Kopi Luwak pound in 2010. The specialty Vietnamese "weasel coffee", which is made by collecting coffee beans eaten by wild civets, is sold at US$500 per kilogram. Most customers are Asian, especially those originating from Japan, China and South Korea. Sources vary widely as to annual worldwide production. The price of farmed (considered low-grade by connoisseurs) kopi luwak in large Indonesian supermarkets is from US$100 per kilogram (five times the price of a high quality local arabica coffee). The price paid to collectors in the Philippines is closer to US$20 per kilogram. Some specialty coffee shops sell cups of brewed kopi luwak
Coffee production in Indonesia farmers remove the outer skin from the cherries mechanically, using rustic pulping machines, called "luwak". The coffee beans, still coated with mucilage, are then stored for up to a day. Following this waiting period, the mucilage is washed off and the coffee is partially dried for sale. At least one U.S. manufacturer, soft drink producer Bai, purchases the non-bean remnants of coffee cherries for use in their products. Otherwise, these remnants are discarded. Collectors and processors then hull the coffee in a semi-wet state, which gives the beans a distinctive bluish-green appearance. This process reduces acidity and increases body, resulting