Credit: UC San Diego and IFOM-inSTEM. An international team of researchers has identified a new molecule involved in skin fibrosis, a life-threatening disease characterized by the inflammation and hardening of skin tissue.
Although kopi luwak is a form of processing rather than a variety of coffee, it has been called one of the most expensive coffees in the world, with retail prices reaching â¬550 / US$700 per kilogram. Kopi luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago.
Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is coffee that includes part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. Fermentation occurs as the cherries pass through a civet's intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected. Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection â civets choosing to eat only certain cherries â and digestion â biological or chemical mechanisms in the animal's ...