Elephant dung coffee is world's most expensive caffeine

Coffee connoisseurs may find themselves put off their next caffeine fix after discovering the latest gimmick to hit the market.

Forget rich arabica and robusta - the new bean on the block is the rather unlikely elephant dung variety.

The elephant dung coffee is made from beans eaten and digested by elephants living on a reserve in Thailand. When animals pass the beans in their excrement, they are harvested, cleaned up and processed into coffee grinds.

The resulting brew is said to be floral and chocolatey, the taste containing notes of 'milk chocolate, nutty, earthy with hints of spice and red berries.'

Regular coffee drinkers terrified of encountering the drink in their local coffee shop can rest easy: the coffee beans, named Black Ivory, are priced at $1,100 (£685.30) per kilogram, making them the most expensive coffee beans in the world.

The coffee is the brainchild of Thailand's Anantara Resorts, who say that the beans are 'naturally refined' by the Thai elephants at their Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, an elephant conservation program which will use 8 per cent of sales to fund care for the animals, according to ABC news.

It is sold to visitors at their Golden Triangle property - but is currently in short supply, with only 50 kilograms (110 pounds) currently on sale.