Chow Down Atlanta

My two-month stay in Asia is finally winding down. I really love going to this part of the world regularly. I meet so many people, see many different sights, and eat tons of different kinds of food. The short list of where I’ve been and what I did:

• scuba diving in the remote beaches of Southeast Asia
• spelunking in torrential rains wearing flip-flops to go to a distant yet private fruit bats cave
• hiking in the highlands to find Indonesia’s rare Coffee Luwak (Civet coffee)
• hike 1000 feet above sea water to visit an old monastery in the middle of nowhere
• hike 2 miles in unfriendly terrain to swim under a remote waterfall
• cross a deathly flash flood that swallowed the last bridge to get to the other side of the road or get stuck for days while they build another way out
• eat specialty beef soup in front of an active volcano
• took a propeller plane and landed on a dirt road to get to a private island in the South Pacific
• travel 12 hours by bus just to eat rare grilled fish high in the mountains
• traverse the famous Floating Market in Bangkok
• shop along famous Orchard Road in Singapore
• shop in gigantic malls of Thailand and Philippines (both have the biggest malls in the world)
• visit Disneyland Hongkong
• see Cambodia’s famous Ankor Wat
• see palaces, temples, old churches
• see mountains and fields
• eat, sleep, shop. repeat. everyday. for two months.

Now for some pictures… (click to enlarge)

Technorati Tags: Asia, Civet coffee, Coffee Luwak, Floating Market, Bangkok, Orchard Rd., Singapore, Ankor Wat, beaches, Southeast Asia

So sorry for not posting sooner. Internet connection is so erratic in these parts of the world — especially since it’s raining cats and dogs right now. So I’ll make this one quick and try to post again in a couple of days when the rain-slash-tropical storm dies down.

At over one hundred US dollars a pound (yes $100), feast your eyes on the most expensive coffee in the world. Better known as Civet Coffee or Coffee Luwak, this rarest coffee comes from the highlands of Southeast Asia specifically in the countries of Indonesia and the Philippines. I literally walked for miles looking for the source of this coffee and was successful in finding the one sole shack where one farmer sells them once every blue moon.

So what makes this coffee rare and very expensive? For one, the coffee cherries are grown in the mountains in Southeast Asia. Civets or wild cats eat the coffee cherries and are then excreted. The pooped cherries are then washed then processed then roasted into coffee beans. Civets are endangered species and they only eat coffee cherries. These creatures only produce such a small amount for processing. Now your stomach might turn upside down with the thought of drinking excreted coffee but bear in mind that the cherries are first processed. The result is the most aromatic, sweetish, no-acidity-whatsoever coffee you have ever tasted.

I chanced upon a restaurant serving Civet coffee and could not pass up the chance to taste this wonder. Served in a French press with a side of condensed milk, this is by far the best coffee in the world. By the way, I paid $8 for this 6-ounce coffee which is outrageous since you can get a regular cup of coffee here for a mere 50 cents.

Technorati Tags: Coffee Luwak, Civet Coffee, civet, wild cats, coffee, most expensive coffee in the world, excreted coffee