Civet Cat – Kopi Luwak
$23,00
As far as coffee goes, Lombok’s Kopi Luwak is perhaps one of the most unique and expensive coffees with a distinctive aroma you can find
| Processing | Sun Dried |
|---|---|
| Shape | Whole Beans |
| Above Sea | 1100m – 1300m |
| Soil | Volcanic |
| Temperature | 16-33⁰C |
| Rainfall | 170 cm/yr |
Civet cat coffee, known in Indonesian language as Kopi Luwak, is one of the world’s most unique coffee. This coffee is famous for its unique method of processing: passing through the digestion tract of the catlike civet. The luwak eats ripe coffee cherries and, after it has digested the fruity pulp, excretes the coffee beans. Civet cat coffee took the international coffee market by storm and has gone from relatively unknown to a gold mine of specialty coffee. Since it was first discovered in the 19th century, luwak coffee has become both internationally acclaimed and reviled.
The Taste
The surprising popularity of civet coffee can be explained by its unusual and rich taste. Luwak coffee is praised for being smooth, sweet, and earthy. It has hints of caramel and chocolate and is often drunk without sugar or milk. It is said digestive enzymes of the civet remove some of the coffee’s bitterness and create a flavor that coffee connoisseurs with money to spare consider delicious.
In truth wild civet cats were free to sample the coffee berries as they wished and only ate the ripest, freshest berries. Workers forced to strip pick the berries, on the other hand, were far less exacting than a wild cat. Luwak coffee was also more effectively processed than standard methods back then. The civets’ digestive system gets rid of all of the cherry’s pulp much better than processing methods of the time were able to.
- HAND-PICKED QUALITY COFFEE. Each coffee bean is being picked by hands with strict quality control, to ensure the only best beans are used for coffee roasting. Such attention is needed to sustain the enrichment flavor of our luwak coffee
- MICRO ROASTING IN INDONESIA. Unlike others roasting companies which usually roast in large batches (50kg or more at once), all of our luwak coffee beans are roasted in small batches (1 kg maximum), to maintain the perfect freshness and evenly flavor of each of our coffee beans.
- FREE FROM ANIMAL CRUELTY. All animals should live a happily life. No animal was abused or harmed in producing our civet coffee. Our animals are living free in a wild. Our local dropping-hunters collect material for Kopi Lowak in Lombok island forests
Our coffee beans are sourced directly from the highlands of Lombok island, the native origin of Kopi Luwak. All our coffee beans are hand-picked by trained hands with strict quality controls, and are roasted by experienced coffee roasters. We are very particular in preserving the best of aroma, acidity, body and overall flavor of our product. We control every stage of producing our luwak coffee. Although the price of it is relatively higher, it makes up for the price by being high in quality and taste. The premium price of the luwak coffee include the technique that is used in the production of the coffee by local farmers who are planting the coffee beans in a traditional way to achieve the best quality and aroma of the coffee beans.
According to legend, the farmers instead began combing through the droppings of the civet cat for undigested coffee beans. The farmers would dry, roast, and brew the beans, making a coffee with a uniquely smooth flavor that lacks the bitterness of most coffees.
When the Dutch colonists discovered how good the coffee was, demand for it began to rise. Thus Kopi Luwak first started its journey to becoming an expensive gourmet coffee. It was difficult for producers to keep up with demand due to having to scour coffee plantation areas for civet droppings and then clean and process the wild Kopi Luwak. The low supply and high demand encouraged producers sell normal coffee and lie about its origins. Lack of transparency in the Kopi Luwak trade temporarily killed the industry.
In 1991 Kopi Luwak reentered the specialty coffee scene. That was the year a man named Tony Wild as coffee director of Taylors of Harrogate, first brought a small amount of kopi luwak to the west. The repulsive charm of coffee from poop worked wonders with the press and public. The exotic coffee gained international fame and became a sought-after commodity. Prices for this coffee can fetch up to $200-400 per kilogram.
Kopi Luwak’s production method originates in Java, but other islands have adopted it over the years. The islands of Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, Bali, and East Timor all process and export this coffee. In fact, the amount of people willing to buy over-priced novelty coffee is enough to fund the creation of multiple Kopi Luwak knockoffs starring various animals willing to ingest and excrete coffee beans. In other places, people have capitalized on the selling value of animal-processed coffees and developed their own versions. Elephant, bird, and monkey coffee are all being created and sold by people hoping to ride the market’s inclination towards coffee processed by animal digestion. China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, and many other countries are all selling their own take on this expensive coffee.