Enzyme process
Thanks to all who posted good info on this topic, I'm not sure I will ever really know this subject fully. But the posts were helpful.
Trung Nguyen claims to have studied what takes place in the civet and has duplicated the process by a (secret of course) formula using isolated enzymes that similar to the natural ones. This seems to makes sense, since the process that takes place is not really a mystery, why not simulate it and do without the "occasional dead mouse" as a previous poster so delicately phrased it.
The coffee is called Legendee / Weasel, and they make no representation that it is anything but what they feel is a similar, but hygenic process. The result is one incredible coffee... and most of the tourists who come back from Vietnam looking for weasel coffee that they had in a coffee shop there have actually had the Legendee and loved it. There are now almost 2000 outlets throught southeast Asia but still I can't find anybody in the USA importing it but me... but I assume the Vietnamese-American importers in California do import it, but they don't advertise... they distribute locally to Asian markets.
Yes, they do package it in a 100-gram bag (ground) that sells for $3.50. There is whole bean now also, which they haven't exported till this January.
I guess the real question is, would anybody be able to tell the real civet enzymes from the reproduction... enough to be worth $150 per pound. I don't know, having only had the Trung Nguyen. I will say that everybody who has tried it ranks it among their top few coffees they have ever tried... especially iced.
Also, keep in mind that there are a hundred small imitators who label some coffee civet coffee or variations of the theme, but TN is the first company to recreate the enzyme process, and Legendee is pretty well agreed to be the "real" simulation... if that makes any sense.
If you write to me @
lbrault@clockworkcommerce.com and mention this forum I would be glad to send you a sample, to anybody who is sincerely interested in it. I would be glad to get some expert opinions on it. Please don't pass that offer on to anyone outside of these forums...