The Civet Cat Coffee: Poop Coffee Created from an Endangered Animal

What do coffee, fur coats, and perfume have in common? Nothing, unless they are kopi luwak, a civet fur coat, and a bottle of Chanel No. 5 bought before 1998, in which case they all came from the civet cat. Don’t be fooled by its cat-like body and deceiving name, the civet cat also whose proper name is civet is not a cat at all. It is more closely related to the mongoose family rather than the feline family. The civet gets a lot of attention because of its unique appearance and unique traits. It has a weasel-like face and a cat-like body with a raccoon tail. Some of its more unique traits have caused the civet cat to become endangered. Apparently, all this attention isn't necessarily good attention.

Many people across Eastern Asia and Africa, where the civet lives, hunt these mammals for both their fruit-smelling meat and their fur. Although the hunting contributed to the civets dwindling number, a SARS epidemic that killed thousands of people, caused the numbers to dwindle even more. These creatures were found to be carrying the disease and they ultimately were blamed for the outbreak. Throughout China, any civet in captivity was immediately killed to stop any possible spread of the disease. It was after this event, when the civet became part of the endangered species list.

Being Tortured to Make Perfume
Not only are these animals being killed, some are still in captivity being tortured. Many civets in captivity are forced to endure a painful procedure every two to three weeks to extract a fluid from a sac underneath their tail. In the wild, this fluid known as civet, named after the animal itself, is used to mark their territory. It has a very strong musky odor; when used in perfumes, the perfume's scent to last much longer.

Channel No. 5 used civet in their perfume until 1998. They decided to switch to a man-made form, for the protection of these animals. There are many other companies that still use the musk from the civet. As awareness raises about the harm done to these animals, more and more perfume distributors are beginning to use synthetic forms. Until all companies switch to the man-made form, this agonizing procedure still will continue.

If you want to make sure your perfume does not have civet, check the ingredients. If it says synthetic civet, you are good, but if it says civet, then I'd opt out in buying it.

Our preoccupation of these animals doesn’t end there. A much more bazaar, but less harmful preoccupation of the civet cat is in its unusual eating habits and fecal matter. Although most civets are carnivorous, and eat such things as bugs, birds, and rodents; many eat berries. One in particular is the Indonesian Palm Civet also known as the Common Palm Civet. This animal will only eat the ripest of fruit known as coffee cherries. Their long noses allow them to reach the finest tastiest ripest berries no matter how deeply in a bush it may be.

Though the civet eats these berries because of their juicy cherry-like center, they also swallow the indigestible casing. Because of the digestive process, the casing is fermented into a perfectly, supposedly, tasty coffee bean. In Indonesia, people will collect these “beans” off the forest floor. Amazingly, the beans remain perfectly intact despite digestion. Once collected, they are put into bags, where they can be sold and made into coffee. Yummy?

These coffee beans have had many different names. In Viet Nam, where the civet is known as a fox, Vietnamese name it for what it is; fox-dung coffee. In the US, where this delicacy sells $175 per one-pound bag, we prefer to call it Kopi Luwak easily translated as Civet Coffee. Just think, the only people who drank this in the early nineteen hundreds were the poorest of Indonesia. I guess it’s all in the marketing! This delicacy is so rare, only fifty kilograms of Kopi Luwak is made each year, which are only 110 bags a year as of 2004.

Aphrodisiac Properties!

Aside from the rarity of this coffee, apparently it also has some aphrodisiac properties. According to "The Palm Civet Gauge," as long as you don't think about where the beans came from, it actually tastes very good. I have to admit I'm curious, but would never spend the money to try it.

Hurting the Civet

If it were only the civets dung people were after, these creatures would not be endangered today. In part, these animals are endangered because there are still people who seek them for their meat and their fur, as well as tortured because of our use of their territorial secretions. Yet, their biggest threat is the destruction of tropical rain forest where they live. Unlike the forests in the US where we can plant new trees to replenish our forests, once the rain forest has been destroyed, it is lost forever.

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