In the lush hills of northern Thailand, a herd of 20 elephants is helping to excrete some of the world's most expensive coffee.
In this Dec. 4, 2012 photo, a Thai mahout's wife jokingly poses with a plastic basket containing coffee beans freshly cleaned from elephant dung below the tail of an elephant in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. A Canadian entrepreneur has teamed up with a herd of 20 elephants, gourmet roasters and one of the country's top hotels to produce Black Ivory Coffee, a new blend from the hills of northern Thailand and the excrement of elephants which ranks among the world's most expensive cups of coffee.
GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Thailand (AP) — In the lush hills of northern Thailand, a herd of 20 elephants is helping to excrete some of the world's most expensive coffee.
Trumpeted as earthy in flavor and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung.
Stomach turning or oddly alluring, this is not just one of the world's most unusual specialty coffees. At $1,100 per kilogram ($500 per pound), it's also among the world's priciest.
The Associated Press traveled to the coffee's production site in the Golden Triangle, an area historically known for producing drugs more potent than coffee, to see the jumbo baristas at work. And to sip the finished product from a dainty demi-tasse.