Natural Science Forum / Biology / Biology / April 2006

The Philippines' taste for civet coffee
By Sarah Toms
BBC News, Manila  
The Philippines has recently discovered it produces one of the world's most
expensive and coveted kinds of coffee.

But it comes from an unusual source - the droppings of a nocturnal, cat-like
animal called the palm civet.

Civets, related to the mongoose, are usually seen as pests in the Philippines
and hunted for their meat.

But their droppings are worth their weight in gold.

Known locally as alamid, civets are carnivorous but they also have a taste for
the sweet, red coffee cherries that contain the beans.

The beans pass through the civet whole after fermenting in the stomach and
that's what gives the coffee its unique taste and aroma.

'Best-kept secret'

A group of professional coffee lovers followed the trail of the civet droppings
high into the Malarayat mountain range, south of Manila, in search of the exotic
beans.

One of them, Antonio Reyes of the Philippine coffee certifying board, said civet
coffee was one of the Philippines' best-kept secrets.
"I heard the old folks in the coffee farming areas have been gathering this
coffee for their own consumption. They never told people they had this kind of
coffee," he said.

"It goes through some kind of natural processing which you can see from the
roasted beans. It's more oily, there's more aroma and it's such a good taste
that you can get value for money even if the cost is so high."

Civet coffee is one of the world's most expensive. In the Philippines, only 500
kg are produced a year and the roasted beans sell for more than $115 a kilogram.

Bean hunt

Lusina Montenegro, who collects the beans for a living, led the coffee experts
to the civet droppings.

She climbs the mountain in her flip-flops, hunting for the beans in the thick
undergrowth.
"Sometimes it's a big civet and then the droppings are also big, but sometimes
it's a small one and then the droppings are small," she said.

Ms Montenegro puts the droppings in two containers - for the old ones, which
resemble chalky beans, and for the fresh ones, which look like yellow beans in
gravy.

She rinses the beans in forest streams and dries them on her patio before they
are sold on to Bote Central, a company that exports the beans to Japan.

Niche market

The developers of the brand are a husband and wife team, Vie and Basil Reyes.

The couple was involved in conservation work for the sugar palm and the civets
that live among the trees. They made organic vinegar from the palms and started
selling the civet coffee alongside it in small bazaars.

Now the coffee has become so successful they are hoping to start brewing up
profits in Taiwan and North America.

Mr Reyes of the coffee certifying agency also hopes the struggling local coffee
industry can mirror the success Indonesia and Vietnam have enjoyed with their
brands of civet coffee.

"I never thought it was also available in the Philippines, so when I first heard
of it I thought this is one kind of coffee that we can look at and develop," he
said. "If we have the volume then it's good for the niche market."

'Dark chocolate'

Andrew Gross, an Australian roast master, climbed the mountain to find out for
himself what the attraction is of coffee that passes through the backside of a
furry mammal.

Just like a wine connoisseur, he slowly slurped the brewed coffee, letting it
travel across his tongue for the first time.
Mr Gross said he was surprised at how much he liked it, comparing the taste to
fermented plum and dark chocolate with hazelnuts.

"There's obviously some substance to this in terms of what waves I am getting,
but beyond the difference in flavours a lot of it has to do with hype and a lot
of it has to do with the fact that it's fairly rare," he said.

It may not be everyone's cup of tea. But experts here hope coffee lovers will
want to treat themselves to something special that might just help perk up the
Philippine coffee industry.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4896230.stm

Published: 2006/04/11 04:58:39 GMT