Editor's note: You guessed it... this story was an April Fools! Thanks for reading, enjoy the rest of your Monday.
A PASSIONATE barista has discovered a purr-fect coffee with a ‘luxurious’ flavour - made by cats!
Mark Lee-Kilgariff runs an award-winning speciality coffee business, Tatton Perk, and is constantly on the hunt for new flavours.
A customer returning from Indonesia brought him a bag of Civet coffee, known as Kopi Luwak or Mongoose coffee in South East Asia, where it is a highly prized commodity.
Unbelievably, it is made from coffee beans excreted by a creature called the palm civet, a cat-sized mammal related to the mongoose!
The dad-of-two said: “The creature climbs to the highest branches to feed on the finest beans.
“As it digests the outer shell of the coffee cherry, enzymes in the civet’s stomach break down and partially ferment the indigestible beans.
“Nature takes its course and when the coffee bean is excreted, it’s collected, cleaned, roasted, ground and brewed.
“The process is believed to impart a syrupy, luscious and full-bodied flavour and a musky earthiness that coffee connoisseurs go crazy for.
“It commands high prices as only around 500kg are produced per year.”
Mark was blown away by the flavour and decided to try and see if he could come up with an animal nearer home to deposit a similar bean.
“We knew a supplier of high grade coffee cherries and started researching animals to feed them to,” he said.
“After failed experiments with ferrets, we thought our plan was on the skids.
“Until one morning, we found a bag of coffee cherries we had accidentally left out had been ripped open and eaten.
“We set up a surveillance camera to find the culprit and to our surprise it turned out that a local cat had been scoffing them happily!”
Mark bought two cats called Flat White and Long Black and started feeding them coffee cherries.
"It worked perfectly as our feline faeces factories pooped in their litter trays so the coffee beans were easy to harvest," said Mark.
"Once the cats have emptied themselves, we retrieve the stools, remove the beans and wash them.
“We then steep them in mineral water and lactic acid bath in sealed steel containers for 72 hours.
“They are then air dried and roasted.”
Remarkably, the coffee beans, he says, have an incredible flavour!
“The taste is amazing,” said Mark.
“It opens with rich chocolate notes and overtones of caramel and finishes with a fruity, earthy note reminiscent of blueberry and lychee.
“The mouthfeel is luxurious.
“Some people have used the term ‘grassy’ and ‘jungly’ to describe our cat coffee.”
Plans are now underway to expand production.
The method is a closely guarded secret, known only to Mark and Mia Lucas, manager of the Moor Park coffee shop.
Mark said: “It’s incredibly labour intensive but we have just secured investment to expand to a facility that can house 30 cats and upgrade to a larger capacity roaster.
“Tatton Perk prides itself on being an ethical company so we’re working with a local cat sanctuary to offer homes and jobs to cats that have been abandoned.
“As we expand, we hope to bring the price down.”
Customers are invited to pop into Tatton Perk at Moor Park which is open every day over the Easter holiday.
“We advise it is served black to open up the full flavour profile but if you want it with milk, we’re happy to fix you a cat-poo-ccino.
“Choose from Cheshire Cat, our medium roast, or Cats Eye, the darker espresso roast.
“We’re excited to be able to share the retail packaging we’ve designed and hope that you get to try this remarkable coffee experience soon.”
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