No, we’re not talking Cafe Nero in Cambridge, but instead a find here in Bali. Visited a coffee plantation, well not just a coffee plantation but also cocoa:

Throw in a few cockerels in cages ‘being trained for fighting’ just to satisfy the tourist hunger for something gruesome and you’ve got a perfect money maker. Then comes the story about this special coffee that I just had to purchase for the novelty value (oh, and it was pretty tasty also):

The rear of the jar has an interesting description of how the coffee is made:

It reads:

Luwak Coffee (Pea Berry Coffee)
Kopi Luwak Coffee comes from the Indonesian island, an area well known for its coffee. Also native to the area is a small civil like animal called a Paradoxunus. The locals call the Luwaks. These little mammals live in the trees and one of their favourite foods is the red ripe coffee cherry. They eat the cherries, bean and all. While the bean is in the little guy’s stomach it undergoes chemical treatment and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system, and exits. The still intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, the roasted and ground like any other coffee. The resulting coffee is said to be like no other (ed. no surprise!). It has a rich heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, must and exotic. The body is almost syrupy and its very smooth.

Of course no story like this would be complete without the obligatory picture of “the little guy’s”: