• Bassman1805@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I read once that a major reason the coffee is supposed to be good, is that the animals (in the wild) tend to seek out the ripest, healthiest coffee beans to eat. They’re abundant (prior to human intervention), so why settle for less?

      But then we cage them and force-feed them whatever, so they’re just medium (or low) quality beans to start with. So even if you look past the cruelty, it’s not even the quality of coffee the reputation suggests.

      • Mangosniper@feddit.de
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        11 months ago

        Iirc correctly the monkey cats ( or however they are called ) actually just prefer a specific coffee plant that is more rarely used as the ones used for the vast amount of coffee in the world ( e.g. robusta or arabica). However, if the beans of this variation are used directly, it tastes exactly the same. There is a scientific paper about this. Long story short: people are drinking shat out coffee for no good reason. What is even worse, it is tried to hold these monkey cats in cages to produce more of this coffee. Again for no good reason. But people fall for the marketing pr gang that the coffee is handpicked by those animals, digested and shat out and they would not go for “yeah we need just to use another plant” because it wouldn’t be so exklusive anymore…

    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Vast majority of it is just cheap coffee labeled to be this and marked up for tourists / gift market. Have tried it, just tastes like cheap old coffee. It’s not something genuinely sought after by coniseurs.

      • irmoz@reddthat.com
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        11 months ago

        That makes this even dumber. If it actually had a good taste i could sort of understand it, in a honey sort of way. Sounds like it’s just a silly novelty.

        • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          11 months ago

          It’s always about the story. Same reason restaurants get 2 and 3 michelline stars. It’s about how pretentious and fancy you can make everything surrounding the meal and not about the meal itelsef.

          • Chetzemoka@startrek.website
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            11 months ago

            I’ve eaten at a 2 star Michelin restaurant. It was definitely theater and not a meal. The Menu is one of the best dark humor movies I’ve ever seen because it’s honestly not that far off lol

            • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              One star restaurants are the way. They usually have been so focused on their cuisine at that point they haven’t yet become super pretensious. Plus you actually have a shot at getting a table at these.

    • PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      I ate at a restaurant that sold this stuff. It was $85 a cup. I can appreciate a good cup of coffee but never at that price (monetary or cruelty).

  • itsonlygeorge@reddthat.com
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    11 months ago

    Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet’s intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak

    It tastes smoother and is good. Their digestion of the beans strips the outer layer of the bean and changes the flavor.

    Is it better? Not really. I have had it in Bali from a farm and it was very smooth. Turkish coffee is better.

      • itsonlygeorge@reddthat.com
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        11 months ago

        It’s no more than animal cruelty, then any type of livestock farming. What the fuck do you think you get your bacon from? You think the pigs are happy in overcrowded, dirty farms? Do you think the chickens that lay eggs are happy to be confined inside a tiny cage covered in their own shit? You think cows like to eat feed corn day in and day out shoved full of antibiotics? Do you think any of the animals that we use for any type of products are happy to be slaughtered after being fattened up?

        If you’re gonna argue animal cruelty, you better stop eating all animal products, and become a vegan. Better yet why don’t you farm your own food and don’t buy anything that comes from modern agriculture because all that shit is covered in pesticides, GMO’s, and all kinds of other nasty shit.

        • Globulart@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Do you really think the best way for the world to change is adopting an all or nothing attitude?

          What improves the planet more? 1 person becoming hardcore vegan or 1000 people eating meat one day a week instead of seven?

          See the problem?

          • itsonlygeorge@reddthat.com
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            11 months ago

            Not at all. Random8847’s dipshit comment is just so smug and whiney.

            Every bit helps, however the corporations are really the ones we have to force to change.

            If you haven’t noticed having everybody recycle, hasn’t really done shit either. The corporations that pollute really environment cause in the majority of damage yet we’re telling regular every day people it’s their fault and they should do their part.

            • Globulart@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              You literally told them that if they’re gonna argue animal cruelty they’d better stop eating all animal products…

              Nobody mentioned corporations until you either, for all we know 8847 might do everything you said in your comment anyway.

            • random8847@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              A four worded comment is smug, whiney and dipshit? Man, something is really wrong with you. Get some help.

            • Smoltech@lemmyunchained.net
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              11 months ago

              Most people can tell you exactly who (other than themselves) needs to change. This includes the people who work for the corporations, do business with the corporations and invest in the corporations.

              Separately, we can each only control our own choices.

              We delegate responsibility to the people who tell us (possibly correctly) that they’re required by law to make decisions based on short term profitability.

              • itsonlygeorge@reddthat.com
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                11 months ago

                So what you’re essentially saying is the government needs to change the laws. Until the laws change, no one will do anything different. And since the government or essentially behold into the corporations, just not gonna happen.

                • Smoltech@lemmyunchained.net
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                  11 months ago

                  What I’m saying is that humans have free will, but have internalized concepts that tell they they’re stuck. That someone else must act.

        • random8847@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Wtf dude. You give me all of this for a comment with four words?

          You either have some vested interests with kopi luwak or you have some serious anger issues. Either ways you need to calm your tits down.

          And FYI, all you said might be true but that’s still no reason for anyone to justify kopi luwak. Yes, there are a lot of other ways in which animal cruelty is happening in this world, but if everyone keeps blaming each other then none of it will ever stop.

        • EvolvedTurtle@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Nah because the animals are fed exclusively coffee berrys and are extremely malnourished

          At least in normal farms it’s encouraged to properly feed the animals

          Also why are you so angry Who hurt you lol

    • spinelessorange@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I don’t know the history of the photo, but I know some Kopi Luwak ‘producers’ force feed the civets coffee cherries to maximise production. So I can’t say this is a natural shit for a civet, because it could be human induced.

        • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Considering how the civets treat coffee cherries, this would be like if some aliens were forcefeeding you glazed donuts for the same purpose. Abuse in many cases, but it started with a natural attraction being exploited. Ethical sources still uses attracted wild civets or cage free farms

  • FrancisFeliz@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Sometimes I question myself if we are really intelligent beings. Who the hell thought of making coffee out of a monkey’s butt? or whatever that is.

    • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      My guess is, since they eat coffee cherries, some farmer had his harvest ruined and washed the seeds out from the shit in desperation, just to get told it’s the best coffee somebody has ever had.

    • HessiaNerd@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      the story I heard (from an Indonesian dude) was the colonial plantations didn’t allow locals to drink coffee. They noticed the civits only ate the ripest coffee berries… bla bla bla, shit coffee was the only choice and it was really good?

  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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    11 months ago

    I have a bag of this stuff but I hate coffee and poo so I haven’t tried it.