Davao del Sur: Where one of the world's most expensive, extra-ordinary coffee is

A relaxing highland farm dotted with pine trees at Kapatagan, Digos City in Davao del Sur produces civet coffee or kopi luwak from the droppings of the civet cat known locally as alamid. The rich volcanic soil at the foot of Mt. Apo in Davao del Sur, the highest mountain in the Philippines, is home to organically grown Arabica trees. The coffee cherries are selected and picked from these trees by the farmers. The civet cats basically fed on coffee cherries digesting only the pulp, so they used to be major enemies of the Digos farmers.  These nocturnal weasels-like animals were captured and killed by the local farmers to prevent them from further destroying their crops. Until Mr. Philip Dizon, the owner of Mt. Apo Civet Coffee Farm, offered to buy the captured civet cats to make use of their dung.

Photo credit to happyphilippines.org

How a Civet Coffee is made

At Mt. Apo Civet Coffee Farm, they feed the civet cats with coffee cherries then the stomach proteolytic enzymes of these animals seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids.  The fermented civet cat's droppings are then collected. After which, they are washed to remove the impurities. Finally, the dungs are then dried and the silver skin residues removed.  The low quality beans are discarded and the best ones are roasted. The finished products are then packed and sealed.

Unlike regular coffee beans, the coffee bean droppings from the civet cat yield a smooth aromatic chocolaty taste coffee with much less bitter than regular coffee. Civet coffee costs around PHP 950 for 200 grams and Php300 per 200 grams for Altura Coffee which they also sell.  These coffees are also sold at Davao Crocodile Park and souvenir shops at the Davao International Airport.

Source Link from yahoo.ph

An original post from the blog of Gael Hilotin a female solo traveler currently traveling around the Philippines.  Follow her adventures at The Pinay Solo Backpacker.