With the ambition of building wealth in his new hometown, Nguyen Huu Phuong (originally from Hai Duong) has tried several farming and production models in Nam Ban, Lam Ha District, Lam Dong Province.
Having heard that weasel coffee is especially aromatic and flavorful, Phuong came up with the idea of producing it himself. With coffee already growing in his garden, he traveled to Cu Chi (Ho Chi Minh City) to purchase ten civet cats (each weighing about 1 kg) at a price of 5 million VND per animal, and brought them back to Lam Ha. Being wild animals, civets are not difficult to raise; building the cages is fairly simple and it is only necessary to keep them dry.
In the wild, after civets eat ripe coffee cherries, only the pulp is digested while the beans pass through the digestive tract. The fermentation from enzymes in the civet’s stomach gives the beans a distinctive, slightly earthy and mellow flavor. After three months of raising civets, Phuong began feeding them freshly picked, thoroughly washed ripe coffee cherries. In the first harvest in 2009, his family produced 120 kg of weasel coffee with excellent quality.
Phuong’s weasel coffee has been purchased by Saigon – Ban Me Coffee Co., Ltd. at 800,000 VND per kilogram of beans—much higher than the usual price of regular coffee (around 25,000 VND per kilogram).
Currently, Phuong is experimenting with breeding the civets and transferring his knowledge of civet farming combined with weasel coffee production to members of his youth club. He shared that his weasel coffee products will soon be introduced at tourist sites in Da Lat City and other local destinations.