This article was adapted from the “Microbiomes and Poop Coffee” article in the Department of Bacteriology’s fall/winter 2022 newsletter.

Several years ago, a relatively unusual topic of collaboration began out of international connections between bacteriology’s Jon Roll with colleague Ajan Jomkhwan Meerak from Chaing Mai University in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

While directing his study-abroad programs in Thailand, Roll was introduced to the unusual and much sought-after “civet coffee”. Civet coffee is made from coffee beans after they have been eaten as coffee ‘cherries’ and ‘disposed of’ by the large, ferret-like rodent, the civet. This coffee is sold at a premium for its smooth flavor and health benefits and is a lucrative highly sought after product. There has been a trend to produce this coffee large-scale, which leads to capture and farming of coffee cherry-fed civets in sometimes less than ideal conditions.

Roll and Meerak were curious to know what processes in the gut of the civet creates the desired organoleptic and health-benefit qualities found in civet coffee. To find out, Meerak established a collaboration with Garret Suen’s lab to sample civet poop and see if there was something unique about the gut microbiome of coffee-fed vs. non-coffee fed civets.

Meerak has since identified and isolated relevant strain(s) of lactic acid bacteria that ferment coffee beans inside of the civet. Using these strains, Meerak can ferment coffee beans. She has identified unique associated metabolites of this process through further collaborations with Daniel Amador-Noguez and is now pursuing biochemical and biological aspects. Meerak is also working on scaling up production in order to to market the coffee and products associated with this unique, civet-friendly civet coffee.