Since most (not all) of us here are approaching this issue from a “talking in learning” standpoint, without getting involved in personal or denominational innuendo, I’ll allow myself a momentary switch to the other side.
Indeed, bal t’shaktzu seems like a personal mental issur, where each person may have a different level of disgust for a certain product, rendering the issur highly subjective. However, we are used to the chachamim determining a measure of objectivity in many halachot, where the “average person” is the determiner, and outliers are disregarded, a “lo plug”. Therefore, it could very well be that this coffee is assur , as the average person spending $50 or so on a cup is well aware of the process and the process may be objectively m’shukatz. The fact that the drinker has adjusted mentally may not be enough to nullify a lo plug”
But then we are in trouble. Why then, according to some sources in this sugya, is donkey (or camel and horse
urine permitted ? (if it is assur, it is because of hayotze min… and not bal t’shaktzu) I don’t see it as being less disgusting than the civet coffee, maybe even more so. As another example, I have a relative who became vegetarian after seeing the “disgusting” process of shechitah . I venture that many many people would be similarly disgusted at what is seen in a shlachthois. Would they be forbidden to eat meat because of a personal bal t’shktzu? I don’t know, but I doubt it. I enjoy eating tongue, but I admit the thought of a tongue being cut out of the animal places me dangerously close to bal t’shaktzu. But I still eat it. Is this a problem? Hmm…
Of course, we may end up with a simple solution. According to the personalized approach, anyone who wants to cough up that much money for a cup of this coffee is not disgusted and it is permitted. Anyone who is disgusted by it wouldn’t dream of spending the money. To each his own.
I have not finished studying the article in Tehumin 31 (page 488? Rav Fishman authoring), but I’ll chime in again when I do.