Another one has appeared - “elephant”, produced in Thailand. Coffee, the price of which exceeds $1,000 per kilogram, is highly valued by connoisseurs and is considered the most expensive in the world.
1. This coffee variety is called Black Ivory. Its production is similar to Kopi Luwak coffee: undigested coffee beans pass through the animal's gastrointestinal tract, are treated with an enzyme that gives them a unique mild taste and aroma, and are excreted naturally.
2. You can try coffee with a unique taste in several 5-star hotels located in the north of the country, as well as in the Maldives and Abu Dhabi. For a cup of Black Ivory coffee you will have to pay 50 dollars, and if you want to buy beans, a kilogram will cost 1,100 dollars.
3. Coffee is produced in the Golden Triangle - at the junction of the borders of three countries: Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Previously, large quantities of drugs were produced here.
4. The production of this type of coffee was established by Canadian Blake Dinkin. As he says, coffee beans, when they enter the animal’s stomach, undergo natural processing: stomach acid breaks down the protein that gives coffee its bitterness. Thanks to this, coffee acquires a soft taste and aroma that sets Black Ivory coffee apart from other varieties.
5. Elephants' large stomachs take almost 30 hours to digest coffee beans. By mixing with sugar cane and bananas - one of the most favorite delicacies of elephants - coffee acquires an amazing taste and aroma.
6. The high cost of Black Ivory coffee is explained by the fact that to produce 1 kg of coffee, an elephant must eat 35 kg of Arabica coffee beans. But even such a high price did not prevent the sale of 70 kg of coffee during the first weeks of November. In 2013, Blake Dinkin plans to produce 500 kilograms of elephant coffee.
Coffee is the most sold product after oil. There are coffee lovers in every home. Russia is among the top ten largest coffee lovers. Almost everyone loves coffee, but not everyone knows that the most expensive and most difficult, elite and prestigious is Kopi Luwak coffee (coffee made from excrement). This is a unique variety of coffee No. 1.
Gourmets detect in it an unusually soft taste of caramel with the most delicate aroma of dark chocolate and vanilla with a persistent pleasant aftertaste. One cup of coffee can cost up to $90 in Europe. This probably adds a special charm to the excellent taste.
The technology of its preparation will shock anyone. Exclusive coffee for a narrow circle is obtained in the most extreme way - this coffee is not for the faint of heart. The method of making aromatic coffee differs from the traditional one. This unique, most expensive type of coffee is chosen from the droppings (excrement, in simple terms - ordinary poop) of animals.
Soft to the touch and fluffy wild animals, distant relatives of the Rikki-Tikki-Tavi mongoose, resembling a cat with a big nose - the Asian palm civet (civet, luwak, musang or Chinese badger) are big fans of coffee berries. Moving from one tree to another, animals absorb the ripest and largest coffee berries in huge quantities.
Ripe coffee beans are red in color and resemble the fruits of a bay tree. During the day, one voracious animal can swallow up to 1 kg of coffee beans, from which only 50 grams of undigested coffee beans can then be picked out.
Coffee beans treated with gastric juice enzymes and civet: - dried, cleaned and peeled, washed thoroughly, dried again, then lightly and carefully roasted at a certain temperature. The exact roasting recipe is kept secret.
Outlandish beans obtained in such an unusual way can only be obtained for 6 months of the year, and the rest of the time the animals do not produce the enzyme that gives coffee a unique aroma. Grains obtained from males have a greater and more pleasant aroma. A high standard is applied to defects in the appearance of coffee beans; the beans go through up to 15 degrees of sorting.
The most expensive Kopi Luwak coffee with a unique aroma is produced in Indonesia in a special microclimate on the island of Java and earn huge money from it.
Some researchers tried to get the same coffee in Ethiopia, simulating the natural process, since coffee trees grow there and civets live there. According to the tasters, Ethiopian coffee is inferior in taste to the original.
The most expensive coffee in Vietnam is called Chon, this is the most expensive and unusual coffee.
