How the world's most expensive coffee could cause the next pandemic
surtr, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The world’s most expensive coffee, kopi luwak, produced from berries partially digested by small mammals, could potentially cause the next world pandemic.

In half of the paradisiacal forests of Indonesia live some small mammals that feed on coffee berries: Asian palm civets. Unfortunately, growing attention and commercial interest in these zones have turned them into places of hidden threats. There are certain practices that end up being concealed or protected as secrets of state.

This is the case of kopi luwak, the world’s most expensive coffee, which is cultivated in southeast Asia and collected from the animals’ defections. The most concerning issue, other than the conditions of animal abuse faced by the civets during the process used to obtain coffee, is that this could potentially lead to the next pandemic.

In the beginning, the business of civet coffee looked set to bring good things for the animals. Palm civets tended to invade…



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