Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms Seven show ran a story on Kopi Luwak being imported into Australia. Customs officials decided after much deliberation that the rare coffee would pose no threat to the Australian agricultural industry, and approved the importation. For many viewers, this was the first they had ever heard of Kopi Luwak. The next day on 2 July, the Channel Seven breakfast chat show Sunrise based their morning weather presentations from the Heritage Tea Rooms. Weather presenter Monique Wright confirmed during this episode of Sunrise that the Heritage Tea Room was in fact linked to the Border Security story on the importation of
Kopi Luwak are eaten by a civet for their fruit pulp. After spending about a day and a half in the civet's digestive tract the beans are then defecated in clumps, having kept their shape and still covered with some of the fleshy berry's inner layers. Despite being in contact with faeces and pathogenic organisms, the beans contain negligible amounts of the enteric (pathogenic) organisms associated with feces. Moreover, the "cherry" or endocarp surrounding the bean is not completely digested by the luwak, and after being collected, the farmer performs thorough washing and removes the endocarp. The final roasting of the beans