Check Places to Stay in Dalat (Expedia) | See Food Tour Prices in Dalat (GetYourGuide)
Visiting the Dalat Weasel Coffee Farm
The Weasel Coffee Farm is found ~15 minute drive away from the Da Lat city center. I recommend staying at the May Trang Villa, which is nestled outside of the city, in the mountains that surround it. It’s about a 9 minute drive from there.
Once you arrive, you will likely be greeted by the farm dogs first and foremost. While they are friendly, they are known to be particularly aggressive with their friendliness. Don’t fret, though; the shop ladies will be right behind them to greet you more warmly to the farm.
It wasn’t a busy day at the farm that day, as I was the only one there at the time. One of the ladies would gesture for me to follow her for a quick tour of the facilities. These don’t need to be booked, but I’m not sure if you can always expect them to have the time to walk you through the farm if there is a larger crowd.
She proceeded to show me the fundamentals of how coffee is made, starting at the plant. We’d walk through a few sections of the farm where the coffee cherry trees would be in full feature, taking some coffee cherries from the branches and giving them a taste.
How It’s Made
These coffee cherries all contain the cherished coffee bean inside. Typically, the outer fruit would be removed and the coffee bean within extracted, but here, they’d feed the cherries to the weasels nearby and wait a few hours before they’d extract the coffee beans from their excrement.
How the first person came up with this idea, I do not know. There must have been a lot of bored coffee farmers at one point in time. There might even be some right now trying to figure out other feces-methods of extracting the best brew.
She’d show me the weasel area close by. The weasels are often resting here, so there’s not much to really see, but she tells me that they do feedings, which the public can view (or even do themselves) a few times each week (I’d recommend calling ahead to know the feeding schedule as it changes).
The beans are collected, cleaned (thank goodness), and left out to dry in a basket. Each weasel produces approximately enough beans to make ~4-5 cups of coffee, which isn’t much, given the small number of weasels on the premises.
After they are dried, they are sorted and picked, only the best being chosen for the roasting process.
Verdict: Drinking the Weasel Poop Coffee
After the brief tour, she walked me to the counter to look at the menu. There are many options in the way of trying weasel poop coffee, also known as kopi luwak, or cà phê chồn.
Options:
- Weasel coffee (10 grams/cup): 200k VND
- Egg coffee using weasel beans: 100k VND
- Latte using weasel beans: 100k VND
Yes, the specialty coffees are actually cheaper than a straight black coffee using the weasel beans, but they also use less of the beans in making those.
They also sell weasel coffee bean bags here for souvenirs.
I ordered the weasel coffee (10 gram option), where she’d set up the siphon coffee maker at my table. The view here is fantastic, by the way, something you’ll be spoiled with staying at Da Lat. Complimentary tea and little crackers were provided as well.
My Verdict
The tour being free and done upon walking in was a great surprise. The total time spent here was almost an hour, and I got to learn a decent amount about the coffee-making process from some very friendly staff (who also helped me out with recommendations on what to do for the rest of my stay there).
As for the coffee itself, it tastes like a cup of good, strong coffee. Albeit, it’s not even that strong compared to what Vietnamese coffee typically prepares you for. It really just tastes like a good pour-over. For 200k VND, it’s certainly the most expensive coffee I’ve had in my lifetime, but you’re almost paying for the experience itself.
I’d absolutely still come here in the future when I revisit Da Lat with my wife, but I’ll likely try the egg coffee instead.
Looking for Dalat Food Recommendations?
I took an in-depth look at Dalat’s specialty foods and where to find them in my blog post below. Read more below.
See Food Tour Prices in Dalat (GetYourGuide)
Looking for a Place to Stay in Dalat?
If you’re looking to stay outside of the city center, in the peace and calm of the mountains surrounding it, I’d recommend the May Trang Villa. The staff were incredibly accommodating and kind, the facilities were great, the views were gorgeous, and the prices were incredibly reasonable.
Read more below.
Check Places to Stay in Dalat (Expedia)
