Vietnam is one of the world’s largest coffee producers, second just to Brazil. There are 600,000 hectares of coffee growing area in Vietnam that is the main source of income for 1 million people.
However, only a small number of companies can make specialty coffee such as elephant and civet coffee.
Kien Cuong, Trai Ham Da Lat and Huyen Thoai Nui are the best known names in Vietnam. Trung Nguyen, the nation’s coffee export brand, has also jumped into the civet coffee production launching a product priced at $3,000 per kilo.
Civet coffee products bearing less-known brands have lower selling prices, between several million and VND10 million per kilo.
Civet coffee can only be made between September to December, when coffee beans ripen. All producers, including those who farm civets for making coffee, have their production plans depending on the harvesting season and the civets’ digestibility. Therefore, the productivity of civet coffee is not hig.
Every kilogram of natural civet coffee can command a price of VND36 million, while farmed civet coffee sells for VND9 million per kilo (US$400).
Legend Revived is the first Vietnamese brand that breeds civets and makes civet coffee on a large scale. About 10 years ago, Quoc Khanh, a well-known coffee producer in Dak Lak province, breeds civets on an industrial scale.
Khanh now owns two large civet farms in Dak Lak and Da Lat which provide materials to make coffee. Civets there are bred in semi-natural conditions, providing materials large enough to make 2 tons of coffee.
Civet coffee has brought Huyen Thoai Nui Company a high growth rate of 40 percent in recent years. After obtaining turnover of VND8 billion in 2015, the company hopes for VND13 billion this year.
Some smaller households have also been trying civet farming and coffee production. It is estimated that with VND30-50 million worth of investment, one household can raise 10 civets which can produce 20-30 kilos of coffee a year.
Elephant coffee first appeared in Vietnam in late 2015. The mountainous area in Chiang Rai province in the northern part of Thailand is believed to be the origin of the product.
In Vietnam, Cao Nguyen Viet is the only company which provides the product as it has close relations with Dang Nang Long, the famous mahout who now owns 17 elephants in Lien Son Town of Dak Lak province.
Joining forces with Long and spending hundreds of millions of dong on seven elephants, Cao Nguyen Viet can churn out 10 kilos of elephant coffee a year.
