Are you a coffee-lover and that person who must try everything? Even if only once! Then perhaps you have been hearing about Kopi Luwak coffee? There are a few reasons why this has been named the world’s most expensive coffee. The tale (and tails) behind the coffee has become its top-selling point and you can expect to pay 20 to 60 times more than for a regular cup of joe for a cup of luwak!
What is Kopi Luwak Coffee?
In Indonesia, “kopi” refers to coffee, whereas “luwak” refers to the native palm civet. To understand kopi luwak coffee, you must first have a little bit of knowledge about how coffee grows. The beans that we grind to make coffee are actually seeds, not beans. The coffee plant, a tropical shrub native to Asia and Africa, produces these seeds in the form of spherical crimson berries. These berries, sometimes known as coffee cherries, are delicious and strong in caffeine, just like their seeds.
Kopi luwak, also called cat poop coffee, or “civet coffee”, is made from coffee berries that have been eaten and ejected by the Palm Civet, native to parts of Asia. The digestive process of the civet breaks down the flesh of the berries and as they are unable to digest the seeds, these are excreted undigested.
According to coffee experts, the method may improve this coffee in a few ways. Selection: the civets eat the ripest and best berries thus these seeds are of the highest quality. Then there are the chemical changes that the seeds are said to go through in the civet’s digestive tract (fermentation), changing the flavor by breaking down the beans’ proteins. The beans then also go through a “malting” process in the day and a half to two days that they are in the civet’s system. This is said to make the beans a little sweeter.
What Made Kopi Luwak Coffee Rise in Popularity?
Throughout the nineteenth century, coffee producers in Java were not allowed to drink any coffee harvested for sale. They collected civet droppings, washed the beans, and then roasted and brewed them instead. For more than a century, the coffee’s exceptional flavor — delicate, smooth, full-bodied, complex, with low bitterness – was a closely guarded secret. In the early 1990s that changed when a coffee specialist started marketing it in high-end stores and it’s now one of the most popular tourist drinks to try. Its reputation has spread throughout the world among sophisticated coffee drinkers. The 2007 film, “The Bucket List,” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson also helped to increase its popularity as it became known as “bucket list coffee.”
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Is It Worth It?
Some coffee drinkers insist it is nothing special, while others cannot get enough of its smooth and silky flavor. That said, it seems to be a matter of personal preference – and perhaps it is something that you just must try for yourself and not rely on the opinions of others.
Is It Ethical to Drink It?
Unfortunately, there have been numerous reports regarding the sustainability and ethical side of kopi luwak’s production. With the rise in popularity of this specialty coffee came the increase in demand. Farmers in Southeast Asia are known to trap wild civets and place them in cages on coffee plantations. They were frequently kept in unhygienic and uncomfortable conditions that resulted in stress, disease, and a greater mortality rate of these creatures. As a result, not only has the coffee’s reputation suffered but also its quality as stressed civets will be in no position to choose the best beans to start the process naturally.
However, some farms go to great lengths to adhere to the strictest of regulations to ensure that they use kopi luwak beans left behind by 100% wild civets using environmentally friendly methods that entail no contact between farmers and animals. These are obviously only available in small quantities and are graded by stringent criteria.
Given the unique trip that wild kopi luwak takes from plant to cup, it is certainly one to try for yourself and draw your own conclusions.