It’s a strange world we live in. Saying, “This coffee tastes like it came out of an elephant’s ass!” could now be considered a compliment. That’s because of Black Ivory Coffee, a special gourmet “brew”, so to speak, that literally comes out of an elephant’s butt.

Well, in all fairness, the coffee is not literally brewed inside an elephant, but the beans are tears from the elephant’s brown eye. Here’s how it works.

A herd of about 20 elephants in northern Thailand eat a whole lot of regular ol’ coffee beans. After what we assume must be a massive caffeine high, the elephants excrete (read: poop) the beans, which are then harvested from the elephant’s dung, packaged, and sold with a smile.

Blake Dinkin, developer of the coffee, told Yahoo.com that “its stomach acid breaks down the protein found in coffee, which is a key factor in bitterness. You end up with a cup that’s very smooth without the bitterness of regular coffee.”

You also end up with a cup that costs upwards of $50. At $500 a pound, this coffee is EXPENSIVE.

Which means don’t expect an Elephunk brew at your local coffee shop anytime soon. Right now, only a handful of exclusive hotels around the world have access to beans.

Would drink this stuff knowing the, ahem, path it’s taken?

- Carlos Delgado, CBS Radio