LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The protection of an endangered wild-cat species that could spell millions of profit for the Cordillera’s coffee growers and traders has emerged as a rallying cause for business and the environment.

Coffee traders and wildlife experts of the region’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources are now scrambling for a special project to save the Philippine civet cat (Paradoxurus philippinensis) after stories of the animal’s ability to produce world-class coffee gave hope to growers in remote villages.

The civet cat, known in the Cordillera as motit, is one of the fast disappearing species of wild cats that eat coffee cherries and later excrete these as feces that, once cleaned, could be processed as premium quality coffee. (See “In the Know.”)

Most expensive

Forbes magazine has described the civet cat coffee as the rarest and most expensive in the world.

The nocturnal animal, called alamid or musang in southern Luzon and balos in Davao del Sur and South Cotabato, belongs to the mongoose family and dwells on rocks where fruit bearing trees thrive. It uses its nose to detect the ripest and sweetest coffee beans.

The wild cat lives in the Cordillera’s forests and mountain ranges, but it is fast disappearing, according to the DENR’s Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services (PAWCZMS) in the region.

Teber Dionisio, the agency’s division chief, said the rapid destruction of forests and hunting had threatened the cat’s survival.

Serious threat

Samuel Peñafiel, DENR regional director, said global warming, which has altered climate conditions, also pose a serious threat to the habitat of the civet cat. But saving it could depend on Environment Secretary Lito Atienza’s decision to adopt and realign funds for a special project to protect the animal, Peñafiel said.

He said proposals for the animal’s protection had already been submitted to the DENR’s Environment Research and Development Board early last year. “The project intended to study intensively the cat’s reproductive biology and captive breeding,” he said.

The clamor for a special attention to protect the motit came from the Cordillera’s coffee traders and growers who saw potential in its ability to produce high cost quality coffee. For one, the Benguet Organic Coffee Arabica Enterprises Ltd. (Bocael) said its members were fascinated to learn that a kilogram of raw civet cat coffee beans costs P400 to P600.

Hopes

Dominador Dongla, Bocael secretary, said the civet cat coffee had given hopes to the farmers who earn P170 to P270 per kilogram from selling regular coffee beans.

Trade officials in July launched the “Kape de Motit” in Tabuk City in Kalinga in a bid to cash into the demand for civet cat coffee. A local company, Nor Ref Food Products, is the local producer.

Thomas Killip, presidential assistant for Cordillera affairs, said programs promoting the civet cat coffee should be made part of the organization of different coffee councils in the region.

The Sagada coffee council, for example, has adopted the preservation of the civet cat as its advocacy.

Mind-boggling

A Department of Trade and Industry report describes the global demand for civet cat coffee as mind-boggling. It said Indonesia’s Kopi Luwak alone could sell up for to $1,300 (P63,700) a kilogram in Japan and the United States.

In Baguio City, Garcia’s Pure Coffee store in the Hangar Section of the public market says it is the only distributor in Northern Luzon of the “Arengga Alamid Coffee,” which sells for P600 for every 50 grams and P1,000 for every 100 grams.

It also sells the Benguet and Arabica coffee varieties at P170 and P220 per kg.

Storekeeper Brenda Lagasca said the supplier delivers 200 to 300 bottles of civet cat coffee a month and these are sold quickly.

In The Know

Wild cats crazy over coffee

How does the civet cat bring about the best coffee?

Samuel Peñafiel, Cordillera director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the wild cat has the innate ability to smell, choose and swallow the best coffee cherry.

Teber Dionisio, division chief of the DENR’s Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services, sees something in the animal’s stomach that makes the coffee beans taste good. “The mixture of enzymes and the coffee bean’s proteins inside the intestines of the civet cat’s digestive system results in a rare kind of coffee,” he said.

When the excreted beans are dried, roasted, pounded and brewed, the result is an exceptional aroma and distinct taste.

His deputy, Jude Acos, says the civet cat loves the sweet sap between the coffee’s peel and bean. “That’s why the coffee beans excreted by the cat are usually peeled. They forage or look for food at night and early morning before the sun rises and they prefer sweet berries. Coffee beans just make them crazy.” Delmar Cariño