TAIWAN: Taiwan's Coffee producers make use of coffee beans spat out by monkeys to brew a rare and expensive delicacy

Record ID: 783798

  • Title: TAIWAN: Taiwan's Coffee producers make use of coffee beans spat out by monkeys to brew a rare and expensive delicacy
  • Date: 19th November 2007
  • Summary: (L!2) YUNLIN, TAIWAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) A CREEK VALLEY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF ZHANGHU VILLAGE
  • Embargoed: 4th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAB0AZ75RRRMHX726O9000MQMBS
  • Story Text: What some monkeys are spitting out in Taiwan is quickly becoming a specialty among coffee connoisseurs.
    Second-hand coffee beans are becoming the latest gourment delicacy and are now brewing in coffee-makers across the island.
    Spat out by Formosan rock-monkeys who live high up in the mountains, half-chewed coffee beans left over after the monkeys have enjoyed the soft fleshy fruit exterior, are said to have a unique flavour.
    Liao Jingdong, who has been a coffee farmer for thirty years, says he one day stumbled across the unique idea of utilising the spoiled coffee fruit left over by the monkeys. Since his discovery, he says he has never looked back.
    Monkeys that eat fruit in farms usually cause serious damage to farmers, but Liao tried to roast beans spat out by the monkeys, and discovered a unique taste different from the original.

    "They pick the reddest fruits to eat, and spit out the seeds. They cannot swallow the beans because that may cause indigestion," Liao explains.
    Roasting the discarded seeds of the coffee fruit, Liao discovered that his new brew had a sweeter flavour and a vanilla-like scent.
    Liao says the monkeys who once posed a threat to his coffee crop, now serve as valuable workers.

    "For other crops it may cause serious loss, but if they eat coffee in this area, then it saves me the trouble of peeling the fruits," said Liao.
    Liao's family has been looking after coffee trees on the mountains for seven generations. About six years ago, he started to move these trees to a higher altitude that would be more suitable for the Arabica beans.
    After moving deeper into the mountains, Liao started to see furry patrons who like to eat coffee fruit as morning snacks.
    The coffee trees, which occupy only a small part of the mountain in Gukeng township -- Taiwan's coffee production centre, were planted since the Japanese colonial period as experiments to produce coffee beans for export, said local farmers.
    Coffee is usually harvested between June and October, but the mountain coffee, which grew at an altitude of 600 meters (1968 ft) and up, is usually harvested from September to the following April.
    Visitors coming from various parts of Taiwan gathered here to taste the rare delicacy in the midst of late autumn mountain scenery.
    It takes two weeks to have the coffee beans unshelled, sun dried, and roasted, but for coffee-lovers like Wang Chihming, it's worth the wait.

    "Personally, I like black coffee because that's the original taste, plus it's got a nice aftertaste, that's really good," said Wang.
    Liao's farm produces about 300 kilogrammes (661 lbs) of coffee beans annually, which yields around 30 percent of their earnings aside from growing betelnut and green tea.
    The uniquely selected coffee comes at a cost of about $60 U.S. dollars a pound (454 grams).
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