Kopi Luwak Coffee

I thought all of you coffee lovers out there would be interested in this. Have you ever heard of Kopi Luwak coffee? Also known as civet coffee, it happens to be the most expensive coffee in the world selling anywhere from $100 to $600 a pound. The reason it is so expensive is because it lacks the bitterness that most coffees have. But that's not the kicker. On islands near the Philippines there is an animal known as an Asian Palm Civet, known by the locals as "luwaks". One of the things these cat-like animals eat is coffee berries. When the red coffee berries are digested in the animal's gut everything is broken down except the coffee seed or bean that's inside the berry. Also during the digestive process enzymes in the stomach of the civet help breakdown proteins that give coffee its bitter taste. Now here's the good part. When the civet defecates the undigested beans in the animal's scat are then collected by locals, washed and roasted and then ground into coffee. Yep- read it again...that's exactly what I said. Yum.....