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 We have to yet make up our mind to the fact that some coffee berries are digested by civets, and then served to us at a huge price, when another novelty suddenly hit coffee markets: a coffee “made” by elephants – the “Black Ivory” coffee.
 Surprised? I guess you are, since I was simply shocked. :) Please note that this type of coffee has not been mass marketed yet as it is served at a hotel in Thailand, from around $35 to $50 per cup. A little overpriced for a handful of elephant dung, don’t you think? However, it is considered that elephants produce a refined, tasteful coffee that is very healthy for people, since elephants’ enzymes decompose coffee proteins which are responsible for bitterness in coffee.
 So what is the process of this whole elephant thing? A herd of 24 healthy elephants is held at the resort’s backyard and fed with everything that elephants like, including coffee berries, for a whole day long. They live their lives happily and don’t even know that what they “produce” is then reused for multiple times. :) The coffee beans are dried under the sun, washed (!) and grinded by hand afterwards. They are then brewed table-side in a 4 minute procedure and served to the hotel’s guests.
 However, the hotel’s authorities decided that they could do even better, selling the "Black Ivory" to coffee aficionados around the globe –at $1100 per kg (the Kopi Luwak coffee which is much more famous and globally acclaimed, is sold at $775 per kg. Do you feel the difference?). Would you buy it, knowing that this is not the regular coffee we usually drink and may not please your senses at first? Are you ready to pay a lot of money just to enjoy the world of rich and refined art? The choice is after you. ;)
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