ground grains into it (the grind should be coarse), press it with a press and pour boiling water.

The drink is strong and rich. There is also a summer recipe in which I use ice instead of condensed milk and a tall clear glass instead of a coffee mug. An excellent drink in hot climates.

The price of the Chon variety per kilogram is 150-250 dollars. There are offers on the Internet to purchase a 500-gram package for 2,700 rubles.

This brand belongs to Thailand. The technological process of preparing elite coffee includes... elephant feces.

If, having learned about this, someone exclaims: “Never in my life will I taste coffee that remembers what elephant dung is,” you will have to agree with this.

Yes, never most people on the planet have not tried and will not try Black Ivory. And not because everyone is so squeamish.

The fact is that only 50 kilograms of these grains go on sale per year, and they are sold only in a few cities in Thailand. A drop in the sea. To get a kilogram of finished product, an elephant must eat 35 kg of the best coffee beans.

While in the giant’s stomach, the “surviving” grains completely lose their bitterness, but are saturated with the aromas of everything that he happily ate - bananas and other tropical fruits, sugar cane.

Costs an elite Black Ivory – 75 thousand rubles. per kilogram roasted grains.

Terra Nera

Terra Nera is the most expensive existing coffee brand. The price per kilogram can exceed 20 thousand dollars.

Moreover, in this case, the buyer overpays not only for exotic “excrement”, but also for luxurious packaging.

Coffee of this variety (by the way, it is produced even less than Black Ivory, only 45 kg per year) is sold in just one London store in a silver paper bag, which reliably preserves the aroma of the beans.

The packaging is protected from unauthorized access by a special valve and tied with a ribbon with a gold tag. If the buyer wants, his name will be engraved on the tag.

Full participants in the coffee production process are palm civets (closest relatives of musangs), living in the southeast of Peru.

Classic Arabica, having been in the stomach of these animals, acquires hazelnut and cocoa aromas and, according to experienced tasters, has a truly great taste.

Other types of coffee made from animal feces and more

And briefly about some other expensive varieties. Coffee Bat(the name speaks for itself) are obtained in Costa Rica with the help of this animal.

The animal cannot swallow coffee beans whole, but bite them with sharp teeth and suck out the juice - please! It turns out that the grains begin to dry out right on the tree. The work begun by the bats is completed by the hot tropical sun.

People collect these beans, process them and prepare very tasty coffee that costs 30 thousand rubles. per kilogram.

Blue Mountain (translated as Blue Mountain) is obtained in Jamaica in the traditional way, without the participation of animals and birds. The quality of the raw materials here is influenced by a combination of various natural factors: the growth of coffee trees at high altitudes, the wind blowing from the sea, the special composition of the soil.

Tasters note a harmonious combination of three tastes in this type of coffee - bitterness, sweetness and sourness. This variety also surprises with the aroma of fresh nectarines.

Buying Blue Mountain is difficult - 85 percent of its coffee is sent to Japan, where the drink is very popular. The cost of a kilogram of grains is 27 thousand rubles.

The Jacu bird in Brazil is involved in the creation of a coffee variety called Jacu Bird. For a very long time in the southeast of the country, the bird was considered a pest and exterminated.

This continued until one local farmer at the end of the last century realized to use bird droppings in the same way as in other countries they use the excrement of some animals.

Coffee obtained from such unusual raw materials surprises with its flavor notes: pineapple and coconut milk. A kilogram of grains is estimated at 28 thousand rubles.

It is difficult to say which of the listed types of coffee tastes better and more justifies the high price they ask for it.

It’s rare that someone gets to try all the exotic species.. In addition, there is always a great danger of purchasing a fake.

If a person has the opportunity to visit different parts of the world as a tourist or on business, he should definitely try coffee there - it most closely matches the characteristics of the variety and is much cheaper.