Community Update

Good To The Last Drop?

Sometimes
watching TV programs acquaints us with products and services we never heard of
before.  Case in point was a recent
episode of the drama/comedy lawyer program “Franklin & Bash”.  Near the end of a recent episode one of the
characters is serving coffee which he calls Kopi Luwak.  He mentions that a single cup of this brew
could go for $60.  The recipient of the
java remarks that it was the best coffee he had ever tasted.  It was then that the host discloses the
origin of the brew.

Seems
coffee beans are eaten by an animal – a civet which is a possum-like raccoon
from India.  The civet eats the coffee
berry and passes the bean during its regular digestive movement.  Somebody then retrieves the output, washes
and cleanses it, roasts it and then sells it for around $600 a pound.  This of course has led to the mistreatment of
the animals as entrepreneurs force feed the civets.  As such, various animal protection groups in
the United States have forbidden the import of the coffee.

Now I don’t
know about you but even us regular coffee drinkers must be turned off by the
process that somehow ends up (sorry about that reference!) in our Morning
Joe!  I don’t consider myself a coffee snob
even though I enjoy an occasional vanilla latte but a cup of Kopi Luwak is not
on my wish list!

We all have
our favorite coffee whether it is with caffeine or decaf.  And many of us prefer Starbucks over say,
Caribou or Biggby or Panera or Tim Horton’s or Dunkin’ Donuts.  But I suspect that no readers of The Patch
have ever requested a cup of Kopi Luwak. 
And if you have, let me know.  So
I’m not expecting to find Kopi Luwak in any K-Cups for our Kuerig brewer!  Wonder what the next episode of “Franklin
& Bash” will bring to the forefront? 
Hope it doesn’t originate from the butt of an animal!