Last year, a friend inquired where to buy "alamid" coffee. I didn't quite answered her right since I wasn't so sure myself. But thanks to Lee of IlonggoLivingInCanada, I may now give a much better answer even though it's already late. Well, as they say "Better late than ... later" - lol.
So what is coffee "alamid"? It's one of the most expensive coffees in the world to start with, fetching around US$600 a pound. Yet it is not the actual coffee beans that make it costly but the "alamids". Then the next question is of course, what, who where, are these "alamids"? They are what locals refer to civets, wild mountain cats found in some parts of the country.
These cats are omnivores, feeding on insects, small animals, fishes, wild plants and fruits including coffee beans. These civets cannot digest the beans so naturally they have to come out of their system after it has mixed with the digestive juices and ferments inside the body. Then these "pooped beans"(lol) are manually collected, cleaned, processed and sold as "civet coffee". They can be found in specialty stores or even stalls selling native products in malls and sold for around PhP600 for a small bottle.
Lee shares his coffee alamid coffee experience when he chanced upon a restaurant that serves a cup of this exotic coffee. Travel Cafe Philippines, located at the posh Greenbelt 5 Mall in Makati City, proved to be a perfect stop to satisfy his coffee alamid curiosity. This resto was built not only as coffeeshop but also as a showcase of the best the Philippines has to offer foreign and local travelers.
His take "Now, for 200 pesos per cup, you don't like to waste it, not even a single drop of it! What's the verdict? Personally speaking, not much to say, except it has this tinny winny unusual flavor dominated by the Arabica coffee that a descriminating coffee drinker can hardly notice it. To say that it is an excellent coffee would be an exageration. To match my order, I got their special cheesecake topped with shredded keso de bola, whipped cream and some blueberries. On the side was cantaloupe. What a pleasant way ending my ALAMID ADVENTURE"
So what is coffee "alamid"? It's one of the most expensive coffees in the world to start with, fetching around US$600 a pound. Yet it is not the actual coffee beans that make it costly but the "alamids". Then the next question is of course, what, who where, are these "alamids"? They are what locals refer to civets, wild mountain cats found in some parts of the country.
These cats are omnivores, feeding on insects, small animals, fishes, wild plants and fruits including coffee beans. These civets cannot digest the beans so naturally they have to come out of their system after it has mixed with the digestive juices and ferments inside the body. Then these "pooped beans"(lol) are manually collected, cleaned, processed and sold as "civet coffee". They can be found in specialty stores or even stalls selling native products in malls and sold for around PhP600 for a small bottle.
Lee shares his coffee alamid coffee experience when he chanced upon a restaurant that serves a cup of this exotic coffee. Travel Cafe Philippines, located at the posh Greenbelt 5 Mall in Makati City, proved to be a perfect stop to satisfy his coffee alamid curiosity. This resto was built not only as coffeeshop but also as a showcase of the best the Philippines has to offer foreign and local travelers.
His take "Now, for 200 pesos per cup, you don't like to waste it, not even a single drop of it! What's the verdict? Personally speaking, not much to say, except it has this tinny winny unusual flavor dominated by the Arabica coffee that a descriminating coffee drinker can hardly notice it. To say that it is an excellent coffee would be an exageration. To match my order, I got their special cheesecake topped with shredded keso de bola, whipped cream and some blueberries. On the side was cantaloupe. What a pleasant way ending my ALAMID ADVENTURE"Thanks to LEE of IlonggoLivingInCanada for the raw photos I used for this blog entry.