It would appear that while removing the bitter taste, the luwak’s digestion also lowers the good acidity and flavour. More explicitly, Andrew Hetzel, from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, writes that “ Kopi Luwak coffee is a gimmick, a fairy tale fabricated to sell gullible consumers bad coffee at extraordinarily inflated prices”. In fact, it has received some harsh critiques by esteemed reviewers.Īfter a taste test, renowned cupper Rocky Rhodes of International Coffee Consulting Group reportedly said “it was apparent that Luwak coffee sold for the story, not superior quality”. Not everyone agrees with the hype about Kopi Luwak. While indeed the beans collected from the excrement show higher levels of contaminations, the processed beans are quite safe to drink with no contamination from e.coli or other bacteria.īy surtr, via Wikimedia Commons
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What does coffee taste like? Learn how to use the Coffee Flavour Wheel Because protein is the element that gives coffee its bitter flavour, the result is supposed to be a smooth cup of coffee without any unpleasant aftertaste.
Secondly, the fruit undergoes a fermentation process during the animal’s digestion where enzymes break down some of the protein contained in the bean. The flavour of Kopi Luwak is mainly defined in terms of earthy and musty with hints of caramel and chocolate and some people throw around the word “jungle” as if it were a flavour descriptor.Īpparently though, for the poop coffee enthusiasts, the taste depends upon a number of factors such as tree variety, soil type, seasonal fruits eaten by the civet, so that each small batch is unique.Ībove all, what makes Kopi Luwak special is the fact that it’s ingested, digested and defecated by the palm civet.įirst of all, as we said before, the civet is thought to be particularly picky in regards to the cherries it eats and choosing the most mature fruits is the basis of a quality cup. Next question is: what makes it so special? Unless their forced to, but this is a topic for later. In theory, the luwaks roam freely and eat at night away from prying eyes, so for a farmer stumbling around fresh “produce” in the jungle requires a good knowledge of territory but also quite a bit of luck.Īnd of course wild civets are also not going to chew truckloads of coffee just so people can make drinks from their scat. Wild Kopi Luwak is quite rare with only small quantities processed each year. Why is it among the most expensive coffees in the world? Kopi Luwak generally costs up to 300 dollars per kg although some high-end brands sell it for 2000 dollars a kg, like Ross Kopi from Indonesia. How much money exactly are we talking about? Humans walking around the jungle look for the civet’s droppings and collect them, then wash the beans, process them and sell them for a whole lot of money. Then, after a day, a day and a half, the coffee beans come out the other end almost intact but, of course, covered in faeces. Its diet usually consists in plenty of juicy fruits as well as the odd insect and reptile here and there.īut most importantly for us, the luwak has a sweet tooth for coffee cherries, of which is said to pick only the best and ripest, guided by its amazing sense of smell. The palm civet is a shy and nocturnal animal sometimes described as cat-like (in fact, it is occasionally called civet cat) but more poetically, perhaps, as the hybrid mix of a “ bastard love child of a ferret and a lemur … with your house cat”. Originating in Indonesia, it is also produced in the Philippines and Vietnam.
Kopi Luwak literally means palm civet coffee in Indonesian and, even though it is one of the most expensive coffees in the world, it is elegantly known as “ poop coffee”.
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