Jacu Bird Coffee Beans

Like the Asian Palm Civet, another species that eats and expels coffee beans which are gathered and brewed into coffee is the Jacu bird of Brazil. The herbivorous Jacu bird feasts on ripe coffee cherry and defecates them in the Brazilian jungle where they are gathered up for consumption.

The coffee plants fed on by Jacu birds are of the varietal Arabica and grown organically.

Native to South America, the very discerning Jacu bird is known to deposit in its small piles of excrement coffee beans with a consistent and uniform high quality.

While the Asian Palm Civet and the resulting Civet coffee yield what is commonly referred to as a slightly earthy taste to the coffee, the Jacu bird does not have this effect on the coffee beans and instead is said to not leave any lingering tastes while providing a very pleasant and smooth cup of coffee.

One place this Jacu bird coffee is produced is on the Camocim Estate in Brazil in Pedra Azul, Espirito Santo where the bird lives among the shade-grown coffee trees.

The coffee plants are growing at about 450 meters above sea level. Coffee plant varietals feasted upon by the Jacu birds include Bourbon, Icatu, and Catuai. The Jacu bird coffee has a slightly higher level of acidity than the regular coffee beans produced by the Camocim Estate.

The estate gathers the beans and sun dries them in tunnels with raised beds. Then the Jacu bird beans are stored in their parchment for up to three months.

The bird-processed beans are known for their dry fragrance (before brewing), while the brewed Jacu bird coffee provides a full-bodied, mild and pleasant taste with wet aromatics and a nutty, dusty sweetness with suggestions of brown bread, molasses and milk chocolate. The aroma and the long aftertaste reveal hints of black pepper and peanut.