July 29, 2004

Kopi Luwak A food scientist has cracked the secrets of the world's most expensive coffee, Kopi Luwak (described by some as "earthy, musty, syrupy, smooth and rich, with both jungle and chocolate undertones"), whose beans pass through the intestinal tract of an Indonesian civet before being roasted and savoured. Maybe they could ask this Belgian artist to build a machine to make this coffee without the help of cats?
posted by mare 20 years ago
  • Uhhh... But one consolation: You're spot on, one month to the day!
  • Right now I'm reading "V" by Thomas Pynchon and I absolutely love it. The plot can be a bit confusing at times, but I find the writing is fantastic. This is one book that definitely lives up to the hype. I'm not even finished yet and I'm already looking forward to checking out "Gravity's Rainbow".
  • First: that nature atricle is published online: 27 July 2004 Second: those machines have never been posted. Third: /shoot myself in the head
  • In the south-west of Morocco there is a tree called the Argon tree. The seeds of the Argon fruit, when opened and pressed, produce what is said to be the finest cooking oil in the world. The Argon tree is quite short and accessible, but it has one characteristic that prevents people from just picking the fruit and extracting the seeds and oil: it is covered in extremely sharp thorns, that will shred your skin in seconds. The enterprising locals have therefore bred a species of miniature goat, which they have trained to climb the branches of the Argon tree. These particular goats are attracted to the Argon fruit, and will eat it in quantity; and as the Argon seeds are tough, it is an easy matter to later recover these from amongst the dung in the animal stalls, after they have been passed by the goats. The extraction and processing of the Argon oil can then begin. I have heard that this oil sells for considerable sums of money, on account of its fine and unique flavour.
  • I'm sorry mare! I forgot to take into account the second link. *shoots self in head*
  • I have seen this.
  • carter: But tough gloves wouldn't work?
  • Dear Onanist, Huh?
  • I think onan's comment was caused by a MetaPhilter bug. It was not there when I posted my comment at 03:23PM UTC and got somehow inserted later. Maybe monkeybashi can delete it?
  • mare: /shoot myself in the head alnedra: *shoots self in head* Maybe this guy can come and get us.
  • jb: That's a good point. However, the Argon tree is quite short and gnarly, like a dense bushy thorny olive tree. To get at all the fruit, you would have to get right into it, and squirm around the branches, and those branches would also have to bear your weight. You'd have to be covered from head to toe, not just gloved, and this would only slow you down even more. Best to leave it to goats. I think they now have machines to do this. But real cooking oil afficionados still hanker after the 'naturally' processed product.
  • V is great, and you're going to love Gravity's Rainbow! It goes great with argon oil and kopi luwak!
  • My comment wasn't a bug, it stems from this thread and a comment in this thread made by the quidnunc kid. I wonder what kopi luwak would taste like with argon oil in it? /sometimes my jokes are only funny to me.
  • Stencil's been shot in the ass.