MONKEY CHEW COFFEE
My indian friend Monu Iyappa, farmer in Karnataka (Maapa coffee), always sends me nice videos from elephants walking through his farm. The last video was not about elephants, but about Macaques eating coffee cherries, a rare case of « animal coffee ». It gave me the idea of this post.
“Monkey Chew Coffee” refers to a rare and unusual coffee pre-processing method where monkeys—typically macaques—chew coffee cherries, spit them out, and the beans are then collected, washed, processed, and roasted like regular coffee.
1. What is MONKEY CHEW COFFEE ?
In this natural process, monkeys eat the ripe coffee cherries but often don’t swallow the beans. Instead, they chew on the fruit to consume the sweet pulp and discard or spit out the bean. These beans are then gathered by humans and processed.
This is somewhat similar in concept to kopi luwak, the coffee made from beans excreted by civets, though in this case digestion does not occur—only mastication (chewing).
2. Where it occurs
This phenomenon has been observed in parts of southern India, particularly in regions like Karnataka and Kerala, where macaques are native and often raid coffee farms. The resulting beans are sometimes marketed as “monkey coffee” and considered extremely rare.
3. Aromatic and chemical effects
Producers claim that the enzymatic activity from the monkey’s saliva may alter the bean’s outer layers, leading to smoother, fruitier, or less acidic flavor profiles. However, these claims lack robust scientific validation, and few chemical or sensory studies (such as GC-MS or cupping panels) have been conducted to confirm these effects.
From a food science perspective, this would be a spontaneous enzymatic pre-treatment, akin in concept (though not process) to co-fermented or inoculated coffees.
4. Ethical and ecological considerations
Unlike the civet coffee industry, which has often been criticized for animal cruelty, monkey-chewed coffee is generally collected from wild monkeys, and is not the result of forced feeding. Still, scaling this practice could pose ecological and ethical risks, especially if it encourages human interference in wild animal behavior.
5. Open questions ?
• is it a damage to the farm or an opportunity ? Maybe Monu can answer this question .
• Could salivary enzymes actually influence green bean chemistry?
• Would sensory panels or chemical analyses (GC-MS) detect a statistically significant difference?