World’s most expensive coffee tainted by ’horrific’ civet abuse | Environment | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/19/civet-coffee-abuse-campaigners
It’s the world’s most expensive coffee and is made from faeces, but connoisseur drinkers should feel most squeamish about the “horrific” abuse that mars its production process, animal welfare groups have claimed.
Kopi Luwak, or civet coffee, is created mainly in Indonesia from beans of coffee berries that are fed to Asian palm civets – small, cat-like creatures found in south-east Asia.
The brand has experienced a recent surge in popularity, fuelled in part by a memorable appearance in the 2007 film The Bucket List, pushing its export price up to $230 (£145) a pound.
Kopi Luwak has spread from Indonesia to the US and Europe, with a London outlet last year announcing that it will charge patrons £70 for a cup.
But its high-end pricing and idiosyncratic origin mask the grim reality of the coffee’s production, which has morphed from a casual cottage industry for rural Indonesians to intensive farming.
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