The preparation technology is as complex as in Indonesia; coffee beans are used, processed by the stomach of an amazing animal. But the locals in Vietnam do not prepare coffee in a copper Turk or Jazz, but in a drip filter right above the cup.
The taste, aroma and thickness of coffee differs significantly from what Europeans are accustomed to. Vietnamese coffee is very thick, has a very rich aroma and a transparent dark color.
On the island of Bali, artificial small farms have been organized to produce delicacies for extreme sports enthusiasts. Luwak are kept in captivity, fed coffee berries and offer tourists a detailed look at the process of producing the most expensive coffee in the world, and if desired, even personally participate.
All work has not yet been mechanized and is performed manually. Lovers of curiosities with lots of cabbage love show-offs. Most fans of the special aromatic Luwak coffee with a delicate caramel taste are in Japan.
Huge profits from the sale of “Luvak coffee” inspired the hardworking, enterprising Thais to organize coffee production using the stomach of elephants. Therefore, a farm-zoo was created in the north of Thailand. The stomachs of a herd of 20 elephants process coffee beans for the elite Black Ivory Coffee (Black Tusk or Black Ivory).
The stomach of an elephant is many times larger than the stomach of the small predatory animal luwak (aka mussang). Coffee beans are kept in the elephant's stomach for more than a day, alongside a special diet of vegetables, bananas and sugar cane. During this time, coffee beans are saturated with fruit and vegetable aroma, processed by gastric juice, change their chemical composition and are naturally excreted, i.e. in the form of poop)
Since elephants are vegetarians, extreme vegans should give a clear preference to Black Ivory over civet coffee. To get 1 kg of coffee, you need to feed the animal 33 kg of selected Thai Arabika beans, hand-picked on highland coffee plantations.
Veterinarians periodically check the level of caffeine in the elephant's blood. Therefore, the cost of coffee for the elite rises to $1,100 per kg. Exclusive coffee is offered only in expensive Anantare hotels in the Maldives and in the Golden Triangle Nature Reserve between Burma, Laos and Thailand. The cost of one cup of coffee is only $50. The new variety of exclusive, original coffee is sold in very limited quantities - only 60 kg were offered for sale last year. It took $300,000 to develop a new type of coffee.
Coffee lovers, having tried a new variety of coffee, Black Ivari, note an unusual taste for which it is difficult to find epithets - it is a peculiar pleasant taste and an incomparable aroma.
In Russia, the first coffee house was opened in 1740 by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna. She was a big coffee lover. So Russian craftsmen should develop and put into production the production of coffee processed with Burenka. Its productivity with a constant appetite can compete with elephants, and the new coffee would be called Copi Burenka (or in our language: Burenka Coffee). And then you see, the name of the pioneer would be added to history, and even today the export of a new type of elite coffee would be added to the export of oil and gas.
If you, creaking your heart, gave your entire monthly salary as a teacher in Moscow for a package of coffee, then with bated breath, prepare yourself a cup, carefully preserving the foam while brewing, which from the first sip will fully reveal all the taste, divine aroma and make you want to drink everything to the end. Such delicacies greatly arouse curiosity, but sometimes reduce appetite, causing certain associations. For reference: Coffee from litter comes in different varieties. By far the most expensive is the original coffee made from Luwak dung, followed by coffee made from elephant dung. In third place is coffee made from monkeys!
And now we are trying to guess who is in fourth place? Enterprising farmers from the city of Minneapolis (Minnesota) have started producing coffee from cat droppings. And according to its manufacturers, anyone who has not tried this coffee has not tasted coffee at all!
In Sri Lanka, they organized an unusual, but very profitable business on... elephant dung. Of course, their whole life there is built around elephants! In every hotel, in every corner of the country, all the entertainment for tourists is elephants. And then someone came up with such a bright idea - to make paper from elephant cakes!
