THAILAND
EXCELLENCES OF PURE ORIGIN COFFEES
BRAZIL
JAMAICA
GUADELOUPE
HAWAII
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
PUERTO RICO
REUNION ISLAND
INDONESIA
NEPAL
THAILAND
NEW CALEDONIA
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In the region of the Golden Triangle in the north of Thailand, a small group of elephants produce the most expensive coffee beans in the world. The elephants feed on the cherries from the nearby plantations, and afterwards the mahouts (the elephant drivers) and their wives collect the beans from the droppings.
After this the beans are dried in the sun and toasted. The coffee, known as black ivory, is said to have an earthy and delicate taste, and it costs more than 1,000 Euro per kilo.
To produce just one kilogram of roasted coffee, approximately 10,000 beans are collected, some of which are lost in the production process because they are chewed by the elephants. A study, carried out by researchers at the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph in Canada, has shown that the digestive enzymes of the elephants break down the proteins of the coffee, one of the main elements that makes it bitter.
According to the company’s website: “In contrast to carnivores, herbivores such as elephants use much more fermentation for digestion. Fermentation is desirable in coffee as it helps to release the fruit from the coffee pulp into the bean.”
The result is a cup of coffee of particular delicacy.
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