Offbeat Olivia's Offbeat Travels

Offbeat Olivia's offbeat travels. From my column with Sunday Mid-Day. 

No to Civet Coffee

Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee is yet another Asian fad that is detrimental to conservation. Wild civets are captured, subjected to inhuman treatment and force-feeding, only to increase yields. Among the acts that go unnoticed, are killing and stuffing civets for the sake of advertisement, as is a common practice in food markets in Vietnam that sell Kopi Luwak.

(A stuffed palm civet used to advertise a brand of Civet Coffee, labelled as 'Weasel Coffee'. Benh Thanh Street Food Market, Saigon). Indonesia and Vietnam are Kopi Luwak hubs.

The comic appears in my column with Mid-Day today. 

Are you a coffee lover who chooses to stand up against Civet Coffee and its atrocities? 'No to Civet Coffee, Yes to Wild Civets' mugs and merchandise are available on my webstore here.

Kopi Luwak- Civet Coffee

Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee refers to the coffee processed from coffee beans that have been eaten and defecated by palm civets. At five times the price of Arabica coffee, Kopi Luwak is the world's most expensive coffee, without any particular attribute for being so. The coffee has been widely found to simply taste bad, and it appears that it is purchased for novelty rather than quality. But the real damage that civet coffee does, is to civets themselves. The trade has given way to an entire racket in which civets are captured, caged in deplorable conditions, starved and force-fed with coffee beans resulting in a high mortality of these animals. Kopi Luwak seems to be yet another Oriental gimmick crafted solely to defy logic and harass wildlife.

This comic appeared in my fortnightly column in The Hindu's BLink here.