Pricey elephant poop coffee

Mahout's wives pick out coffee beans from elephant dung at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand. Black Ivory Coffee, started by Canadian coffee expert Blake Dinkin, is made from Thai arabica hand picked beans. The coffee is created from a process whereby coffee beans are naturally refined by a Thai elephant. It takes about 15-30 hours for the elephant to digest the beans, and later they are plucked from their dung and washed and roasted. Approximately 10,000 beans are picked to produce 1kg of roasted coffee. At $1,100 per kilogram or $500 per pound, the cost per serving of the elephant coffee equals about $50, making the exotic new brew the world's priciest. It takes 33 kilograms of raw coffee cherries to produce 1 kilo of Black Ivory Coffee.

A Thai elephant walks in the jungle in the early morning fog at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Coffee beans are seen being put into a mixture with fruit and rice that will be fed to some elephants at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Coffee beans are seen being stirred into a mixture with fruit and rice that will be fed to some elephants at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Black Ivory Coffee founder Blake Dinkin (R) feeds an elephant a coffee bean mixture at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant scoops up a coffee bean mixture with fruit and rice at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Lun, a Thai mahout, serves a coffee bean mixture to an elephant at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant scoops up a coffee bean mixture with fruit and rice at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A coffee bean mixture on the ground after an elephant feeds at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant is seen alongside dung filled with coffee beans at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

The children of a mahout play with an elephant next to elephant dung containing coffee beans at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Mahout's wives Niang (L) and Lynda (R) pick out coffee beans from elephant dung at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Mahout's wives pick out coffee beans from elephant dung at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Coffee beans picked from elephant dung are held at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort, Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Niang, a mahout's wife and her daughter Ari, 6, wash the coffee beans after picking them from the dung at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Miki Giles from Hong Kong tastes the Black Ivory Coffee at breakfast as Meena, a 6 year old baby elephant, gets curious at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort, Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A balance brewer makes Black Ivory coffee at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Miki Giles from Hong Kong tastes the Black Ivory Coffee at breakfast as Meena, a 6 year old baby elephant, gets curious at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort, Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A member of the Lisu hill tribe picks Thai arabica coffee beans at the Thai High coffee farm on Dec. 8, 2012, in Phrao, northern Thailand.

A member of the Lisu hill tribe picks Thai arabica coffee beans at the Thai High coffee farm on Dec. 9, 2012, in Phrao, northern Thailand.

Lun, a Thai mahout, stirs up a coffee bean mixture with fruit and rice that will be fed to some elephants at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Thai elephants during an early morning graze at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort, Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Canadian Blake Dinkin, founder of Black Ivory coffee, hugs an elephant at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A mahout rides his elephant after bathing at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A mahout watches as elephants are fed a coffee bean mixture with fruit and rice at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant walks in the jungle in the early morning fog at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant walks in the jungle in the early morning fog at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant and a mahout ride along the field at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A mahout walks his elephant back into the jungle at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai mahout rides his elephant in the early morning fog at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

Lun, a mahout, rests in a hammock near his elephants at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 9, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.

A Thai elephant's eye is caught by the sunlight at an elephant camp at the Anantara Golden Triangle resort on Dec. 10, 2012, in Golden Triangle, northern Thailand.