And this paper, as well as numerous products made from it, fly away with a bang. Like hot cakes, excuse me for the inelegant comparison)
Firstly, all elephant manure is collected from the fields, washed and dried. Now it doesn’t smell, you can touch it, but we didn’t do it just in case there was a fireman.
Then the substance is again filled with water, fermented, and heated until it reaches the desired consistency. Just in case, this happens behind bars, since the properties of elephant dung are not fully understood, and there is a fear that a new dangerous form of life may arise there.
Then in special bathrooms it is all settled and mulched. If you touch the substrate with your hand for a long time at this stage, a mustache will grow.
That's it, now you can touch and even write on the liquid without fear. The paper is almost ready, it's time to dry it. To do this, it is poured into special forms and left in the sun.
After a couple of days, the almost finished product is taken out and passed through bulky hand presses.
It turned out to be quite real paper. The truth is very relief and textured. The inclusions are apparently the remains of the breeding elephant's breakfast)
Now we need to make a product out of this paper that tourists will like. Basically, these are, of course, notebooks, envelopes and albums.
Julia Vern 54 016 0
Coffee is a food product that is consumed as a drink. Everywhere coffee is one of the most common and favorite drinks. Every day, every person’s morning begins with a cup of hot aromatic coffee; it would even be difficult to imagine the beginning of a new day without it.
Coffee trees are grown in different countries, mainly in the tropical climate zone. These trees belong to the madder family and number about 60 different species.
The grains of this product contain a large number of chemicals. The main components are:
- caffeine, about 1-2%;
- ester of caffeic and quinic acid - 5-8%;
- 1% citric acid;
- 6% carbohydrates;
- 5% mineral salts.
The production of regular coffee differs in different methods of roasting (at different temperatures), adding impurities (which gives a particular flavor to the drink), or the type of coffee tree.
The production of the most expensive varieties of black drink has a slightly different and interesting scheme. These production methods influence the cost of a valuable product. So, get acquainted with expensive varieties of coffee and their production.
The most expensive varieties are obtained from animal excrement
The leader among connoisseurs of a prestigious and elite drink is coffee extracted from excrement, Kopi Luwak. The drink under this name is number one in price all over the world.
True gourmets characterize it as the drink of real kings. It has the taste of dark chocolate and a delicate aftertaste of caramel, and includes a slight vanilla aroma. Kopi Luwak is truly expensive; a cup of coffee can cost up to $100. Naturally, this is the price in countries remote from the place of production.
Kopi Luwak production technology.
Only true connoisseurs know how this drink is produced. This recipe is quite simple, and it just affects the cost. It is made, or rather obtained, from animal droppings. These animals are Chinese badgers or musangs. They look like the cartoon character Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, only gray in color. These badgers feed on coffee fruits, and they choose the ripest and largest berries, collecting them both in trees and on the ground.
A ripe coffee berry is red in color and large in size. Small green grains do not attract these animals, so they only enjoy the ripe product. Badgers can consume up to 1 kg of ripe fruits per day. What is eaten is mainly digested in the animal’s body, and only 5% does not have time to be digested and is excreted entirely.
Coffee beans, while in the animal’s body, are processed there by gastric juice and civet. After which the excrement released from the animal is collected by a person. Fruits that have not had time to digest are selected and cleaned. After a long cleaning process, they go through a drying and cleaning process, then another washing and drying process. The dried grains are lightly roasted at a certain temperature. The exact recipe for preparation and processing is unknown; its manufacturers keep it secret.
The grains are washed, cleaned and roasted several times
An interesting fact is that the grains are selected only for six months; the remaining six months they do not have the same taste. The fact is that the enzyme that gives coffee fruits a unique taste is secreted in animals for six months, but not for the next six months. Therefore, there is no point in collecting coffee produced by animals at this time. Beans from males are more valued, as they have a special pleasant aroma.
The collected grains go through a 15-stage sorting stage. And only grains without defects are packaged and sold as a whole. The rest are ground and sold crushed. This coffee is produced in southeast Asia - in Indonesia.
