If you search animal The Poop Coffee on Google, a whole list of strange and expensive coffee products will appear. One of the most popular is Kopi Luwak, which is also known as civet cat poop coffee. This type of coffee is made by harvesting the feces of civet cats. These wild cats eat coffee cherries and excrete the undigested beans in their poop. The beans are then collected, washed, dried, pounded to remove the extra skins and sorted thoroughly before being roasted.

The process is very time consuming and labor intensive, which accounts for the high price of this exotic coffee. Coffee drinkers describe it as earthy, syrupy, smooth and rich with jungle undertones. The digestive processes of the different animals give the coffee a distinctive flavor.

Coffee Connoisseurship: Exploring the Art and Science of Animal Poop Coffee

Despite its unique flavor, this type of coffee has some nasty side effects for the animals used. Many civets are kept in cages and force-fed coffee cherries instead of their normal diverse diet. This can lead to mental instability, gnawing at their cage bars, and even self-maiming. Caged civets can also become so buzzed from the caffeine that they will chew and bite at their own limbs. This results in a vicious cycle of pain and stress that can eventually kill them.

Another animal poop coffee is made from the dung of elephants. Like kopi luwak, the beans are harvested from the feces of these large mammals after they’ve eaten, digested and excreted the beans. This type of coffee is gaining in popularity, but it hasn’t gained the same widespread acceptance as kopi luwak.