Health Law

Here Kitty Kitty, I Need My Morning Coffee

By Marler Clark

You may be wondering what in the world cats and coffee have in common, and until this morning my answer would probably have been some witty quip (or a lame one, depending on your sense of humor).

But it turns out that some cats, the Asian Palm Civet to be precise, can actually enhance the flavor of your morning cup o' joe.  And how do they do that?  I'm glad you asked (but you might not be when I finish explaining it).

As featured in a recent News Press article, a special type of coffee bean called Kopi Luwak is produced by first feeding the bean to civets, which then pass the bean through its digestive tract before being collected and processed for brewing.  To articulate your thoughts, yes, the beans are essentially roasted civet poo.

One US coffee roaster, Bennett's Fresh Roast in Fort Myers, Florida, will begin brewing this expensive, rare and bizarrely harvested coffee this week.

And because readers of Food Poison Journal know to be rightfully weary of any food that comes in contact with feces given the high potential for dangerous pathogens like E. coli, Bennett's owner Bob Grissinger roasts the beans at 600 degrees and then brews coffee to about 200 degrees, temperatures sufficient to kill the pathogen.

So drink up this delicacy is you dare, but just make sure you've got plenty of cash on you.  The cost for 12 ounces of this kitty dung drink runs $20.  As for me, I plan to stick with my plain ol' delicious poo-free Starbucks.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on September 28, 2009 (boomark / email).