In Ethiopia they tried to develop the same coffee production as in Indonesia. There are also coffee trees and similar animals called civets. When tasters tried and compared these drinks, the Ethiopian version was far below the quality of the Indonesian product.
Chon coffee variety
The second expensive variety is produced in Vietnam and is called Chon. It has a slightly different taste than the product from Indonesia, no worse, just a little unusual. This variety is called an analogue of Indonesian coffee. Mostly Arabica and Robusta varieties are used, but less commonly the Katimor and Chari varieties are also used.
Chon production technology
The main participants in the production of the product from Vietnam are the Asian palm martens. They also eat coffee beans and love them very much. The technology is similar to that of Indonesian producers; grains are also collected from the droppings, cleaned, washed, and fried. The yield of whole beans from the animal's body is also about 5-7%. It is believed that the beans released from these animals have medicinal properties. Until recently, people considered palm martens to be pests, until they once tried to make a drink from their droppings. Now they have specially made enclosures where they keep these animals and at the same time feed them coffee beans.
Drying of beans not separated from excrement is done in the sun, after which each grain is selected, washed and dried again. After this, they move on to the frying process. Manufacturers do not disclose the temperature at which they fry.
The Vietnamese have learned very well how to combine several types of product into one, and the quality does not decrease, but only improves. This type of coffee includes the aroma of cocoa, hot chocolate, vanilla, and caramel. In general, everything is the best and necessary to get a divine aftertaste. The cost of this variety ranges from 150 to 250 dollars per kilogram.
The Chon variety is produced by Asian palm martens
Chon coffee recipe
There are two popular recipes for preparing this drink by the Vietnamese themselves.
- Condensed milk is poured into the bottom of the cup and a special filter is placed on top. A spoonful of ground beans is poured into the filter and pressed on top with a press. After that, I pour boiling water into the cup through the filter, and it turns out to be an excellent drink.
- The second method is somewhat unusual. The procedure is the same as in the first case, only instead of a cup a long glass is taken, and ice is used instead of condensed milk. The drink is served cold as a refreshing drink in hot weather.
The Vietnamese themselves consider their drink number one in the world and say that if you try just one sip, you will never be able to refuse it.
Variety Black Ivory
Another common and expensive type of drink is Black Ivory. Translated into Russian it means “Black Tusk”. The cost of a kilogram of such grains is $1,000. It has its own special taste and aroma, somewhat similar to the previous two, but has an original taste.
Manufactured by Black Ivory
This drink is produced in Thailand. The main producers are elephants. They are fed ripe berries from Arabica coffee trees and get almost ready-made coffee from their feces. Beans passing through an elephant's stomach are treated with the large animal's stomach acid. The acid is able to dissolve the protein of coffee beans, which leads to the fact that the finished product loses its bitterness. Therefore, even the strongest Black Ivory coffee will never be bitter.
Curious:
The process of digestion of fruits by an elephant's stomach takes about 30 hours. During this entire period of time, the grains are saturated with the fruity aromas of sugar cane, bananas and everything that the animal is fed.
To get a kilogram of undeformed grains from an elephant's stomach, it needs to be fed 35 kg of ripe berries, while mixing them with other ingredients that are included in the elephant's diet. During eating, most of the grains are simply destroyed, another part is digested by the stomach, and only a small part comes out of the elephant without deformation.
Women are responsible for extracting grains from elephant dung; they select whole grains and then send them for drying. Drying is carried out in factories in Bangkok. In Thailand, 26 elephants are involved in the production of the black drink.
It is very difficult to buy a product of this brand, since it is sold only in some cities in Thailand.
Black Ivory is produced with the help of elephants
Other high value coffees
These varieties of dark drink are inferior in price to all of the above, but not inferior in taste.
- Coffee Yauco Selecto.
This type of coffee is obtained in the Caribbean, from Arabica beans. Coffee trees are grown at an altitude of 100 meters above sea level, where there is an excellent climate for their growth and rich harvest.
