The world’s most expensive coffee is a nightmare for the animals who produce it
The most expensive coffee in the world can go for $100 a cup, but it comes with a hidden cost: the well-being of a forest-dwelling cat-like creature native to southeast Asia. Historically, kopi luwak was made using palm civet droppings harvested in the wild. But the coffee’s consistently high price has led to civets being captured in the wild and kept in cramped cages on coffee plantations. A recent report published in the journal Animal Welfare, which assessed the living conditions of 48 palm civets living on 16 plantations, described emerging civet coffee production methods as “an enslavement industry.”
