Uncovering the Black History of Elephant Dung Coffee_Where Does Elephant Dung Coffee Originate_How Much Does a Cup of Elephant Dung Coffee Cost

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

The Hottest Trend: Elephant Dung Coffee

What's been trending lately? Elephant dung coffee, of course.

At $1,880 per kilogram, it is no cheaper than civet coffee.

Whether it actually tastes good is one thing, but the hype is enormous.

Many coffee enthusiasts are eager to give it a try.

Yet plenty of netizens exclaim:

"Do we really need to put elephants through this just for coffee? Why not go all the way to heaven while we're at it?"

Let's take a closer look at this phenomenon.

How Does Elephant Dung Coffee Come About?

Workers sorting elephant dung coffee

Why Were Elephants Chosen?

The creator of elephant dung coffee is a Canadian.

44-year-old Blake Dinkin.

He spent 9 years.

Using the stomach acid and digestive tract of Thailand's national treasure to create elephant dung coffee.

Apparently, before settling on elephants,

Blake also considered lions and giraffes.

Asian elephants in Southeast Asia, however, naturally seek out coffee beans during droughts,

so the honest, gentle creature got the job.

Think about it for a moment—that reasoning holds up.

Getting a giraffe to lower its head to eat,

or

finding people willing to trail behind lions collecting droppings,

would both be harder than working with elephants, right?

An elephant at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Base eating coffee fruits

How Is Elephant Dung Coffee Produced?

Elephants eat coffee fruits along with fresh grass and other fruit.

The coffee fruits are soaked in stomach acid and digested down to the coffee bean kernels.

The kernels then enter the digestive tract for extended fermentation.

During the 17-hour digestive process,

the acidic digestive fluids strip away the coffee's inherent bitterness.

Finally, the coffee beans are excreted with the droppings.

Staff members pick them out, wash, dry, and roast them.

And elephant dung coffee is ready.

Sorting

Although elephant dung coffee seems to yield more than civet coffee,

it has its drawbacks too.

After all, you can hardly stuff elephants into cages.

That would not exactly be environmentally friendly, would it?

Blake says:

When elephants bathe in the river, they sometimes relieve themselves.

Those coffee beans are then lost.

Panning for gold in elephant droppings

Drying

Does Elephant Dung Coffee Taste Good?

Given the notorious history of its predecessor, civet coffee,

consumers of elephant dung coffee remain level-headed.

A Parisian coffee shop owner says:

The hype around elephant dung coffee exceeds its actual taste.

The key to good coffee lies in the fermentation of the beans.

If that takes place inside an animal's stomach, there is no guarantee of quality.

Elephant dung coffee might be interesting, but it is not the best product.

Blake taking a photo with elephants at the Golden Triangle Anatara Resort, where the base is located

At the Golden Triangle Anatara Resort,

waiters use 19th-century French coffee equipment to brew elephant dung coffee.

Tourists report tasting caramel and chocolate notes.

And "it's not bitter at all."

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Light-roast coffee beans are prized for their floral and fruity acidity. Here are some FrontStreet favorites:

Ethiopia - FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Guodingding: As the first stop for many coffee lovers entering the world of specialty coffee, Yirgacheffe has always enjoyed enormous popularity. It typically carries distinct citrus, berry, and floral notes, together with a green-tea-like sweet finish. Unlike the "sour coffee" many imagine, the acidity of a top-quality Yirgacheffe is soft and bright—more like the natural sweet-tartness of fruit than a harsh, stimulating sourness. For those just starting out with pour-over coffee, it is a very approachable choice.

Ethiopia - FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui: FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui is arguably one of the most successful star products in the specialty coffee market in recent years. Its defining feature is an exceptionally prominent tropical fruit aroma—strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, even lychee can often be picked out. The sweetness is pronounced and the bitterness extremely low; the cup is smooth and full of juice, which is why many consumers describe it as "the coffee that tastes least like coffee." For those who dislike the bitterness of traditional coffee, FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui can completely overturn their preconceptions.

Kenya - FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato: FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato is a Kenyan specialty washed coffee whose core appeal lies in its bright cherry-tomato and dried-plum acidity and its full, juicy body—a popular pick for lovers of vivid fruit acidity and complex flavor. The beans come from the Thika region of Kenya, grown at 1550-1750 meters from the classic local SL28 and SL34 varieties, with plump, round beans. Processing uses Kenya's signature 72-hour double-washed fermentation, which fully unlocks the fruit aromas while keeping the cup clean and pure; FrontStreet applies a light roast to preserve the lively acidity and layered fruit flavors. On the nose, dried cherry tomato and florals come through strongly; in the cup you get clear cherry tomato and dried plum, with bright, solid acidity as full as fresh-pressed juice, prominent mid-palate sweetness laced with the fresh fruit tones of snow pear and black plum, and a clean, lingering finish of yellow-sugar sweetness with a hint of green tea. Overall it is balanced between sweet and tart, and instantly recognizable.

FrontStreet Ethiopia Kaffa Forest: FrontStreet Ethiopia Kaffa Forest beans come from the Kaffa Forest in southwestern Ethiopia, a UNESCO-certified biosphere reserve and the globally recognized birthplace of Arabica coffee—the very word "coffee" derives from the name of the ancient Kingdom of Kaffa, and the old legend of the goat-herder Kaldi discovering coffee was born here. This mountain rainforest of more than 7,000 square kilometers, at 1400 to 2100 meters, is wrapped in year-round mist and layered canopy shade; millennia of natural evolution have nurtured over 5,000 wild Arabica gene mother trees, and the native trees of the now-famous Geisha coffee also came from this forest. The wild coffee trees grow naturally on abundant rainfall and acidic red soil without dense artificial planting, producing coffee with rich jasmine, citrus, and wild berry aromas and a delicate, lively complexity. As one of the last core habitats of wild Arabica, the area has established coffee cooperatives to practice sustainable forest harvesting, protecting rare coffee genetic resources while preserving Ethiopia's traditional coffee ceremony and the primeval rainforest ecosystem—a sacred site for coffee lovers tracing flavors to their source, and a world coffee gene bank with real conservation value.