It is not passed through the bodies of animals, so coffee has a significantly lower cost - $50 per kilogram. - Starbucks.
This drink with this name appeared quite recently in 2004. Introduced to Rwanda by Starbucks. This drink has its own distinctive aroma and aftertaste. When drinking this coffee, you feel a slight sourness with a different bouquet of spices. The cost of a kilogram of grains is 50-60 dollars. - Blue Mountain.
This type of coffee is produced in the city of Walenford, Jamaica. A distinctive feature of the variety is the absence of bitterness and mild taste; it is very popular among the Japanese population. This variety is produced traditionally. The cost starts from $100 per kilogram and above.
Having considered the prices, production principles and taste characteristics of each expensive coffee, we can note that the most expensive varieties are the Kopi Luwak, Chon and Black Ivory brands. They have the same production principle, but from different manufacturers. It takes a lot of work to produce the product by passing grains through the stomach of an animal. Both of these types of coffee are popular only among the rich and affluent segments of the population.
Incredible facts
The most expensive coffee in the world, called "Black Tusk", is made from coffee beans eaten and digested by Thai elephants, and costs 1100 dollars per kilogram.
According to those who have tried coffee, the exotic drink made from elephant excrement has rich, soft taste precisely thanks to the digestion process in the elephant's intestines.
“When an elephant eats coffee beans, the acid in its stomach breaks down the proteins in the coffee, which gives the drink a bitter taste,” the experts explained. "The result is coffee with a very mild taste without bitterness regular drink."
Read also:
The most expensive and delicious coffee in the world
It is very similar to another variety of coffee, Kopi Luwak, which is obtained from the excrement of musang animals. However, the elephant's stomach has a slight advantage in this regard.
On average an animal It takes about 15-30 hours to digest the coffee fruit, which are "simmered" along with bananas, sugar cane and other ingredients of a typical elephant's vegetarian diet to create a uniquely rich and fruity flavour.
A rare variety of coffee can be tasted only at four resorts in the world: three in the Maldives and one in Thailand and A cup of this drink is not cheap - $50.
Why is it so expensive, you say? Firstly, keeping elephants in a reserve is expensive. Secondly, the elephants are fed only Thai Arabica coffee grown at an altitude of 1500 meters. In addition, elephants need eat about 32 kg of coffee fruit to produce 1 kg of coffee beans.
Coffee varieties
There are two main types of coffee: Arabica coffee And Robusta coffee. The most common Arabica variety is obtained from the fruits of the Coffea Arabica tree, and Robusta from the fruits of Coffea canephora.
Arabica has a more refined taste and contains less caffeine. Robusta is a cheaper variety of coffee with a high caffeine content, more bitterness and sourness.
The most expensive types of coffee:
Kopi Luwak coffee: from 115 to 590 dollars per 500 grams
Kopi Luwak is made from coffee cherries that are digested by musang animals, which use their keen sense of smell to select the ripest and best fruits. The digestion process removes the pulp and leaves behind the sweeter grain, which is harvested by hand.
Coffee Esmeralda "La Esmeralda": 100 dollars for 500 grams
Also known as Esmeralda Special, this coffee is produced in the mountains of western Panama. The intense flavor of the coffee is a result of the cool climate and careful harvesting of the fruit.
St. Helena Coffee: $80 per 500 grams
This type of coffee is produced on the island of St. Helena, where Napoleon Bonaparte was in exile. It is made from the fruits of "Green Tipped Bourbon Arabic", which grows only on this island. It has a pleasant fruity taste.
Coffee "Fazenda Santa Ines": 50 dollars per 500 grams
This type of coffee is produced in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil in the traditional manual way. It has a sweetish taste of caramel and berries.
Blue Mountain coffee: $45 per 500 grams
This coffee is produced in Jamaica and is known for its very smooth taste without bitterness. Coffee beans are also used as a base for Tia Maria liqueur.
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