Bat Spit Coffee

On a recent trip to Bali I visited some plantations to vet new coffees for Dead Sled.  While I was in Bali, I had the opportunity to try Kopi Luwak, which is coffee eaten by a Civit who has eaten a coffee cherry, swallowed the coffee bean whole, then-pooped the whole bean out. The bean is then sanitized and roasted and available to be consumed as a cup of coffee.

Why would you drink that? Well, for me the answer is simple. Bragging rights and curiosity.  But why would people in general drink it and what’s the point? As you may know, coffee, when it is on the branch, is like a cherry with the bean inside. Typically there are two popular ways to remove the bean from the rest of the cherry. One is with water, or ‘Washed Processed’ the other is by letting the cherries lay in the sun, this is called ‘Dry Processed’. There are a couple of other ways but these are the most common ways.

The logic behind the Luwak or Civit coffee is that the Civit picks the best cherries from the trees. Then, when the Civit swallows the bean it removes all of the layers of the cherry though digestion and fermentation which results in a less bitter and lower caffeinated coffee.  So what the hell is Bat Spit Coffee? Keeping in mind what we already know, that when coffee is grown it’s like a cherry with the bean inside, Madagascar’s Itasy province wild bats chew on ripe coffee cherries and spit out the bean. The reaction between their digestive fluids that stay on the bean and outside air gives the coffee a uniquely smooth flavor that lingers for a long time in your mouth.

We’ve yet to try this bat spit coffee. But we do now know why Bela Lugosi in his famed roll of Dracula said, ‘I never drink…wine..’. He was waiting on either some of this Bat coffee or Dead Sled Bela’s Brew. 

-Acey