Some Things are Just Ridiculous
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, December 7, 2012
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17 comments
Via the Detroit Free Press: Elephant dung coffee goes for $50 a pop
Stomach turning or oddly alluring, this is not just one of the world’s most unusual specialty coffees. At $1,100 per kilogram ($500 per pound), it’s also among the world’s priciest.
Forget the poop part for the moment: what could possibly make coffee worth that much? Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but if you are paying that much for coffee, you may have too much money (or, at least, a bizarre set of priorities).
(However, the photo accompanying the story is amusing).
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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I’d try it, but it’s a bit too pricey for regular consumption.
Then again, I do have a $1000 coffee maker…
I don’t drink coffee at all so I obviously wouldn’t pay for this. But this story is very vague. Is some elephant poop dropped into your coffee or is your coffee in a cup made from elephant poop?
@Barfour: What is vague about this?
@Barfour:
If it’s what I think it is, then it’s coffee made from beans that were… umm… first “processed” by an elephant (and then collected, cleaned, roasted, and ground).
A pop or a poop?
@rodney dill:
I think the headline writer was self-aware on that one.
Ah, you are starting on the wrong end of the problem.
Instead, given a globalized world with billionaires everywhere … you can sell ANYTHING for more. Just write a plausible story line about why it is better … or failing that … unique.
(My Rhino poop coffee is much better and only slightly more expensive … contact for details.)
@rodney dill:
Well, my experience with elephant dung is limited but there would be a lot of pops in one poop.
@john personna:
I see what you did there.
Regardless, your coffee breath will still smell shi**y.
“Ned passed out after he drank coffee that came from an elephant’s a$$.”
“Let’s use proper English, you mean rectum.”
Wrecked ‘im! D@mn near killed him.
What’s the slogan for this stuff?: “Good to the last dropping.”
I had a cup of civet coffee once. It was quite good. Not at all worth the money (it’s just coffee), but good nonetheless.
@CSK: Nice. Very nice.
If you’ve managed to participate in the rigged game that is the global economic market to the extent that you’re worth a billion dollars or more, why shouldn’t you be spending a grand for your coffee? It’s probably a smaller chunk of your net worth than the price of a grande latte is for a middle class person.
The answer is not to whine about the expensive coffee, but to fix the gulf between the super-rich and everybody else. I vote for multiple extra tax brackets, with a top marginal rate of 90% on anything over ten million.
@Mikey:
Me too! Jura or Capresso? Like there’s any difference.
@Davebo: It’s a Capresso. Got it as a factory refurb, still has a 1-year warranty but cost half as much as new.
We were in Germany in August and my wife’s relatives all had one. We got back to the States and couldn’t handle drip coffee any more.