World's Priciest Coffee

I just can't believe it that they manage to breed "Luwak" outside Indonesia... or at least there are other foreign country which producing Kopi Luwak...

i just thought that Luwak is only exist in Indonesia.. and that makes us Unique among any Coffee Exporter Country...

Jeff

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From the Belly of a Beast: Marsupials Get First Taste of World's Priciest Coffee
By Aline Sullivan
Published: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1999

IS THERE A COFFEE snob on your shopping list? Someone who spurns local lattes? Who would rather abstain than imbibe an instant brew? Test their dedication with a gift of Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee at dollars 75 per quarter pound (500 grams) unroasted, and, probably, the only one that is consumed twice.

Kopi Luwak is made from beans found in the feces of the ultimate coffee snobs: small Indonesian marsupials known as paradoxurines.

Their ability to select some of the choicest coffee beans from Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra inspires local collectors to retrieve the beans after they have been, well, processed. Once roasted, ground and brewed, the result is a rich, dark coffee with a caramel flavor that some aficionados swear is slightly hallucinogenic, thanks to the addition of enzymes in the stomach of the paradoxurines.

Not surprisingly, Kopi Luwak is difficult to find. For the squeamish, it also may be difficult to swallow. Shoppers looking for something a bit fresher but almost equally exotic should consider beans from another remote corner of the world.

The island of St. Helena (yes, that St. Helena) in the South Atlantic produces about four tons of coffee a year. It costs dollars 16 to dollars 18 per pound green, or unroasted, and dollars 28 to dollars 30 per pound roasted.

The St. Helena plantation is run by an Englishman, David Henry, who, along with his backers at East India Co. (yes, that East India Co.), hope to boost sales as much as tenfold in the next five years and restore the coffee's reputation to that it enjoyed in the days of the island's most famous resident, the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte.

General Henri Gatien Bertrand's account of Napoleon's death in 1821 was quite a testimonial to the brew: "Tears came to my eyes at the sight of this man, who had inspired such awe, who had given orders so proudly and positively, pleading now for a little spoonful of coffee, begging permission like a child."

In comparison, the fabled Blue Mountain coffee of Jamaica looks mundane. But at about dollars 18 per pound roasted, it is pricier than such other premium beans as Hawaiian Kona at dollars 12 per pound, Puerto Rico Yauco Selecto at dollars 6 per pound, Costa Rica's best at dollars 4 and ordinary Colombian at dollars 2.50 per pound.

Blue Mountain is, say hundreds of enthusiasts, well worth the cost. Its classic, rich flavor and full body make it the most sought-after, if not the most exotic, coffee in the world.

For information about buying coffees:
KOPI LUWAK. Baarnhouwer & Co. Telephone: 31 7 56 31 02 02.
In North America, contact M.P. Mountanos (green coffee only). Telephone: 1 800 229 1611. Web site: http://www.mpmountanos.com/
ST. HELENA. Blaser & Wolthers Speciality Coffee Co. Telephone: 1 305 374 7111. Fax: 1 305 374 4020 e-mail: bwcoffee@worldnet.att.net Web site: http://www.bendzcoffee.com/
BLUE MOUNTAIN. Caribbean Place. Telephone: 1 305 380 0826, or, toll-free in North America, 1 800 692-8742. Web site: www.caribplace.com/foods/wallen.htm e-mail: colland@caribplace.com.
JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN COFFEE. e-mail: info@bluemountaincoffee.com Web site: www.bluemountaincoffee.com/

Source : http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/12/18/mcafe.2.t.php