The latest coffee craze after Luwak!

A Coffee Trend for the Unusual

Black Ivory Coffee from Maldives is the most expensive coffee.  This rarity beats out Kopi Luwak and Coati-dung Coffee as the world’s most expensive and rare coffee, though they’re all derived in a similar fashion.

The Science Behind It

Elephants are fed coffee cherries (the pit of which is the coffee bean) along with bananas and sugar cane. Thanks to the enzymatic process of digestion, proteins within the coffee cherries are broken down, creating a less bitter, more pleasurable taste. The bananas and sugar cane give the coffee a fruity flavor.

Who’s Behind Black Ivory Coffee?

After ten years of research , a Canadian entrepreneur, Blake Dinkin, created Black Ivory Coffee. The company is located in Chiang Saen, Thailand where mahouts (elephant riders) and their wives feed and collect the coffee cherries.

Where to Find Black Ivory Coffee?

Black Ivory Coffee is only sold to selected five star hotels (and one store dedicated to the conservation of Asian Elephants) at the moment.

There have been reports suggesting that the civets involved in making Kopi Luwak were caged and abused, leading to the prevalence of “cruelty-free” coffee.

As for Black Ivory Coffee, the elephants are said to be free-range and treated ethically. A portion of these coffee sales goes to paying for free veterinary services for the elephants.

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 flavour 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

The process is labour intensive. Pure Arabica beans are hand-picked by hill-tribe women from a small mountain estate.

The coffee cherries are mixed together with fruit and rice and fed to the elephants.

Once the elephants do their business, the wives of elephant mahouts collect the dung…and break it open and pick out the coffee

After a thorough washing, the coffee cherries are processed to extract the beans.