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Expensive caffeine: Coffee made from animal dung goes for £50 a cup
At Gadling we are pretty crazy about odd and bizarre foods. We've already written about Indonesian turd coffee, a byproduct of wild civets, but today the good news is that you don't have to travel all the way to Southeast Asia to get it. To get your morning cup of turd coffee, make your way to London instead.Peter Jones, a department store in Sloane Square, is selling a gourmet coffee blend made from animal dung and selling it at £50 a cup; that's almost $100! Caffe Raro, which is thought to be the most expensive coffee in the world, is a made from a blend of Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kopi Luwak beans. The Kopi Luwak beans are eaten by the Asian palm civet, and once passed through their system, collected and sold for a little under $650 per kilogram. Don't worry -- they're washed before they are roasted.
$100 may seem like a lot to spend on a good cup of java -- especially when it's made from animal dung -- but then again, if you live in Europe, it's cheaper than a ticket to track down the specialty in Indonesia.
Gallery: "Gross" Food
![Roast cuy [guinea pig]- served roadkill style](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.gadling.com/media/2007/10/63966403_965eb5fda3_b_thumbnail.jpg "Roast cuy [guinea pig]- served roadkill style")
Filed under: Food and Drink, Indonesia, United Kingdom
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
rrgg Apr 10th 2008 3:59PM
Civets were tied to the spread of SARS. What are they thinking?
dot dowd Apr 10th 2008 10:51PM
Sars link with the civets concerned has been excluded in scientific press. The beans are not broken down by the civet- they are harvested entire and the minimal surrounding excreta washed away to leave clean entire beans.
Kopi Luwak- the correct term has been available in the USA and Canada in epicure coffee shops for several years. A genuine form is produced in controlled hygienic conditions by Bali Orchid Garden- in Bali- and is available for tasting there at less cost. Roasted Beans and ground coffee is for sale through their store or by intenet. See details on their internet site.
dotty 01 Apr 11th 2008 6:35AM
Sars link with the civets concerned has been excluded in scientific
press. The beans are not broken down by the civet- they are harvested
entire and the minimal surrounding excreta washed away to leave clean
entire beans.
Kopi Luwak- the correct term has been available in the USA and Canada
in epicure coffee shops for several years. A genuine form is produced
in controlled hygienic conditions by Bali Orchid Garden- in Bali- and
is available for tasting there at less cost. Roasted Beans and ground
coffee is for sale through their store or by intenet. See details on
their internet site.
Raider007 Apr 10th 2008 4:49PM
I've had the Kopi Luwak coffee (bought 1/8th of a lb a while back) and honesty, it's pretty good. it's really smooth. it was worth the price to have a taste of the coffee, but slightly expensive if it became a habit.
jamie p Apr 10th 2008 8:14PM
I'll sell ya turd in a cup for half of that.
guy Apr 10th 2008 8:18PM
Of course, they enjoy drinking dung. Have you ever eaten British food? Dung is a step up.
Perry Green Apr 10th 2008 11:10PM
You are absolutely right about English food it's basically horrible.
Denise Apr 10th 2008 8:43PM
As Austin Powers might say,"Tastes a bit nutty..."
J9 Apr 10th 2008 9:09PM
Stuck up Europeans & Brits especially, loved to yak on about stupid, overfed, oversexed, overindulged Americans back in the days when the $ was worth something. Now here they are when their own currency is on fire, behaving WORSE than bad old yanks ever did. Nothing worse than newly bred snobs with a few euros.
whitesharkt Apr 10th 2008 9:10PM
The civet was the link to the SARS virus. Be careful when you drink that stuff.
Paris Hilton Apr 10th 2008 9:14PM
That's Hot!
URKiddinMee Apr 10th 2008 9:26PM
This from the same gene pool which had their soldiers wear bright red tunics and march in straight llines while the Colonisist hid behind trees and picked them off. They certainly haven't gotten any SMARTER in the past 250 years! I can piss used Orange Juice in bottles. Wonder what they'll pay for THAT delicacy?
J9 Apr 10th 2008 9:41PM
If you package it as being sanctioned by "Her Majesty the Queen" you can probably name yer own price son!
Marilyn Terrell Apr 10th 2008 9:48PM
Check out the new coffee shop in Alexandria, VA with a coffee machine that cost $11,000. Can you taste the difference?
http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/it/2008/04/coffee-with-an.html
Inbred Brits Apr 10th 2008 10:00PM
Juist shows what inbreeding does on a massive scale. Drinking coffee made from beans that were shat out the anus of a skunk .
Real class ther Brits real class. Hey I got some hot cocoa made from droppings of my AKC Schnauzer for sale only 70 Pounds a cup.
mrdickieweed Apr 10th 2008 10:17PM
You know the British are famous for their dung consumption....King George was well known for his favorite dish, "Poultry Butter Surprise", which was chicken shit warmed up and spread on scones....when he would have big shot diplomats and crowned heads at his hunting preserve, that was all that was to be served....his guests were told to "eat up and shut up", otherwise they were left there and to their own devices to get home.....supposedly only about a third actually got ill and threw up, but according to the German Chancellor there were a "shit-load of people turning green as they tried to smile".....
THOMAS Apr 10th 2008 10:36PM
SAVE IT FOR THE BRITS TO TRY! INTERESTING
DAVE Apr 10th 2008 10:45PM
I DOUBT THE U.K. MASSES ARE DRINKING THIS.
IF SO, THEY ARE GETTING LIKE THE JAPS WHO EAT THE RATS AND ALL KINDS OF DISGUSTING STUU
Jim lemon Apr 10th 2008 11:03PM
Aww. I thought it was because it's better than English beer!
John Howell Apr 10th 2008 11:56PM
While I have a great deal of respect for the British in most respects, aren't these the same people who chase a wheel of cheese down a steep hill and break bones doing it? Hmmm...