By ANDREW COLLIER
Could you imagine buying a coffee which had already been through the stomach of another creature? Well, people do – and they pay a small fortune for it.
A specialist shop in Perth markets a particular type of coffee bean known as kopi luwak, which has already been through the digestive system of an Indonesian tree dwelling marsupial.
Coffee devotees say it has a wonderful musty taste they will pay £15 a tiny 50g bag for. The sale of this luxury product by The Bean Shop in Perth is Scotland's most unusual uses of broadband.
The shop sells a wide range of coffees and associated products by mail order via the Internet via a BT broadband solution.
"We have a BT online shop which we've taken as a package", says Lorna Suttie, the shop's co-owner. "We now sell about 100 different items in this way and it's easy to customise."
The fact that broadband means the shop is permanently connected to the Internet is, she says, of particular benefit. "We also do research on our suppliers, and we found that when we were dialling up to use the Internet, we were spending quite a lot on phone bills.
"Now, with broadband, we're on line all the time. We quite often have to e-mail our customers to confirm orders and this means we get the replies instantly. We also get an e-mail confirmation if anyone places an order. That means we can ship it there and then and it normally arrives next day – which is important, as coffee has to be fresh."
The Bean Shop has been open for a year and the business has been trading online since last November. "Getting broadband and setting up the shop has made a big difference to us. Our Christmas gift pack, for instance, sold really well. The BT site also has a facility where you can examine statistics such as the number of users and peak times, and we find that really useful."