Controversy surrounds world's most expensive coffee

Controversy and cruelty surround the world's most expensive cup of coffee according to a recent ABC News report.

Kopi Luwak is a pricey Indonesian export harvested from the droppings of the tree-dwelling civet cat. But many, if not most, civet cats are kept in tiny battery cages causing them to exhibit erratic and nervous behavior—including biting and scratching themselves.

Traditionally, civet cats prowl coffee plantations and help themselves to ripe coffee cherries late at night. In turn, coffee beans exit the cats' digestive tracts whole—with a distinctive flavor and smell that has coffee connoisseurs shelling out as much as $90 per cup and $600 per pound.

With high demand and prices spawning such an ethically questionable industry, many who originally sang Kopi Luwak's praise are changing their tune.

Tony Wild, the coffee journalist who originally put Kopi Luwak on the Western radar in 1991, became so repulsed with the industry that he started a widespread advocacy campaign to reduce demand. After initial success, Wild has shifted focus to support the cultivation and certification of genuinely wild Kopi Luwak—without the cruelty and cages.

Regardless of its source, some still aren't sold. While fans of the strange brew claim it's more smooth than an average cup of coffee, many consider it an over-hyped gimmick that, in the words of Lily Kubota of the Specialty Coffee Association of America: "just tastes bad".

See photos of the controversial practice: