In the world of coffee, nothing is weird... even ant coffee!
A unique, really limited coffee from Brazil collected and processed by… ants!
When Joao Neto, a coffee maker from Sao Paulo, Brazil, stopped using insecticides on his farm, wildlife began to reappear: his land was filled with bird litter, small animals began to roam between the plants and the farm the fear of every coffee maker: with hundreds of insects!
Joao Neto, like many of his colleagues, used insecticides to secure his production until he decided to pursue a different, more environmentally friendly method, abandoning chemicals and ceasing to worry about "invaders" in his plantation, such as crickets, beetles and ants.
Inspecting his Fazenda Santo Antonio plantation, Mr. Neto observed coffee beans, stripped of their flesh, scattered around the coffee trees. This weird fact stirred his curiosity, so he quickly realized that the grains he was seeing had been collected from ants. The insects, after eating the juicy flesh and feeding on their larvae, threw away their useless coffee beans.
There are not many times when fine varieties of coffee have emerged from the interaction of the coffee plant with animals, such as Kopi Luwak from Indonesia, harvested from the feces of musk, the coffee harvested from the jugs of Jaku birds in Brazil or even Thailand's Black Ivory, elephant-infused coffee. Knowing these practices, Mr. Neto addressed a Japanese customer, deep knowledge of coffee, with whom he maintained excellent cooperation.
Katsuhiko Hasegawa, a Japanese customer of Joao Neto, is a third generation coffee maker, having run his family business since 1911. His grandfather was one of the first Japanese to import coffee from Brazil and worked closely with him. one hundred years ago, with Mr. Neto's grandfather.
At the suggestion of his Japanese partner, Joao Neto roasted himself, in an antique machine, the first batch of "ant beans" he collected with his hands. To his surprise and to his few lucky friends who tried this special coffee for the first time, the result was as different as it was delicious! The coffee had a distinctive and lively acidity and a distinctive taste, with distinctive jasmine notes. Tests in Japan have resulted in the right roasting profile and "ant coffee" has become a distinct delicacy.
Mr Neto continues to export his coffee to Japan, but its production is extremely small and extremely volatile, since there is no way to industrialize it. In 2015, the year with the largest crop of ants, production reached… 30 kg. He claims that he cannot commercially exploit this coffee, but packs it as a gift to good customers in small packages.
It is highly unlikely that you will taste Mr. Neto's ants, since you have to find him either on his farm or in the small Hasegawa coffee shop in Japan. But history teaches that respect for nature can hide pleasant and unexpected surprises!
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