By now, most of us have heard about Kopi Luwak coffee, was once the reigning champion of excess. At $160 a pound, it has been billed in recent years as the most expensive, exotic and perhaps disquieting of brews. Kopi Luwak is made from coffee beans that have been eaten - and excreted - by the palm civet cat of Indonesia. The phenomenon made great headlines.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/24/exotic-coffee-is-monkey-business/#ixzz2EbrgM9VK

But a Canadian has taken this idea to the next level: Coffee beans from elephant poo.

Trumpeted as earthy in flavour and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung. A gut reaction inside the elephant creates what its founder calls the coffee’s unique taste. Stomach turning or oddly alluring, this is not just one of the world’s most unusual specialty coffees. At $1,100 per kilogram ($500 per pound), it’s also among the world’s priciest. For now, only the wealthy or well-travelled have access to the cuppa, which is called Black Ivory Coffee. It was launched last month at a few luxury hotels in remote corners of the world — first in northern Thailand, then the Maldives and now Abu Dhabi — with the price tag of about $50 a serving.

Read the full story at the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1299098--coffee-from-an-elephant-s-gut-for-50-a-cup-one-canadian-entrepreneur-thinks-he-s-struck-gold