Pandas are prized all over the world, and now a Chinese entrepreneur is banking on that adorable appeal to sell $200 cups of green tea grown with the aid of panda poo. Of course, the man behind the dung tea is doing it all for the environment. And because he loves pandas, probably.

Reuters says the growing process in a mountainous region of China includes using tons of excrement from pandas living nearby at breeding centers. The first batch of the tea will go for 50 grams per lot at a price of $3,500 for each lot, making it the world’s most expensive tea.

The maker of the tea says he’s going to channel profits from those first batches to an environmental fund, and eventually bring down the price of future batches.

“I thank heaven and earth for blessing us with this environmental panda tea,” he told the crowd at an event promoting the tea while wearing a panda suit. “I just want to convey to the people of the world the message of turning waste into something useful, and the culture of recycling and using organic fertilizers.”

Apparently, panda fertilizer is great because they only eat wild bamboo, don’t absorb much of the nutrients, and then poop a lot.

“They are like a machine that is churning out organic fertiliser,” explained the tea entrepreneur. “They keep eating and they keep producing faeces.”

It’s the ciiiiiiircle of liiiiiife!

China’s pandas brew a top drop [Reuters]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.