Civet coffee: Strange brew in a time of SARS fears

Civet coffee: Strange brew in a time of SARS fears

Chris Brumitt
Associated Press
Jakarta

SARS fears have stopped the Chinese from eating civet cats.
But that hasn't turned off others from sipping the strangest of
brews - one they insist is made from coffee beans eaten, partly
digested and then excreted by the weasel-like animals.

The story goes like this: Civets live in the foliage of
plantations across Southeast Asia. These fussy foragers pick the
best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system
break down the flesh of the fruit before the animals expel the
bean.

Workers collect beans from the plantation floor, wash away the
dung and roast them to produce a unique drink that devotees might
say is good to the last dropping.

=Skeptics, though, dismiss it all as a weird and unverifiable
marketing gimmick.

Still in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, the owner of three
fashionable cafes, Agus Susanto, sells what he claims is a mix of
regular beans and those that have passed through civets. The
blend and the cafes are both called "Kopi Luwak" - in English:
"Civet Coffee."

"Our coffee has a strong taste and an even stronger aroma,"
Susanto said by telephone from his factory in central Java.

In Vietnam, now the world's second-largest regular coffee
grower, a blend supposedly containing some civet beans is
produced by the Trung Nguyen company under the "Weasel Coffee"
brand.

In the Philippines, the Old Manila Coffee House used to sell a
civet brew, but supplies have dwindled over the years, said Ellen
Tuason, its finance officer.

"Some of our guests said it was an aphrodisiac. It has a
strong coffee smell, but different. There is a distinct odor and
flavor," she said.

The beans are also marketed internationally. Several U.S.-
Internet based coffee traders claim to offer them for up to
US$150 a pound, ($325 a kilogram) making among the world's most
expensive beverages.

However, many in Asia's coffee trade doubt whether the beans
are truly produced in significant quantities, if at all.

"There are maybe a few bags here, a few bags there, but mostly
its just a myth," said Victor Mah, a Singaporean who has been
selling coffee from Southeast Asia for more than 25 years.

Others just won't swallow the claims.

"I think it's a big scam," said Mark Hanusz, who spent eight
months traveling Indonesia researching his book about coffee
called "A Cup of Java."

In the past few weeks, authorities in southern China have
exterminated thousands of civet cats on fears that they carry and
spread the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus.

The World Health Organization also sees a potential
relationship between the furry black and white animals and the
disease that killed 774 people worldwide last year.

If that link is confirmed, consumer interest in civet coffee
could plummet.

But in Jakarta, Susanto isn't worried. He expects to keep
selling what he claims is 100 metric tons (110 tons) of civet
coffee a month.

"There are many different kinds of civets in this world. The
Indonesian ones are different from those in China," he said.

Henry Harmon, an American from Boston, Massachusetts who owns
a chain of coffee shops in Indonesia, said he thinks the drink is
for real, though he has no plans to introduce it in his stores.

"It has a nice romantic - well semi-romantic - twist to it,
but I'd be worried about product liability lawsuits," Harmon