The Anantara Hotels in Thailand have put on the market a coffee blend prepared from elephant compost. Peculiar as the procedure may sound, the Black Ivory blend still produces a smooth cup of coffee despite the strong scent.

In a released statement to AFP, the Thailand-based hotel group said that "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."

After the elephant's digestion of the coffee berries, the mahouts or elephant trainers will pick out the coffee beans from the excreted droppings and then have them sun-dried. The procedure is executed at the hotel's elephant rescue center where 30 elephants live next to their mahouts.

However, this particular coffee blend is quite expensive. Anantara Hotels is selling the exceptional brew at approximately $US50 for two coffee cups. According to the hotel group, the "naturally refined" coffee costs an astounding $US1100 per kilogram. Therefore, it is considered as one of the world's priciest coffee blends.   

Meanwhile, the Black Ivory blend is not the first kind of coffee blend that hit the market recently. Coffee extraction from civet, a tree-dwelling mammal found in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, is also put up for sale with a price close to the Black Ivory coffee blend. An unnamed New York coffee shop reportedly sells civet coffee for $US748 per kilo.

Asian elephants, which have been on the list of endangered species since 1976, are now facing a new threat: Thailand’s taste for eating elephant meat.

A mahout stands on an elephant in a flooded area of Thailand's Ayutthaya province on October 13, 2011.

Asian elephant

An elephant and students dressed as Santa Claus are seen during Christmas celebrations at Jirasart school in Ayutthaya, 70 km (44 miles) north of Bangkok, December 23, 2011.

A six-year-old baby elephant, "Num Choke", wearing a Santa Claus costume, performs for school children during a Chirstmas celebration at a school in a northern Thai province of Ayutthaya, 80 km (50 miles) from Bangkok December 24, 2002. An owner of an elephant camp brought his elephants and distributed toys to the school children to help celebrate Christmas in this predominantly Buddhist country.

Thai people and foreign tourists gather to see elephants play soccer in an event organized to promote tourism during the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup, at Bangkok's Khao San road June 10, 2010.