Practically everyone who comes to the farm will inevitably ask in the first three minutes about the notoriously-expensive Alamíd coffee (usually the first question is: "How big is your place?"). It's become an urban legend of some sorts and has spawned the curiosity of many, which, pardon the pun, will hopefully not lead to killing the "cat."
Alamid is a civet which is more raccoon-like than feline. It is similar to a músang (but I cannot tell the difference) and a binturông, the Palawan "bear cat" (as I said, they are not cats and definitely not bears!).
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| Photo by Ryan Fernandez |
I'm no longer going to expound about the coffee since I'm no expert in it. But we do have it, we find the beans scattered around the farm, especially near the river (top photo).
I think it's fascinating! It's the nature of the alamids to hunt for the sweetest beans, a skill something we humans will never develop, not in a million years. Since they only digest the pulp and not the beans, it does make sense to harvest them and try it out, at least. Now to what extent does it differ from the rest of the beans they did not choose?
I have yet to try.
Do try and tell us the difference! I've been boggled about the hype that is alamid for quite some time now. How do you even disinfect it?? I guess roasting kills all the harmful poop? Or how does one know that an alamid actually pooped out the seeds and not stray cats or worse, rats?! Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteHah, interesting activity to track their poop! :) I once tried the alamid coffee at Bag of Beans in Tagaytay. I detected (but very faintly) that famed chocolate-y aroma. Curious to hear your take on the difference when you eventually get to compare. :)
ReplyDeleteOf course, I will blog about it. I just have not had the audacity to actually do it once and for all...
ReplyDelete