Crappuccino

Elephant dung is now the coffee supplier of choice for those with too much money. Connoisseurs are paying up to $50 per cup to sample the northern Thailand delicacy.

Arabica beans are being slow cooking in a herd of 30 elephants’ stomachs, then plucked from the dung, washed and roasted.

Known as Black Ivory Coffee, its fragrance is of “milk chocolate, nutty, earthy with hints of spice and red berries”, which sounds all a bit Austin Powers to me.

Black Ivory coffee is being sold at Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas, a luxury hotel group, in northern Thailand, the Maldives and Abu Dhabi at a price tag of AU$1,050 a kilogram.

“When an elephant eats coffee, its stomach acid breaks down the protein found in coffee, which is a key factor in bitterness,” said Canadian Blake Dinkin, 42, who has spent US$300,000 developing the brand.

“You end up with a cup that’s very smooth without the bitterness of regular coffee,” he said.

The first batch of 70 kilograms of Black Ivory has already sold out and Dinkin hopes to produce six times that amount in 2013.

I wonder if you can put this stuff in a pod?

Source: Think & Grow Rich Inc