Where's that coffee bean been?
Source: Agencies |
December 10, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
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IN the lush hills of northern Thailand, a herd of 20 elephants is excreting some of the world's most expensive coffee.
Trumpeted as earthy in flavor and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung. A gut reaction inside the elephant creates what its founder calls the coffee's unique taste.
Stomach turning or oddly alluring, this is not just one of the world's most unusual specialty coffees. At US$1,100 per kilogram, it's among the world's priciest.
For now, only the wealthy or well-traveled have access to the cuppa, which is called Black Ivory Coffee. It was launched last month at a few luxury hotels in remote corners of the world - first in northern Thailand, then the Maldives and now Abu Dhabi - with the price tag of about US$50 a serving.
The production site is in the Golden Triangle, an area traditionally known for producing drugs more potent than coffee.
In the mountains where Thailand meets Laos and Myanmar, the coffee's creator cites biology and scientific research to answer the question: Why elephants?
"When an elephant eats coffee, its stomach acid breaks down the protein found in coffee, which is a key factor in bitterness," said Blake Dinkin. "You end up with a cup that's very smooth without the bitterness of regular coffee."
The result is similar in civet coffee, or kopi luwak, another exorbitantly expensive variety extracted from the excrement of the weasel-like civet. But the elephants' massive stomach provides a bonus.
Earthy and fruity
Think of the elephant as the animal kingdom's equivalent of a slow cooker. It takes between 15 and 30 hours to digest the beans, which stew together with bananas, sugar cane and other ingredients in the elephant's vegetarian diet to infuse unique earthy and fruity flavors, said the 42-year-old Canadian.
"My theory is that a natural fermentation process takes place in the elephant's gut," said Dinkin. "That fermentation imparts flavors you wouldn't get from other coffees."
At the jungle retreat that is home to the herd, conservationists were initially skeptical.
"My initial thought was about caffeine - won't the elephants get wired on it or addicted to coffee?" said John Roberts, director of elephants at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, a refuge for rescued elephants. It now earns 8 percent of the coffee's total sales, which go toward the herd's health care.
Before presenting his proposal to the foundation, Dinkin said a veterinarian ran blood tests on zoo elephants showing they don't absorb caffeine from eating raw coffee cherries.
"I thought it was well worth a try because we're looking for anything that can help elephants to make a living," said Roberts, who estimates the cost of keeping an elephant at US$1,000 a month.
Black Ivory's maiden batch of 70 kilograms has sold out. Dinkin hopes to crank out six times that amount next year, catering to a customer he sees as relatively affluent, open-minded and adventurous with a desire to tell a good story.
"I thought it would be repulsive," said Ryan Nelson, 31, of Tampa, Florida. "But I loved it."
His wife Asleigh, a biologist and coffee lover, called it a "fantastic product for an eco-conscious consumer," since the coffee helps fund elephant conservation.
But how does it taste?
"Very interesting," she said, choosing her words carefully. "Very novel."
Trumpeted as earthy in flavor and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung. A gut reaction inside the elephant creates what its founder calls the coffee's unique taste.
Stomach turning or oddly alluring, this is not just one of the world's most unusual specialty coffees. At US$1,100 per kilogram, it's among the world's priciest.
For now, only the wealthy or well-traveled have access to the cuppa, which is called Black Ivory Coffee. It was launched last month at a few luxury hotels in remote corners of the world - first in northern Thailand, then the Maldives and now Abu Dhabi - with the price tag of about US$50 a serving.
The production site is in the Golden Triangle, an area traditionally known for producing drugs more potent than coffee.
In the mountains where Thailand meets Laos and Myanmar, the coffee's creator cites biology and scientific research to answer the question: Why elephants?
"When an elephant eats coffee, its stomach acid breaks down the protein found in coffee, which is a key factor in bitterness," said Blake Dinkin. "You end up with a cup that's very smooth without the bitterness of regular coffee."
The result is similar in civet coffee, or kopi luwak, another exorbitantly expensive variety extracted from the excrement of the weasel-like civet. But the elephants' massive stomach provides a bonus.
Earthy and fruity
Think of the elephant as the animal kingdom's equivalent of a slow cooker. It takes between 15 and 30 hours to digest the beans, which stew together with bananas, sugar cane and other ingredients in the elephant's vegetarian diet to infuse unique earthy and fruity flavors, said the 42-year-old Canadian.
"My theory is that a natural fermentation process takes place in the elephant's gut," said Dinkin. "That fermentation imparts flavors you wouldn't get from other coffees."
At the jungle retreat that is home to the herd, conservationists were initially skeptical.
"My initial thought was about caffeine - won't the elephants get wired on it or addicted to coffee?" said John Roberts, director of elephants at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, a refuge for rescued elephants. It now earns 8 percent of the coffee's total sales, which go toward the herd's health care.
Before presenting his proposal to the foundation, Dinkin said a veterinarian ran blood tests on zoo elephants showing they don't absorb caffeine from eating raw coffee cherries.
"I thought it was well worth a try because we're looking for anything that can help elephants to make a living," said Roberts, who estimates the cost of keeping an elephant at US$1,000 a month.
Black Ivory's maiden batch of 70 kilograms has sold out. Dinkin hopes to crank out six times that amount next year, catering to a customer he sees as relatively affluent, open-minded and adventurous with a desire to tell a good story.
"I thought it would be repulsive," said Ryan Nelson, 31, of Tampa, Florida. "But I loved it."
His wife Asleigh, a biologist and coffee lover, called it a "fantastic product for an eco-conscious consumer," since the coffee helps fund elephant conservation.
But how does it taste?
"Very interesting," she said, choosing her words carefully. "Very novel."
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