Coffee beans that pass through the digestive tracts of animals get their unique flavors from the activity of gut microbes, report researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo. The guts of Asian elephants that produce Black Ivory coffee (BIC) were rich in pectin-digesting bacteria. Heat-driven degradation of pectin during roasting makes coffee bitter. Bacterial activity that reduces the pectin content of BIC could be the source of its smoother, chocolaty, and less bitter flavor.