Friday, April 11, 2008

Cat Dung Coffee For $100 a Shot!

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A London department store has started selling coffee for $100 a shot.
If the price sounds unappealing, shoppers also have to overcome the unusual method of cultivation, which sees the coffee beans harvested from the feces of an Indonesian jungle cat.
Even so, the Peter Jones store says the luxury blend -- called Caffé Raro -- is one of the world's rarest and most premium coffees.
Made by the Italian company De Longhi, Caffé Raro combines Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kupi Luwak, two extremely rare coffees.
The beans of Kupi Luwak are harvested after being ingested by civet cats, and only about 260 kilos (about 573 pounds) of the coffee is produced each year.
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"The cats select the best beans to chew. It's rather like a natural filtering process," said Carie Barkhuzen, a spokeswoman for the upmarket store in London's upmarket Sloane Square.
The coffee, which went on sale Thursday, is available at $100 for a shot at the Peter Jones Espresso Bar, or shoppers can buy 100g (3.5-ounce) packs of the coffee beans to take away for the same price. Watch some willing to try the coffee, others not »
"It's not exactly flying off the shelves -- it's very expensive, after all -- but customers are buying it," Barkhuzen said.
The proceeds from the coffee sales will go to charity.

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