Buche de Noel & Civet-Coffee

I have had Buche de Noel before but never the FRENCH one that is listed in the 1000 things book. I had one flown in with dry ice from France and we had it today with champagne and coffee. I do love this cake-it is sweet- but the flourless cake laced with rum and rolled with whipped cream really is heavenly. It is also pretty…..

I mentioned we had it with coffee, but not just ANY coffee. We had it with civet coffee we had bought Ivan for Christmas. Wikapedia says:

“Kopi luwak or civet coffee, is coffee that includes partially 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 – civets choosing to eat only certain cherries – and digestion – biological or chemical mechanisms in the animal’s digestive tract altering the composition of the coffee cherries.”

My favorite part of the civet coffee is that you marketing material that tries really hard to not point out to you that you are eating coffee cherries that have been “pooped” out of a civet. Pretty difficult to do given the fact that this is the whole reason you spend so much $$$ to buy the coffee! The idea is that the coffee is smooth-and it is-but it was also not as strong as I like to drink it. I think for those who love a dark roast, you have to by-pass coffee beans eaten by civets… I also had to put up with quite a bit of teasing by my friends about my exploiting poor civets and forcing them to eat their favorite foods. All I can say to that, is if someone will pay me to eat chocolate, I am happy to do this for a living!