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The world's most expensive "shit coffee": a cup of more than 400 yuan has a unique fruity aroma

Published: 2026-04-07 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/07, Western media reported on May 23 that in the eyes of Canadian entrepreneur Blake Dingjin, the road to finding a coffee formula is the longest and most difficult in the world. It took him 10 years to extract the world's most expensive coffee from elephant droppings. According to a report in Spain's Abesai newspaper on May 20, Ding Jin said in an interview with the media that when he was in 2003

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Western media reported on May 23 that in the eyes of Canadian entrepreneur Blake Dingjin, the road to finding a coffee formula is the longest and most difficult in the world. It took him 10 years to extract the world's most expensive coffee from elephant droppings.

According to a report in Spain's Abesai newspaper on May 20, Ding Jin said in an interview with the media that when he tasted the results of his first experiment in 2003, it felt terrible. This first sip of coffee tastes like an elephant. Although he has experienced many failures, Ding Jin has never given up the pursuit of shit coffee.

Ding Jin devoted all his life to the study of coffee and participated in the Kopi Luwak project in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. He wanted to use his expertise to create a new sustainable coffee industry and create well-being for human society, so he began to try to use other animals to develop high-quality coffee.

Ding Jin said: "I heard that in the dry season, elephants go out of the jungle to look for food in coffee gardens because of hunger and thirst, but it annoys coffee farmers and many elephants are poisoned to death." After hearing the story, Ding Jin gave up the idea of using giraffes, zebras and lions to develop coffee.

In the past 10 years, Ding Jin has traveled almost all over the world and finally decided to take root in Thailand, setting up his own brand, Black Ivory, in Banda Gran, east of Surin.

Ding Jin says he imagined everything too simple at first: feed the elephants coffee beans, then collect feces and clean and dry them. But this was not the case, and he did not get satisfactory results until 2011. But he never gave up perfect coffee like shit. Some people tried to imitate Ding Jin, but gave up within a few weeks.

Since 2012, Ding Jin has been working with the Golden Triangle Foundation in northern Thailand. The local elephants have been treated well, their living conditions are very superior, and they have a rich diet every day. So Ding Jin moved all his business to Surin in northeastern Thailand in 2016.

In Banda Gran, a poor area where the economy is mainly dependent on rice cultivation, there are more than 300 elephants, mainly serving local agriculture and tourism.

Ding Jin signed an agreement with local poor families to use their 27 elephants to develop elephant shit coffee. The salary offered by Ding Jin is not a small income for these poor families. These poor households pick out coffee beans one by one from elephant droppings and earn $10 per kilogram. Compared with the income in the coffee garden, this figure is considerable.

Ding Jin said that elephants eat rice, fruits and vegetables mixed with coffee beans, and digestive enzymes in their stomach juice can remove the proteins that cause coffee beans to suffer. Coffee beans soaked in juices and vegetable juices ferment in the elephant's stomach to produce a unique sweet fruit aroma.

Elephants can produce one kilogram of shit-like coffee for every 33 kilograms of coffee beans they eat, because most of the coffee is lost while the elephant is walking or swimming.

Ding Jin's black ivory brand ivory shit coffee costs 180 euros (1386 yuan) per 100g. In some five-star hotels or Michelin restaurants, a cup of brewed shit-like coffee costs more than $60.

"what I sell is not coffee, but a life experience," says Mr Ding. " Today, the output of black ivory coffee can reach 150 kilograms a year, and he hopes to continue to expand his business. "I will continue to make shit-like coffee anyway," he said. I love this animal, and I love my job even more. " (compiled / Liu Lifei) Source reference message Network)

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