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Would you pay $1,100 for a kilogram of specialty coffee beans? What if they were pooped out by an elephant?
你会花1100美元买一公斤重的特殊咖啡豆吗？如果这些咖啡豆是从大象体内排出来的呢？
It may sound like the stuff of satire, but that's exactly what's on the menu at four Maldives resorts and one in Thailand.
这听起来很讽刺，但它真的就出现在了马尔代夫（4个）和泰国（1个）的旅游胜地的菜单上。
The Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas properties offer Black Ivory Coffee, a specialty brew made with beans digested and "naturally refined" by Thai elephants.
安纳塔休闲度假酒店会给客人提供“黑象牙咖啡”--其原料是经过泰国大象消化和“自然提炼”过后的咖啡豆。
According to a release, the off-kilter process engenders the beans with a special quality:
据一项研究报告显示，这一过程赋予了咖啡豆一种特殊的品质：
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.
研究人员表示，在消化过程中，大象的生物酶会分解咖啡蛋白。而由于咖啡蛋白是造成咖啡苦味的主要因素之一，这就意味着这种咖啡几乎没有什么苦味。
Only about 50 kilograms of the stuff are available for purchase, and each one will cost the adventurous drinker $1,100 per kilogram.
而这种咖啡豆的供货量也少得可怜，只有50公斤，每公斤的售价则高达1100美元。
About.com figures that amounts to about $50 a cup. For comparison sake, 16 oz. of Starbuck's House Blend retails for only $11.95 on its web site.
About.com对其估价为50美元一杯。相比之下，星巴克官网上的House Blend咖啡，16盎司只卖11.95美元。
Of course, the notion of roasting pooped-out beans isn't a new one. In 2010, word spread about what was then thought to be the most expensive coffee in the world: kopi luwak, a Southeast Asian brew made from coffee berries passed through the digestive tract of an Asian palm civet.
当然了，从动物粪便中捡出咖啡豆卖钱并不是什么新鲜事。2010年，人们还在传“猫屎咖啡”可能是全世界最贵的咖啡：东南亚一种狸猫将咖啡豆吃下去排泄出来，然后就变成了这种昂贵的奢侈品。
At the time, kopi luwak went for $100-600 a pound — cheap compared to Black Ivory Coffee.
当时猫屎咖啡售价每磅100到600美元--但是却比现在这款黑象牙咖啡便宜一些。
