Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Kopi Luwak - Coffee From the Civet

Asian Palm Civet
     Kopi luwak translates roughly from Indonesian into civet coffee, and is used as an umbrella term to distinguish any type of coffee bean gathered from the droppings of a civet, weather that bean be aribica, robusta, liberica, or excelsa. This wide spectrum of beans, while all being kopi luwak, will have a wide array of tastes that are associated with them. Nevertheless, kopi luwak coffees have a few common characteristics, most notably their aromas, their flavor, and their overall lack of bitterness.

      This rare coffee is made from the beans of coffee berries that have been eaten and digested by the Asian Palm Civet. Once the berries are fully digested, the civet leaves behind enzyme enhanced, delicious, coffee beans. The coffee farmers then go along behind the civets and gather their droppings, which, after washing, and light roasting, brew some of the most delicious cups of coffee on earth. While the coffee was traditionally harvested spontaneously in the wild, most kopi luwak comes from farms where the civets are fed ripe coffee berries, and kept in pens.

       Kopi luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, and often sells for well in excess of $100 per pound. Despite the high premium this coffee commands, it continues to remain in surprisingly high demand, and can be found in many high end coffee shops the world over.

33 comments:

  1. UUu that is something I never knew :D Thanks ! supportin'!

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow. that's amazing!

    supportin bro

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not an avid coffee fan, but if it gets me lit and ready to cram for exams I'd pay 100$/pound for it ;p

    ReplyDelete
  4. ive had a cup of this before. devine.

    ReplyDelete
  5. coffee aint really my thang, show me some love <3

    ReplyDelete
  6. i saw this on discovery once

    500$ a cup

    ReplyDelete
  7. never knew coffee could be this rare, or expensive, jeepers!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Woah also new to me. I'm not really a coffee addict and I don't have the need to drink coffee but I'm someone who likes to test out new things. And this is deffinitly on my list now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is sick and disgusting. I drink my regular cheap coffee and I'm happy with it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i'm drinking coffee right now... I need it to blog

    ReplyDelete
  11. this blog wakes me up. keep up the great posts!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I wonder how hyper them critters are. Heh.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I prefer nootropics such as Nuvigil instead of caffeine. Caffeine, and all CNS stimulants for that matter, sort of shocks the entire central nervous system -- resulting in withdrawal/crash.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks! Now I know what I need to try before I die. The most expensive coffee.

    ReplyDelete
  15. lmao if im paying 500 dollars i expect at least a bj

    ReplyDelete
  16. its awesome

    http://thatguysstuff.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. drinking the droppings of that shitty animal? nice! im down

    ReplyDelete
  18. i love coffee bro i couldnt live without it

    ReplyDelete
  19. i prefer cocaine to coffee, but am still very intrigued by your blog! following and will show <3 daily!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Must taste like awesome

    ReplyDelete
  21. This coffee is supposed to be amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've heard about this coffee. Would love to try it just because it's supposedly so good.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Just goes to show that rich people will pay for anything. Dropping by to show my respect and support for a fellow blogger ;)

    ReplyDelete
  24. I've heard of this coffee before. Would like to try it for myself someday. XD

    Followed! I love coffee :)
    Come check out my blog if you can!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Coffee and friends go best when together, now, a best friend that serves you a cup of Kopi Luwak over good conversation is even more priceless.

    The aroma was like caramel even without sugar (though I cannot imagine anyone adding cane sugar into a cup of Luwak coffee! sacrilege!) and yes, you hardly taste the bitterness you get in other coffee.

    The interesting story behind Kopi Luwak is that during colonial Indonesia, Dutch coffee plantation owners didn't allow the Indonesian forced labour (the forced agriculture or Kultur Steltsel system) to enjoy any of the coffee they plant, how evil is that? Well apparently the asian palm civets would sneak into the plantations and pick of the ripest and best coffee berries. The workers also noticed that the beans were not digested and usually end up clumped in their... er... dookie.

    Needless to say desperate times called for desperate measures, and they did the unthinkable and cleaned, roasted and brewed the... 'leftovers' into their own private stash of coffee.

    What they didn't realize was that they were actually getting better coffee than their Dutch masters! Until unfortunately, they caught on to this, and started marketing civet-poop-coffee at crazy prices.

    I kid you not, this was how it happened :)

    So I suppose the best ideas do come when you are desperate (or being overworked at a plantation)

    If you guys love coffee, then you should try it once! I highly recommend it!

    ReplyDelete

Buying me coffee gives me material to write about. Feel free to donate.