The world's most expensive coffee

Would you cringe at the thought of forking $600 for a pound of coffee named Kopi Luwak?!! No, it's not your average "kopi" at the "kopitiam" that is laden with edible 24k gold. It's actually a "civet cat coffee", a direct translation of Kopi Luwak. This coffee is from the islands of Sumatra, Java. No other coffee can rival its price nor its taste because this coffee has a very unique flavour and an interesting background.

It is actually coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civet populations but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. While the bean is in the little guy's stomach, it undergoes chemical treatments and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system, and exits. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee.

The beans before it's roasted...

Believe it or not, the coffee has a rich, heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, musty and exotic. The body is almost syrupy and it's very smooth. Although I have not tried it for myself, I can't believe someone out there would actually pick up the animal's feces and made good money with it!

One small cafe, the Heritage Tea Rooms, in the hills outside Townsville in Australia, has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at US$33.00 per cup, selling approximately four cups a week, which has gained nationwide Australian press. It is also available now in Selfridges London at the "Edible" range of its exotic food & beverages section. What makes it so expensive is that there's only a mere 300kgs of beans produced every year.

Now would you give this coffee a try? Provided you can find it and have a couple of hundreds to spare.

I Love Illy

I've been converted from a non coffee drinker to one whom enjoys a cuppa once in a while. And my new lover seems to be Illy. Not Mr. Illy himself whom is the Chairman and CEO of the Illycafe company but simply his coffee. Honestly, I do not regard Starbucks as a place for good coffee. Nice ambiance, free wi-fi and convenience - yes but definitely not gourmet coffee.

Actually I do take coffee for 1 simple reason - to cure my constipation problems. Whenever I do have trouble not being able to sh*t, I'll take a cup of nescafe and then about 1 hour later, I am all ready to visit the toilet. It works everytime and this is a cheap fix! It's funny how I seem to order tea whenever I'm in a cafe like Starbucks or Coffee Bean and I find myself a little out of place. But it never bothered me because I do not like coffee. Period.



However, after having Illy, I fell in love instantly. Although I do not take espresso like a coffee hardcore but I enjoy a good cup of cappuccino. And the odd thing about me is that I do not add sugar into my cappuccino nor my tea. I'm slowly but sure learning to take sugar out of my drinks.

The one place that I like a fix of the occasional caffeine addiction is the Espressamente Illy which is in Pavilion KL (located beside Esprit). Espressamente Illy is an Italian interpretation of a gourmet coffee bar and it has many outlets worldwide. I love that outlet and the smell of a cup of freshly brewed coffee is just so inviting even for a non-coffee lover like me. I hope I wouldn't turn out to be a caffeine addict. Or else I've gotta live on a liquid diet of coffee, wines, champagne and single malts.

Ahhh they say, once you go black, you never go back.
(in this context, it's the coffee I'm talking about)