Kopi Luwak - the story of a very expensive coffee
- Panna
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
If nothing else, you may know the name of this special coffee from the movie The Bucket List: the character played by Jack Nicholson swears by this drink, saying it's the best coffee in the world, his friend (played by Morgan Freeman) finds out how it's made, and then they laugh a lot about it.
One of the main attractions of every coffee plantation in Bali that is the tasting program is open to the public, where you can try kopi luwak and they will tell you about the process of making it. In most places you can also see the cute little animal that "gives" us the world-famous coffee.
The name of the famous coffee consists of two parts
Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee, and luwak is the name for the type of civet cat that “produces” this coffee. This coffee is made by the civet cat eating the coffee beans and then, with great simplicity, poops it out. The animal does not digest the coffee beans as a whole, only the husk - so the coffee becomes drinkable after a thorough cleaning, after passing through the civet cat’s digestive tract.
This process is actually quite old, dating back to when Dutch colonists conquered the local population in Indonesia. Because coffee was considered valuable, the Dutch forbade the natives from drinking it, but the Indonesians observed that civet cats would eat and then defecate on the coffee beans, so they collected them and were able to drink coffee despite the ban.
Why did Kopi Luwak coffee become so famous and expensive?
Firstly, because the civet cat only eats the ripest and highest quality coffee beans.
On the other hand, during the animal's digestion, the coffee undergoes a fermentation process, which gives it a special flavor. The production quantity is also limited, of course.
Civets only digest the skin of coffee beans, which is good because the skin gives the coffee a less delicate, sour-bitter taste. It breaks down the protein content of the coffee, and what remains, experts say, is much more delicious than any other coffee.
The result is a creamy, slightly chocolatey (I was told, I didn't taste the chocolate) and unique taste. Sometimes you can also feel some fruity flavors, because civet cats eat a lot of fruit...
It is important to know that kopi luwak is counterfeited, most often mixed with other types of coffee.
In addition, it was found that the coffee produced by captive civets is not as delicious, presumably because the animal is stressed by the cage and therefore does not digest as well as it would if it were living freely.
It also matters what type of civet cat it is, supposedly, because the Malay is better at "digesting coffee" than its African counterpart.
In any case, even if you're not used to it, it's worth trying it once to form an opinion about this strange type of coffee. I tried it, and honestly, I didn't really understand what was so special about it, but I guess I'm just not very sophisticated. But it was very interesting to see how it's made.
And the civet cat is very cute!
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