Exotic Coffee Drinks from Around the World
I don’t have a huge budget for my coffee habit, so I’m not always able to sample the more exotic coffee beans available at high-end cafes or through mail-order services. But I will admit to being enchanted by exotic coffee varietals, especially those that come with a hefty price tag.
Much ado has been made over the past decade or so about coffee beans which are fermented inside the body of various animals. Kopi Luak is probably the best-known of these oddball (and very expensive) coffees, made famous by the Hollywood film “The Bucket List.” This coffee is first consumed by a nasty little rodent called a civet, and it actually ferments inside their intestinal tract before being, ahem, passed on. Yes, the producers of this coffee actually have to pick through the civet’s waste before cleaning, packaging, and selling what is reportedly the least-bitter coffee in the world.
Let’s take a look at three other exotic coffees, none of which I’ve had the pleasure of trying, all of which I hope to one day sample.
Grown in (where else?) the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, this specific single-bean varietal is among the most sought-after in the world, and one of the most-imitated labels in all of coffee-dom. If you can secure a bag of these beans, you’d best be prepared to shell out the big bucks, since a limited amount is grown and sold each year. Beware knock-offs that try to pass off other beans as genuine Jamaican Blue.
Sometimes called “the Champagne of coffees,” genuine Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is grown only in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia. Not nearly as pricey as Jamaican Blue, this varietal is still hard to come by thanks to high-demand and a relatively small amount of production. Mocha-like flavors blend with high acidity to produce a coffee like none other in the world.
3. Liberica Coffee from Zanzibar
What makes this bean so exotic is that it has nothing to do with the two most common coffee cultivars, Arabica and Robusta. Because the Liberica bean is an entirely different species, it tastes like no coffee you’ve ever had. Since few (if any!) commercial producers are growing and selling Liberica beans, my only opportunity to drink this brew would come from a trip to Tanzania, which I simply can’t afford at the present time.
Maybe one day I’ll take that trip to Africa and sample some Liberica, or maybe a friend of mine (hint hint) will go out on a limb and buy me a half-kilo of Jamaican Blue for my birthday. Until then, I’ll just have to dream about them over a cup of my usual.
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