NEWS RELEASE
ROTARY CLUB OF HOKITIKA

DATE: February 24, 2012

Why Wait to Kick the Bucket? Drink Kopi Luwak at the Wildfoods Festival

The Rotary Club of Hokitika has teamed up with Weasel Coffee Ltd in Wellington to provide guests at the Wildfoods Festival in Hokitika on MARCH 10 a chance to taste the exotic coffee Kopi Luwak otherwise known as the coffee that is poohed out of a small cat like creature called a civet before it is collected and roasted.

Weasel coffee also provide a flavoursome coffee for those without the appetite or the funds for the beans that have been through the digestive system of the civet! Kopi Luwak is known as the most expensive coffee in the world. Hokitika Rotarian Gary Jellie and Wildfoods Festival organizer Mike Keenan will put the real stuff and the fake stuff to the test today when they try to tell the difference in a taste test at The Cheese Deli in Hokitika.
Gary says “It’s as if the bean started out life in a high and privileged position. However during its journey through life is seems to have got in with the wrong crowd, had a lot of ups and downs. It wasn’t until it really landed in the crap that the hand of fate took over, nurtured and cleansed it of all past wrongs, and turned it into the jewel it is today. I’m intrigued and slightly nervous I will become addicted.”

Weasel Coffee founder Tony Cox discovered ‘weasel coffee’ when he went on holiday to Vietnam. Tony says “It’s highly addictive!” The process of digesting the coffee bean fruit means the enzymes in the Civet’s stomach are said to enhance the flavour of the bean.

Mike Keenan who has been involved for many years with the Wildfoods Festival says that this is the first time Kopi Luwak has made an appearance at the Festival.

Hokitika Rotary will use the money raised by selling Weasel Coffee and Jed’s Moonshine to fund projects in the Hokitika and wider Westland Community.

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. There are 1.2 million Rotary members in 34,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary clubs have been serving communities worldwide for more than a century. Rotary clubs around the world, initiate projects that address critical issues such as hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy. For more information, visit www.rotary.org. For visual materials go to: http://rotary.org/mediacenter For more information about Weasel Coffee go to http://weaselcoffee.com/ or http://youtu.be/wCG31fSAr4M . http://www.wildfoods.co.nz/index.cfm/1,51,0,0,html

ENDS