“Gifts” from Civets
In Buon Ma Thuot, the business of raising civets to produce coffee has taken root. “Weasel coffee,” or cà phê chồn, refers to coffee beans collected from the droppings of civet cats after they eat ripe coffee cherries.
In the corner of Hoang Manh Cuong’s house—he is the director of Kien Cuong Co., Ltd., in Tan Tien Ward, Buon Ma Thuot City—about 150 kilograms of weasel coffee beans are packed in bags, waiting for customers. Gently handling the dry, tamarind-shaped clumps of civet droppings packed with coffee beans, Cuong says, “I’ve already sold 50 kilograms, and a company has promised to buy the rest. When these beans are thoroughly dried and stored properly, they can retain their unique flavor for years.”
This is Cuong’s second year harvesting this specialty coffee from his 50 civets. He began raising civets in 2004, starting with a tiny baby bought at a market that had to be hand-fed with milk every day. Over time he learned that civets eat a varied diet of fruit and animal protein. By the end of 2007, when his herd had grown, he tried producing weasel coffee and managed a few dozen kilograms. The following 2008 harvest, output rose to 200 kilograms. Cuong explains, “I buy freshly picked, bright red coffee cherries directly from farms at two to three times the usual price and wash them carefully to remove any pesticide residues. Only when the civets are healthy and digesting well do I feed them these cherries, so that the beans they excrete have the best quality.”
Although weasel coffee is only a side venture for Cuong—already known as a “king” of exotic animal breeding in Dak Lak—it is the work he finds most intriguing. On his one-hectare farm he raises over ten kinds of wild animals and reptiles, mainly snakes and monitor lizards. He keeps more than 1,000 snakes—cobra, rat snake, and king cobra—and nearly 100 monitor lizards. Every month he sells several hundred kilograms of snakes at prices ranging from 300,000 to 1,000,000 VND per kilogram, depending on species. Yet he considers producing weasel coffee the most enjoyable project, even though selling the product is still challenging.
Cuong says the raw weasel coffee beans fetch attractive prices—starting from 1 million VND per kilogram—while ordinary coffee beans are only around 25,000 VND per kilogram. But finding buyers is not easy. His 150 kilograms of weasel coffee are still waiting for a company from Ho Chi Minh City to introduce the product to foreign customers.
Seeking New Markets
The Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), also known as the common palm civet, is native to Southeast Asia. One of its favorite foods is ripe coffee cherries. It is believed that enzymes in the civet’s stomach partially break down the proteins in the beans, reducing bitterness and giving the coffee a unique and distinctive flavor unlike ordinary coffee. This is why this type of coffee has become a high-value delicacy.
The largest producers of weasel coffee in Dak Lak are not Cuong but two brothers, Nguyen Quoc Khanh and Nguyen Giang Nam, both in their early 30s from Krong Buk commune, Krong Pak District. Khanh says he has only been making weasel coffee for about two years, though he had raised civets for much longer. With more than 40 civets, he has harvested nearly a ton of weasel coffee, of which only about 200 kilograms have been sold; the remaining 700 kilograms are vacuum-packed and waiting for customers.
Why is this specialty coffee so famous worldwide yet so hard to sell locally? Khanh explains: “For a long time, the world has only known the famous Kopi Luwak brand from Indonesia and is not yet aware of Vietnamese weasel coffee. Even though we now have the technology to raise civets and produce coffee comparable to wild-sourced beans, our marketing is still weak, so very few people know about it. In Vietnam, weasel coffee isn’t yet part of the drinking culture, and the price is high compared to local consumption habits.”
Despite the challenges, Khanh remains optimistic. His civet herd is well-maintained, ready for the next coffee harvest at the end of the year. He plans to seek partners to open a café in Ho Chi Minh City to sell weasel coffee and gradually introduce this unique product to a wider audience.