The tragedy behind the most expensive coffee on the planet

The civets are kept in cages, suffer painful cuts to their feet from wire mesh and are forced to eat coffee cherries constantly to produce premium coffee beans.

Wild civets are kept in cages for their feces. Photo: Blogspot.

Kopi Luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a special type of coffee that is extremely rare and the most expensive in the world. This type of coffee is produced from coffee beans excreted by fruit-eating civets.Enzymes in their digestive tract change the protein structure of the coffee beans, reducing the acidity and making for a more flavorful cup of coffee.A cup of civet coffee can sell for $80 in the US.

Native to Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, civets have long, monkey-like tails and stripes on their faces and bodies. They play an important role in the food chain, eating insects and small reptiles along with fruits such as coffee and mangoes.

Initially, the civet coffee trade was a boon for the civets. In Indonesia, civets, which feed on fruit on farms, were often considered pests. The growth of the coffee industry prompted local people to protect the civets.

However, when civet coffee became popular, many wild civets were captured and kept in cages on plantations, partly to serve coffee production and partly to attract tourists.

Experts from the Wildlife Conservation Research Group at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with World Animal Protection in London, England, assessed the living conditions of nearly 50 wild civets kept in cages from 16 farms in Bali, Indonesia. The results of the study, published on April 28 in the journal Animal Welfare, paint a bleak picture of the lives of many civets.

The farms failed to meet basic animal welfare requirements, including the size, hygiene, and ability of the civets to move around properly in their cages. “Some of the cages were as small as rabbit cages. There was urine and feces everywhere,” said Neil D’Cruze, a member of the research team.

Some civets are very thin, fed only coffee berries. Others are obese because they are not allowed to run around freely.

The most troubling aspect, according to D'Cruze, is the mesh flooring that the civets have to deal with all day long. "If you stand on the mesh for a long time, your feet will hurt and your skin will be chafed. The civets have no other place to hide. The mesh is constantly painful and uncomfortable for them," D'Cruze said.

Additionally, many civets lack access to clean water and opportunities to interact with other civets. These nocturnal animals are also affected by noise from traffic and visitors.

What makes civet coffee special, experts say, is that wild civets choose the best coffee berries to eat. Keeping civets in cages and feeding them overripe coffee berries would result in a poor quality product.

According to VNE