If the words Kopi Luwak don't sound familiar, rent "The Bucket List" to see Jack Nicholson play a rich man with a passion for this rare and bizarre coffee.
It's the coffee made from the Asian civet, a wild cat who eats the coffee cherries, then leaves them -- to be polite -- on the jungle floor undigested.
The beans, "treated" by the animal's enzymes and stomach acids, are collected by locals and sold to coffee aficionados worldwide.
It's one of the most expensive non-alcoholic beverages in the world, and American importer Joe's Coffee House sells it online only for $350 a pound, or $185.75 for a half-pound.
(That 75 cents sure makes a difference.)
Joe's is the first Groupon deal we've seen for online drink.
Buy a $15 coupon and get $35 worth of coffee, tea or accessories (including grinders).
That's 57% off and covers two pounds of most coffees carried by Joe's, including "HalfCaff", his own blend of decaf and regular coffee.
The regular $5 shipping charge isn't covered by the coupon.
But the Groupon coupon can be used until Dec. 1, so think of Christmas shopping early: Colombian coffee at $12.95 a pound (whole beans or ground); aged Sumatran Mandheling Sibayak with a "slight tropical wood flavor ... herbal notes" and hints of dried fruit, at $16.95/lb; coffee from the Costa Rican rainforests, at $11.95/lb.
Or order a Coffee Spa Gift set with Brazilian coffee and sugar body scrub, loofah, "hydrating body milk with spun sugar" and a bar of blackberry sage soap in a spa bag for $29.95.
The spa gift would be only $15 with the coupon, and it looks pretty enough to eat.
Surfing Joe's website is a global lesson in coffee, from the rare Toraja Sulawesi -- made from 250-year-old trees in a remote Ethiopian jungle -- to the luxurious Hawaiian Kona XFancy. (There's a world map showing all the coffee regions he frequents.)
Joe explains why he began importing coffee from around the world to his Georgia plant, and introduces shoppers to Jamaican Blue Mountain Wallenford and other exotics.
There's "red tea" high in anti-oxidants: African Nectar Rooibos is organic too.
There's Fair Trade-certified coffee, Rainforest Alliance-certified beans, and for fun, Wicked Jack Tavern's chocolate rum cake, butter rum cake and caramel rum cake.
Register for free at groupon.com. The deal is available until midnight today.
Free indulgence: Check joescoffeehouse.com to watch the flowering of exotic teas in a glass pot. We've had blossoming tea, but nothing like this.
Click on "Tea Posy" to watch segments entitled, Butterfly, Falling Water, Heart of Love, Lady Fairy and more. Enjoy a few seconds of calm and wonder.
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