coffee

I am always amazed at the length human beings go to exploit other animals in their bid to find the best tasting food, or the best feeling clothes. I was sitting and sipping my ritualised morning coffee and pouring through my google reader feeds and came across this.
People pay GOOD money to drink coffee made from beans that have made their way through the intestinal tracts of a Civet which are found in South East Asia. Most of said coffee comes from Sumatra, Indonesia and the Phillipines. People go hunting for the dung of these animals to harvest the beans. It is said that after the beans have been fermented in the animals stomach enzymes, it produces a brew described as "smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste."

Like most things that are worth lots of money, people go crazy in the bid to get their hands in part of the growing business. In this particular business, people are starting to buy and sell the animals in cages and are trying to mass produce the beans. But like a lot of things, too much of anything people get bored, so they move onto the next 'new' and 'exciting' exploitation.