The Cruel Production Process of Elephant Dung Coffee Exposed: Unveiling the Origins and Price of Elephant Dung Coffee

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The World's Most Expensive Coffee: Black Ivory Coffee

Coffee is called "black gold" for good reason—the business opportunities it creates are astonishingly high. Do you know how much a cup of premium coffee can sell for? The answer is 1,500 yuan per cup. Can you imagine what it would feel like to drink a 1,500 yuan cup of coffee? And what if the coffee beans for this cup were picked from elephant feces? Why can coffee beans picked from elephant droppings produce the best-tasting coffee?

The official name for elephant dung coffee is actually Black Ivory Coffee, inspired by the premium civet coffee (also known as cat poop coffee) that is born from cat feces. The inventor of this coffee is Canadian entrepreneur Blake Dinkin, who collaborated with hotels in northern Thailand. They raise 20 elephants locally to produce this expensive coffee.

The Production Process

Step One

After picking the coffee cherries, mix them with fruits and rice to create snacks for the elephants.

Step Two

After the elephants enjoy their snacks, they can be released to move around and exercise.

Step Three

15-30 hours later, the elephants will defecate.

Step Four

Workers at the elephant sanctuary will collect these precious elephant droppings and extract the coffee cherries from them.

Step Five

Afterward, locals will clean and extract them to get the final coffee beans, which then begin the coffee bean roasting process.

Step Six

Finally, a 1,500 yuan cup of elephant dung coffee is born.

Why is Elephant Dung Coffee So Delicious?

It is said that elephant dung coffee tastes so good because the coffee beans naturally ferment in the elephant's stomach. Additionally, the enzymes in the elephant's stomach can precisely remove the bitterness from the coffee beans. Therefore, the brewed coffee not only has natural grass and fruit aromas but also contains almost no bitterness.

The disadvantage of elephant dung coffee is its poor efficiency—one elephant needs to eat 33 kilograms of raw coffee cherries but will only produce 1 kilogram of coffee beans.

Social Impact and Sustainability

Although elephant dung coffee is expensive, 8% of the profits will be donated to local elephant rescue organizations. Besides caring for the elephants, the funds are also used to ensure the livelihood of the mahouts (elephant caretakers) in the sanctuary. Therefore, as long as there's no rush to improve efficiency, mutual benefits should be achievable.

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