A cup of kopi luwak, as it’s known, can sell for as much as £60 ($80) in the United States.įound in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the civet has a long tail like a monkey, face markings like a raccoon, and stripes or spots on its body. Or rather, it’s made from coffee beans that are partially digested and then pooped out by the civet, a catlike creature. He's still not quite there, but he says he's close to breaking even.It’s the world’s most expensive coffee, and it’s made from poo. I get to work with people I really enjoy being with, I can make a decent living from it, and everyone's happy. 'I just want to keep it as a small, niche business. 'I'm not looking to produce a lot of this,' Dinkin says. Dinkin is selling an experience, limited for now to five-star hotels and resorts in Asia and the Middle East - and one tiny store in Comfort, Texas, called The Elephant Story, where the profits go to elephant conservation.

I really like it.'ĭon't expect Black Ivory in a Starbucks near you.

But it hasn't got that horrible muddy water flavor afterwards, which is really nice. I normally describe drinking coffee as a bit like drinking puddle water. Then it got better, because his wife, Claire, is a Brit, and she doesn't even drink coffee. But this is quite a gentle taste, and, yeah, I quite like that,' he noted. 'Yes, that's very interesting, because usually I use sugar with coffee. 2 taste like? I bought a serving - five or six espresso cups - for $70, and sat on the terrace of the five-star Anantara Golden Triangle hotel to watch Dinkin prepare the 'experience.'įirst, he ground it lovingly. The last thing you want is a cranky elephant,' says Roberts. 'It's not necessarily elephants getting buzzed that I'm too worried about, it's elephants missing their caffeine fix and having headaches and being bad-tempered. Was Roberts worried about the elephants hitting the mash a little too hard? Not really. 'As long as we could prove that there was no caffeine or anything else harmful leaking out, then it was worth trying, at least,' he says. John Roberts, the director of the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, remembers this. The drying process is long, and the roasting process is precise. But he insists there's nothing fake - or frivolous - about Black Ivory Coffee.īlake Dinkin sources his Arabica beans from hill tribes in the north of Thailand. He knows Kopi Luwak's image has been trashed because of concerns over counterfeiting, disease and animal abuse. It's similar to Kopi Luwak, the civet coffee that was all the rage a few years back Dinkin has just supersized the idea.

Here's the catch: His Black Ivory Coffee is made by passing coffee beans through the not insubstantial stomachs of elephants and then picking the beans out of, well, yeah, that. I s#&% you not: The world's most expensive coffee is now being produced in Thailand's Golden Triangle, a region better known for another high-priced, if illegal, export: opium.Ĭanadian entrepreneur Blake Dinkin, 44, is betting his life savings that he can turn his idea into, well, gold. Here, an elephant receives medical treatment from the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation. The fermentation happening in their gut as they break down cellulose helps remove the bitterness in the coffee beans. Elephants, unlike humans or civets, are herbivores.

Digested coffee beans