Social Media Digest

Another exotic coffee bean

It seems that some popular coffee in the world always has something to do with animal droppings.After Indonesia's Kopi Luwak - a kind of coffee made from the beans excreted by a civet cat, also known as "cat poop coffee" - here comes Brazil's"bird poop coffee".

The story is that Henrique Sloper de Araújo, a coffee planter working at the Camocim Estate in Brazil, noticed that the native Jacu bird has a unique talent for picking out the ripest coffee cherries, leading to heavy losses on the estate. But rather than thinking of the Jacu as a pest, Sloper de Araújo recognized the opportunity to utilize them as one of their most efficient coffee pickers. This was because the Jacu birds digest the coffee cherries whole, and the beans they excrete possess "a unique, nutty flavor with hints of sweet aniseed", according to Sloper de Araújo in an interview with Modern Farmer magazine.

The limited supply of the beans, the long time taken for the birds to digest the cherries, and the need for the planters to pick up the excreted beans one by one, all make the coffee very expensive. It has been sold at ￡165 per kilo (1,290 yuan) in the United Kingdom, according to MaxiCoffee.

What's with the blank face?

In today's digital age, your profile photo says a lot about you, often speaking louder than words.Recently, a peculiar trend known as "indifferent profile photos" has emerged on Chinese social media. These are not your typical happy selfies or adventurous snapshots. Instead, they feature people or cartoon characters with blank expressions or oddly funny faces. They seem to be sending a clear message: "I'm not in the mood to chat; leave me alone."

These profile photos are especially popular with young people in the workforce, suggesting that they don't want to be disturbed by their bosses and co-workers.

Some argue that it reflects a concerning trend among young people, showing a lack of ambition and motivation in their work. However, these youngsters may have been disheartened by the work environment: intense competition, unreasonable working hours, complex and stressful working atmosphere, and limited career advancement opportunities.

Using an indifferent profile photo to seek a moment of peace may just be something they can control. But even this autonomy can be challenged when superiors or family members ask them to change their profile photo to a more cheerful or"normal" one.

Perhaps trying to understand their mentality is the first step, rather than simply leaping to judgment.