The world's most expensive coffee can cost $600 a pound, and it comes from — there's no delicate way to put it — civet poop. But how do you know if what you're shelling out for is the real deal?

Civet cat poop coffee stirs up controversy among animal rights groups Sunday, July 19, 2015 A civet stands in a cage during a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011.

We're talking about civet coffee, the cat poop coffee or the more dignified kopi luwak. Even before you have taken the first sip, the coffee beans that went into the beverage have already been ...

Also sold as weasel, fox or cat-poop coffee, kopi luwak is fueling a rush to capture more and more wild civets from their native Asian habitat, says Suwanna Gauntlett, founder of Wildlife Alliance ...

But cat poop coffee — that is, civet coffee (or "kopi luwak," as pronounced in Indonesian) — is real, and really expensive. Like $60 for 4 ounces of beans — or in some boutique cafes, at ...

Civet coffee, or "Kopi Luwak," is made from coffee cherries that were eaten, digested and defecated by the Asian palm civet, a cat-like tree-dweller whose digestive tract partially ferments the beans.

Kopi Luwak is coffee made from beans that have been digested by a civet cat (i.e. "cat poop coffee"). Balinese farmers have touted for generations that this method produces the best-tasting coffee.

1 of 6 — In the wild, the civet "cat" is naturally drawn to the best, ripe fruits on the coffee plant; that's why, effectively, they would produce the best beans, in small batches. 2 of 6 — A ...

To start, no cats are involved in the making of cat poop coffee. Instead, it’s an Indonesian catlike, weasel-looking animal — the civet. First, the civet eats and digests the coffee beans, and ...

A civet cat eats red coffee cherries at a farm in Bondowoso, Indonesia. Despite their name, civets are more closely related to meerkats and mongooses than cats. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images.