By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — If you think Starbucks is overpriced, try the Kopi Luwak brew at Manhattan's Porto Rico Importing Co.
A cup of this special java, which is made from beans collected from the feces of small cat-like animals in Indonesia, comes out to about $30.
The process begins when the animals, called "palm civets," consume coffee cherries, only partially digesting the beans inside. The civets' stomach enzymes lessen the acidity of the beans but allow them to pass through the animal still intact, increasing the coffee's bitter quality and entitling producers to sell it for a whole lot of beans.
Peter Longo, the owner of Porto Rico, with locations in SoHo, the East Village, Greenwich Village, and the Lower East Side, told CNNMoney.com that he's sold about 12 pounds of the stuff to adventurous New Yorkers over the past six months.
At $175 per half pound, it's the most expensive coffee — not to mention poo-derivative — in the world, according to the website.