A 1-YEAR-OLD civet cat is seen in a coffee farm in the town of Makilala in North Cotabato. Civets produce the world’s most expensive coffee. JEOFFREY MAITEM
POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato—During the last five years, B’laan farmer Oliver Buan of Barangay Kilinis wakes up a few hours before the break of dawn and, armed with a flashlight, joins other villagers to the forest to collect civet droppings.
Buan’s group, normally composed of at least 80 persons, would scour the foot of Mount Matutum for coffee beans found in the civet droppings.
“These are like gold,” he told the Inquirer, showing the beans that he collected from civet droppings.
The coffee beans excreted by the civets after eating them are sought after worldwide. It is known by many names, including kopi luwak, a Malay phrase that literally means civet coffee.
Kopi luwak, coffee lovers attest, produces a brew that is smooth and devoid of bitterness.
Science researchers said the transformation of the simple coffee bean inside a civet stomach to become the world’s best coffee might have been caused by fermentation and enzymes inside the animal’s gut.
Buan said collecting coffee beans excreted by civets has made the lives of B’laan in his village far better.
In the past, they could hardly buy food, he said.
“Our buyers in the market get it from us for P1,000 a kilo while the regular coffee beans fetch just 10 percent of that,” he said.
Buan said each farmer in his village now earns an average of P20,000 per month from selling the beans.
“We can now afford to send our kids to school. And all of us in our village have motorcycles for our mobility,” Buan said, as he beams with pride at their newfound livelihood.
Visiting Japanese Dr. Masaru Imada, a biochemist who works with Meiji Dairy Corp., said civet coffee is very expensive in Japan and could fetch up to 5,000 yen per 100 gram (about P2,600 at P0.53 per yen).
“It’s expensive. Ordinary coffee will just cost you 400 yen per 100 grams,” he said.
Buan said what sets apart the civet coffee harvested in the village from other civet coffee produced elsewhere is that it is natural.
No civet is kept in a cage in the village, he said.
“More than 4,000 civets are out there (in the forest) giving us this fortune so no need to cage them,” he said.
Buan said the B’laan of Kilinis made sure that the civets roam free.
“We have our own law here prohibiting anyone from catching, caging or even hurting civets. If anybody violates [it], he or she must pay P5,000 or face expulsion from the village,” he said.
Fred Fredeluces, a businessman from General Santos City who buys civet coffee from the B’laan, said he prefers beans from droppings of wild civets.
“Wild civets can select the best coffee berries, producing the premium ones,” he said.
Fredeluces said the challenge for the Kilinis B’laan now is to expand their coffee farms.
He said at the rate the civets are reproducing, more coffee beans are needed to sustain the animals.
Rochelle Regodon, campaign manager of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the practice of the Kilinis B’laan was worth emulating because they treat the civets with respect.
She said what the group is campaigning against are producers who cage civets for the sake of producing the sought-after coffee beans.
“Civet cats in such farms live in tiny barren wire cages where they can only pace back and forth day in and day out. Their lives revolve around nothing but eating coffee berries. These animals are listless, bored and don’t get to engage in behaviors that are important and natural to them,” Regodon said.
She said coffee aficionados must only buy kopi luwak from persons actually collecting and harvesting the droppings.
“The idea that civet cats suffered for the sake of a cup of coffee should leave a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth,” Regodon said.