How would you like your coffee this morning: decaf or defecated?

Believe it or not, this may very well be a real question being asked of guests at Thailand’s luxury Anantara hotels, whose line of “$68 per serving” Black Ivory Coffee is brewed from beans which have literally been hand-picked out of elephant dung.

According to the resort’s release, “Research indicates that during digestion, the enzymes of the elephant break down coffee protein. Since protein is one of the main factors responsible for bitterness in coffee, less protein means almost no bitterness.”

The whole poop-to-platter process goes like this: first the elephants, which live at the group’s elephant camp in Chiang Rai, are fed premium Thai Arabica cherries. Then, after trekking through the elephant’s long digestive track, the resulting protein and bitter-free beans are handpicked out, left to dry and finally, sent to the camp’s processing center for refinement and delivery to any of the group’s four Maldive or one Golden Triangle Thailand locations.