Forget the weasel cafe, now there is even a very toxic 'ant cafe' that can not afford to buy money

In Brazil, João Neto is a farmer who owns a 230ha coffee farm in São Paulo. Many years ago, when he was wandering around the garden, he accidentally saw a rolling land of coffee beans.

Looking up at the tree, Neto discovered an entire "legion" of ants were madly attacking. They bite off the stem of ripe berries and carry them to the summer together.

Ants do not hate coffee.

Because most people only see coffee in the final stage (beans or flour), we often forget that coffee trees have fruit. When green, the skin of the berries is very firm and hard but when ripe, it is soft and sweet. And all coffee growers know that many animals target ripe berries, including ants because it is filled with natural glucose (sugar).

Since 1880, science has known the "love story" between coffee trees and ants. In Fiji (island nation in Oceania) also appears a species of "coffee guards ants" named Phildris nagasau . They actively protect their symbiotic plants, do not allow any other species to erode and self-pollinate the plants themselves.

The ants Neto sees is just one of many ants symbiotic with coffee. They take ripe fruit to their nests to feed themselves and raise their larvae. After gnawing through the skin of the soft, ripe cherries, the ants spared hard seeds to occupy space, causing the nest to throw out.

Number of coffee beans obtained from ants.

New findings in "animal coffee"

In the world of coffee, animal coffee is the best. These include "coffee manure" from mink droppings, guano droppings, palm civets to elephant dung.

According to the analysis of the researchers, after going through the intestinal system of living organisms, coffee beans are affected by digestive enzymes. The protein structure is altered, losing some acid, but it makes it more delicious.

Although the ant house doesn't have a throat big enough to swallow the beans, they still stick digestive enzymes to the surface of the beans during eating. Knowing this, Neto decided to pick it all up. Fearing his lack of expertise for processing and evaluation, he carefully handed it over to long-term buyer, Katsuhiko Hasegawa (Japan).

In fact, Hasegawa is not a coffee expert, but the owner of Paulista Café, which opened in 1911 in the heart of Tokyo.

The "legion" of ants is frantically attacking berries.

Initially, Café Paulista was the shop of Ryo Mizuno, the first Japanese to bring immigrant Japanese workers to Brazil to plant coffee. It was later passed on to Hasegawa's grandfather. Not wanting to lose a hundred-year history, Hasegawa only imported coffee from Brazil.

The unexpectedly mild bitterness faintly smells of jasmine .

Mr. João Neto - farmer owns an ant cafe farm

Knowing the "origin" of the coffee bag he received, Hasegawa was extremely excited and looking forward. He was so serious that he ignored all the modern roasters, and Neto went to the old old manual roaster to process.

Seeing Hasegawa being cautious of ants' coffee beans as if they were gems, Neto was also nervous. When the steaming cup of coffee was handed to him, he was so moved that he let out a cry. The mild bitter taste dissolves in the mouth."Although I am not a professional coffee evaluator, I still find it very interesting," - he expressed.

Also on the same day, a few friends of Neto's farmers joined in to try the ant coffee. Everyone nodded their appreciation and acknowledged the acidity and faint scent like jasmine.

The taste of unexpected ant cafe is truly fascinating.

To be sure, Hasegawa packed some to take home to Japan, thanks to the shop's barista tasting and receiving 2 responses. The first feedback says that it has a unique acid property, unlike any coffee. And the second response said it had a sweet taste and great aroma.

It is still unknown when to enjoy

Unfortunately, even if everyone liked it, Hasegawa still could not accept orders, because there was no ant coffee available to sell. Although from that day, Neto gave the coffee farm to nature, not using pesticides or toxic chemicals anymore, but the amount of coffee collected is still not worth much. In the best year of 2015, he only collected 27kg.

Ants are difficult to obtain because long ago farmers around the world have used insecticides to kill pests, ants and coffee tree attacks. Even in São Paulo, where many people know of Neto's ant coffee, only this farmer alone is generous enough to give up the ant's garden.

Only a few species of ants and coffee trees form a symbiotic relationship.

According to Susanne Renner, a botanist at Ludwig Maximilian University (Germany), it takes 3-5 million years to evolve, between some ants and coffee trees, to form a symbiotic relationship. But with chemicals, people easily cut off that collaboration.

Of course, if we can cut it off, it will be resumed, by stopping to kill or repelling ants. There is no way to recover this passage. So no farmer but Neto dares to bet on it.

And although they love the ants and want to dedicate all of their coffee land to them, Neto has to gradually reduce the area to 40ha.

So just to say, this is a cafe with money is not necessarily bought!