We drank elephant poo coffee. A crap-uccino as some have called it jokingly. Yes, you read that right. And we think it’s a great cup of coffee! Officially it’s called Black Ivory and it’s the rarest and the world’s most expensive coffee.
So what makes it the world’s most expensive coffee? Black Ivory coffee is produced from the finest Thai Arabica beans that have been handpicked from an altitude of 1500 meters (around 5000 feet). The Arabica beans are then fed to Thai elephants and plucked by mahouts (elephant caretaker) a day later from there dung. The elephants are highly inefficient though. It takes 33 kilograms (72 pounds) of raw coffee cherries to produce 1 kilogram (2 pounds) of Black Ivory coffee. The majority of beans get chewed up, broken or lost in tall grass after being deposited by the elephants.
Photo Credit: Anantara
Refinement of the coffee takes place at Anantara’s own foundation the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) in Thailand. The foundation has rescued 30 street elephants to date and 8% of all coffee sales were donated to GTAEF to help fund an elephant veterinarian to provide free care to the elephants.
Black Ivory coffee is only available at Anantara luxury hotels and resorts in a few remote corners of the world – Thailand, the Maldives, and Abu Dhabi – and only 50 kilograms (110 pounds) were produced in 2012. We had it on our trip to the Maldives with Anantara Kihavah Villas as the perfect end to our underwater meal at Sea (more to come on that soon!). Drinking it feels so exclusive! The coffee beans were hand ground at our table and the brewed in front of us using technology developed in Austria in 1840.
We were enchanted by the brewing process! The little Austrian machine has two chambers and is like a balance. The heated chamber is weighted and the water heats up to 93°C. It slowly filters into the glass chamber and the flame is snuffed out by the counterweight, the coffee brews, and then siphons back into the heated chamber. The whole brewing process took around 5 minutes and definitely attracted the attention of other diners.
It far surpassed our expectations and we enjoyed the earthy flavor of the brew. Interestingly, Black Ivory coffee is sweetened with chocolate instead of sugar and always served black.
So what will it cost you to sample a cup? Black Ivory coffee retails at $1100 per kilogram and a cup at one of Anantara’s resorts is $50.
Jennifer Dombrowski
Jennifer Dombrowski is a location independent globe trotter and bases herself in Prata di Pordenone, Italy. She works as a social media and innovation strategist in higher education and is a regular contributor on johnnyjet.com. Her website, jdombstravels.com, is the 2012 Destinology Travel Bloggy Best Newcomer award winner. Google+
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We’re Jennifer and Tim and we love traveling! We are just one ordinary couple who have found that travel brought us closer together, taught us patience, the art of compromise, and how to truly appreciate the diversity of this extraordinary world. So far, we've visited 37 countries, lived in the United States and Italy, and Tim has lived in Korea. And we do it all while both holding down full time jobs. 
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Andi of My Beautiful Adventures
February 2, 2013 at 3:46 pm (UTC 2) Link to this comment
I would like to try it, but damn that’s a lot of money!
Andi of My Beautiful Adventures recently posted..A Photographic Look At My Thanksgiving In 2012 + Giveaway
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:06 am
It’s kind of nuts, Andi! And we were told that the entire 2012 supply had sold out. It’s definitely something interesting to try at least once. The little pot made at least 2 cups each for both of us to share.
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Ali
February 2, 2013 at 4:12 pm (UTC 2) Link to this comment
I’m not a coffee drinker, but it’s definitely interesting. I’ve always read that coffee from civets is the most expensive coffee in the world. It’s the same concept, the civet eats and later craps out the coffee beans, and the price is insane. We got to try some in Indonesia, one of the primary places where it’s produced.
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:08 am
How was it?
Black Ivory is quite new, just hitting the market about a month before our trip to the Maldives. I think the cat poo coffee was the most expensive until Black Ivory was introduced.
Who comes up with the idea to collect coffee beans from cat or elephant poo anyway?!
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Andrea
February 3, 2013 at 6:53 pm (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Now I thought the only poop coffee was from those civet cats (hope that’s my memory serving me right) – elephants too? And they are all pricey? Far out!
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 3rd, 2013 at 8:14 pm
I know. Who exactly decided to try coffee beans that any animal had eaten and excreted? The civet poo coffee is around $10 per cup, which in the scheme of the Black Ivory at $50 per cup, isn’t too bad! I haven’t tried the civet poo coffee, but I did really like the Black Ivory.
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D.J. - The World of Deej
February 4, 2013 at 12:56 am (UTC 2) Link to this comment
This is something I would definitely do, just once. Great experience!
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Black Ivory really is an entire experience, not just a cup of coffee! Definitely give it a try if you get the chance, D.J.
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Natalie
February 4, 2013 at 5:28 am (UTC 2) Link to this comment
With things like this it always makes me wonder, who discovered it in the first place and what were the circumstances that led them to pick through elephant dung! I would try it at least once.
