Coffee Weapon

What haven’t curled up with a good book lately?
Upon learning that this brewed coffee delicacy is produced from beans picked from the excrement of the “Luwak,” a catlike animal common to the region. Author and Scientist Massimo Marcone adventures begins with a request to investigate the mystery shrouding the world’s most expensive, bizarre and also the most coveted brew, Sumatra’s Kopi Luwak coffee.

Marcone explains his penchant for unusual foods in his recent book In Bad Taste: The Science and Adventures Behind Food Delicacies. His discovery that the coffee bean is effectively cleaner after passing through a Luwak’s rectum.
“When I incubated the sub-samples, allowing ample time for bacterial growth, I was shocked to see that the Kopi Luwak beans had one hundred times fewer bacteria than the corresponding control samples.” He also uncovers how progression through a Luwak’s digestive system chemically alters the bean so that it produces a different, richer flavor. Umm yea..A few chapters in and you might just find yourself hankering for a cup of Kopi Luwak joe.