Kopi Luwak – Cat Poop Coffee, In High Demand

I thought it was bad enough to pay $5 for a cup of "normal" coffee at Starbucks. Just be thankful you don't have a Kopi Luwak addiction. Kopi Luwak, by the way is coffee made from coffee beans collected from the dried feces of wild animals, namely an Asian cat called a Palm Civet.

The cat-like animal ingests the coffee cherries needed for this bizarre delicacy, but doesn't digest them. This natural digestive process is what gives civet coffee its supposed purity and smooth taste. Natural enzymes in the mammal's intestines make the beans less acidic.

Civet coffee can set your average coffee drinker back $60 for a mere four ounces of beans. That is somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 per cup. The coffee's high price is actually far reduced, however, from its peak a few years ago.

The civet coffee craze is not entirely unique, though. Coffee made from beans picked from elephant dung costs $1,100 a pound. Meanwhile Jacu Bird Coffee from Brazil is made from beans passed through the digestive systems of the indigenous Jacu Bird.

Cheers!