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KSTP.com - 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS

The metro has a very pricey cup of java

Updated: 01/08/2007 09:07:11 AM - [ VIDEO ]

So how much would you spend on a fresh cup of coffee?

$2 or maybe $5. How about double that?

A roastmaster in Minneapolis is selling what he proudly calls the most expensive and exotic coffee in the world.

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reporter tried it and said it was the rather unappetizing.

It's a coffee that can be served as a meal, $10 a cup. The world's most expensive coffee and perhaps not so surprising when you hear how these coffee beans are collected.

Roastmaster Jim Cone is proud of his expensive brew at "Coffee and Tea Limited," it's called Kopi Luwak or Civet Cat coffee.

"You have to have an army of civet cats to pick this stuff and to process it." Cone said.

Civet Cats live in Indonesia, and love red coffee beans, they process the beans. Someone then picks them up and clean them.

"It's very rich and soft, real full-bodied, there's definitely a different flavor to it, and I can't quite describe what it is. I hate to think what it is, but it's very good," Alex Danzberger said, a Kopi Luwak drinker.

You can't get it at Starbuck's or Caribou. Some people may be turned off by the collection process, but most say they'd still be willing try it.

It's one of many exotic coffees Cone sells from 65 countries, including Saint Helena Island.

"We have the only shipment into the United States this year. St. Helena Island is the island that Napoleon died on, 1500 miles west of Africa.. And this coffee comes from the plot that he was drinking coffee from just before he died," Cone said.

But the Kopi Luwak is the talker among coffee lovers in Linden Hills, selling for $420 a pound or $10 for a fresh brewed cup.

And you can get this coffee seven days a week at "Coffee and Tea Limited" or at the store in Sears in the Mall of America.