Have you ever heard of “Kopi Luwak?” It is the rarest coffee in the world, and also the most expensive (up to $700 a kilogram!), and its production method is – to say the least – highly unorthodox: it consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

It is therefore also called civet coffee. The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet’s intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected.

A specialist offering this coffee right here in the Bay Area is my friend Bill Choi of Travelin’ Joe who actually introduced this exotic topic to me. Contact him for a tasting! ([email protected]). So far, so good…

Only bad thing is that the coffee is now mass-produced by keeping the civets in cage batteries, force-feeding them so they produce, well, you know what. It’s animal cruelty, plain and simple. So IF you indulge in this unique specialty, just make sure to choose the “wild” and not the “farmed” variety. And here is Jack Nicholson enjoying HIS.