Spambot of the day
This time it’s not a message. It’s the spambot’s name:
Catshit Coffee Provider In Singapore.
As a non-coffee drinker, I thought this was some sort of joke. But it turns out that it’s not:
New York’s crappiest cup of coffee is also its most expensive.
At $30 a cup, “Kopi Luwak” is made from beans collected from the droppings of a small, cat-like mammal called a civet…
The pricey coffee originated in Indonesia and the Philippines, where folks noticed the civets eating coffee berries, collected their droppings and picked out the beans.
Coffee consultant Michael Peter, 26, of Tamp Tamp Coffee Lab in New York, said the cats’ stomach acids produce a smooth-tasting brew…Because of its unique processing, a pound can cost from $340 to $400…
Ben Lieberman, 28, a coffee shop manager from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was turned off after the first sip.
“It has a dirty taste to it,” Lieberman said. “It’s heavy. It’s like, ‘Dude you just crapped in my coffee.'”
No, not the Onion. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
I’m sorry but like Haggis, tongue, caviar, escargot and chocolate covered insects, some things are simply not meant for human consumption.
That they can be eaten, doesn’t mean they should be eaten.
Well I’ve been to Singapore a lot of times, and the only coffee you can get most of the time is Nescafe instant. And it tastes like crap. I didn’t know cats were involved…
If you just would pay me the attention I deserve, neo, you would have learned a year ago that….
“I was finishing my first cup of Kopi Luwak shade-grown, fair-traded, passed through the colon of an Asian Palm Civet coffee (@ $160.00 per pound and worth it) while gazing across my lawn to the sun-splashed playground across the way when I came across this:”
http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/driveby/anatomy_of_a_blog_post.php
Can you just feed the berries to one’s tabby and get the same effect for a lot less money?
Anyone who saw The Bucket List in 2007 saw the Edward Cole character drinking it in his hospital room and sharing how terrific it was as indicated by the costliness of it.
They, likewise, saw Carter Chambers character later expose Kopi Luwak’s origins and their hilarious response.
If you haven’t seen it; you might find it worthwhile…
Civets are not cats. The Asian Palm Civet, which VDL correctly notes is the animal in question for the Kopi Luwak process, is the sole member of its zoological family, and is not even closely related to other civets, much less felines.
I agree that Kopi Luwak tastes awful and is outrageously overpriced. There are many excellent coffees grown in various parts of Indonesia that won’t set you back anywhere near $160/lb., and don’t have the “yuck” factor involved in drinking something that passed through a civet’s colon. Of course, maybe that’s part of its appeal to some people.
Lilsis beat me to it!
[Carter hands Edward an article about Kopi Luwak, Edward’s favorite coffee]
Carter Chambers: Read it.
Edward Cole: [reading] Kopi Luwak is the world’s most expensive coffee. Though for some, it falls under the category of “too good to be true.” In the Sumatran village, where the beans are grown, lives a breed of wild tree cat. These cats eat the beans, digest them and then… defecate.
[pauses]
Edward Cole: The villagers then collect and process the stools. It is the combination of the beans and the gastric juices of the tree cat that give Kopi Luwac…
[Carter starts laughing]
Edward Cole: …its unique flavor… and aroma. You’re shitting me!
Carter Chambers: [laughing] Cats beat me to it!
[Carter and Edward both laugh hysterically]
My neice went to Indonesia and returned with some of that coffee. I tried it and as Southpaw says, it tastes like crap.
I like that coffee…
family members bring me such when they visit. which reminds me to remember to have a cup this weekend…
even worse, if an aficionado saw me drink it, they would cringe and have a heart attack.. i drink it like many countries drink their coffee, dump the grinds in the cup… 🙂
sadly, i dont think the stores are selling the good stuff. (the caviar store in Manhattan was found to be adulterating the caviar, so why not cofee?)
its hard to imagine anyone thinking it was awful, unless they hated kona smooth blends… which is what its most like to me. the smoothest chockolatiest kona you ever drank and no harsh flavor at all
maybe walt can taste something i cant?
who knows… wife and i are forever tasting and eating from all over, and it can be a challenge (though now i like fresh durian 🙂 )
on another note, RIP Larry Grathwohl…
watch the movie “Bucket List” with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.
I like cats, and I like coffee…
But no. Just no.
Decadence is great, isn’t it. In search of new pleasures and experiences… few things cannot be sacrificed for such goals.
It’s OK. Kind of a mild but dirty Maxwell House. Made with tap water in a dirty pot. Nothing special.
If we in Seattle were truly civilized, like Alaska or Arizona, we would have Dunkin Donuts. But noooo…. Though the coffee at Dick’s isn’t bad.
In the interests of journalistic probity and exactitude, there are no Dunkin Donuts in Alaska. Just Golden Donuts. Even better.
Hartono: Come, we will prepare the Kopi Luwak for today’s shipment.
Iwan: Eeuww! I’m not going to feed beans to a civet. The claws.
Hartono: That was the old way. I have a new process.
Iwan: Show me.
Hartono: I have 20 lbs of beans in that big bowl over there.
Iwan: The smell!
Hartono: Yes. They have been soaking for 2 days mixed with one lb of civet poop. Get the hose. We’ll wash them off and dry them for 3 hours in the sun.
Iwan: You abase yourself.
Hartono: $160 a pound wholesale.
Iwan: You have a point.
That’s good, Andrew. I was thinking more along the lines of “Agus and Budi”, but I can see Hartono and Iwan cooking up the same scheme to part Bule tourists from their money. “Wah, ya, Tuan, kopi ini enak sekali! Harga terbaik disini, aja RP 1,500,000 per 1/2 kilo. Berapa mau?”
Art, I’ve had Kona and I’ve had Kopi Luwak. Kona just tastes better to me. Kopi Luwak isn’t harsh, but it tastes “muddy”, if that makes sense. If you like it, knock yourself out. I’ll stick with the Kona, or a nice Sumatra or Toraja dark roast. Much easier on the wallet, too.
AND CIVETS ARE NOT CATS!!!
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