India starts producing world’s most expensive ‘poop’ coffee

New Delhi, September 11

India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter of coffee, has started producing the world’s most expensive coffee, made from the poop of civet cat, on a small scale in Coorg district of Karnataka.

The civet coffee, also called as Luwark coffee, is expensive because of the uncommon method of producing such a coffee. It is produced from the coffee beans digested by the civet cat. The faeces are collected, processed and sold.

It is highly priced because it is claimed to be more nutritious and the high cost involved in sourcing the animal dropping, wastage during processing and quality certification. Civet coffee, consumed widely in the Gulf nations and Europe, is sold for Rs 20,000 to 25,000 per kg abroad.

A start-up firm, Coorg Consolidated Commodities (CCC), has made a humble beginning of making the luxury coffee on a small scale and has also decided to open a cafe to serve the brew locally.

The exotic coffee is being sold locally under the brand ‘Ainmane’. The company sources the animal poop from plantations located close to forest from where civet cats come to eat the ripest coffee bean cherries.

“Civet cat eats the flesh of the coffee cherries and not the bean. Natural enzymes in the civet’s stomach enhance the bean flavour and that’s why this coffee is unique,” Narendra Hebbar, one of the founders of CCC, said. It is being sold at Rs 8,000 per kg here.

Asked if the company plans to export, Hebbar said it is not viable in view of the high certification cost given the current low production levels. “We want to promote this coffee locally. We will open a cafe soon,” he added. — PTI