Natalie recently posted..The Coffee Houses of Gaziantep
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Me too. Me too, Natalie! It’s a burning question on everyone’s minds. I may just have to go to Thailand to find out!
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Cole @ FourJandals.com
February 4, 2013 at 8:06 pm (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Wonder if we will be able to find it in Thailand when we go in a few months! Not sure I want to try it but sort of a once-in-a-lifetime-experience I guess haha.
Cole @ FourJandals.com recently posted..Favourite Photos on Instagram (Edition i)
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 11:26 pm
Yes! You can even visit the elephant rescue foundation where it is harvested. It’s called the Anantara Golden Triangle.
Jealous you are going to Thailand! Can’t wait to follow along with your adventures there.
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Blake
February 5, 2013 at 2:03 am (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Thanks Jennifer for the article and we are glad you enjoyed drinking Black Ivory Coffee. Your readers can experience a cup in Maldives but also in Thailand in Chiang Saen at the Anantara Golden Triangle. We produce the coffee next door at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation. It will shortly be sold at the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok as well. You can even try it in Comfort, Texas at The Elephant Story (all sales go back to support elephant charities).
I worked with civets before creating Black Ivory Coffee. The challenge was SARS (civets spread SARS from animals to humans in China) and the fact that farmers were rubbing dung on the beans and trying to pass counterfeit coffee off as the real thing (according to Dr. Marcone of the U. of Guelph 50-70% of civet coffee is fake). Finally civets are now being forced into cages and force fed coffee.
Scientifically there is a taste difference because elephants are herbivores while civets are omnivores. Omnivores digest with more acidity to break down protein rich foods such as meat. Herbivores such as elephants use more fermentation to break down green leafy matter and fermentation helps to impart the fruit of the cherry into the bean.
We have created a great cup of coffee (100% Thai Arabica beans) that is produced at a charitable foundation (www.helpingelephants.org). Tourists can come and witness our production process and we have elephant vets who monitor the process. 8% of our sales go back to the the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation and we combine this unique production with the process that you so well describe.
Feel free to contact me by email as well as through our website.
Best Regards,
Blake
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 5th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Thanks for all the fantastic additional info, Blake! We’d love to come see the production process for ourselves. And we think it’s great that a portion of the profits go toward caring for the elephants.
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Matthew Hirtes
February 8, 2013 at 2:30 pm (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Great post, Jennifer. I thought the coffee was on the expensive side here: http://www.letsgo-mag.com/story/spilling-coffee/1228/1/. Which is well worth a visit too.
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Turtle
February 9, 2013 at 4:40 am (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Wow! I hadn’t heard of this before but it sounds fascinating. I wonder if you can really tell the difference between this coffee and other ‘good’ ones. And I certainly wonder whether you can tell that it’s worth $50.
Turtle recently posted..High on a hill and guarded by monkeys
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
It definitely tastes different and I think the whole experience of the coffee being ground and then brewed in such an exclusive machine adds to it all.
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Blake
February 10, 2013 at 8:26 pm (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Hi Turtle:
To answer your $50 question is tough. While I know we have excellent coffee because we start with excellent beans and take care every step of the process it may not always matter with many people and here’s why. We hired an expert coffee roaster a number of years ago. He had worked for a company that sold cheap brick coffee that you find on supermarket shelves. Turns out customers starting complaining about their coffee en masse. It seems the culprit was that they were able to cut delivery time from farm to shelf by 6 weeks. The result: customers had grown accustomed to stale coffee and that was what they yearned. When they tried fresh coffee they thought it was off and compared to what they knew it was.
What I would like to say is that coffee has a lot of subjectivity. Yes it can be scored by professionals but the reality is that some people like coffee with acidity while others don’t, some like fruit while others prefer chocolate. Finally the brewing process affects the cup too. In short I would be skeptical of anyone who touts their own coffee as the best in the world. I say be critical, inquire about the process and if it is still interesting try it and see for yourself. Yes Black Ivory Coffee may be the most expensive cup in the world but I can assure you 1) you will have an experience found nowhere else 2) the taste will be very good (whether it is the best you ever had is up to you to decide) and 3) you will feel good knowing that your purchase helps support the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Chiang Saen Thailand.
Please feel free to write to me at my website at http://www.blackivorycoffee.com if you have any other questions.
Best Regards,
Blake
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 10:49 am
Thanks for the insight, Blake! I am definitely interested in visiting the Golden Triangle to learn more about the process of making Black Ivory. It would be a great follow up to this post.
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jasha
February 12, 2013 at 5:22 am (UTC 2) Link to this comment
hope there is a site that would tell me when was the black ivory discovered
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Jennifer Dombrowski Reply:
February 13th, 2013 at 9:29 am
Hi Jasha! Black Ivory was sold for the first time in 2012 and is produced at the Anantara Golden Triangle in Thailand.
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