subject: Buy Kopi Luwak And Indulge Your Taste Buds [print this page] Coffee drinkers traveling in Southeast Asian countries are taken by surprise when they get their morning cup. Much of the coffee produced in Southeast Asia comes from the Robusta bean, a variety that normally produces an extremely bitter taste. It's for that reason, among others, that coffee gourmets stay alert to buy kopi luwak.
Kopi luwak is a coffee produced in Indonesia that is unlike any other caffeinated beverage in the world. Because of its unique process, kopi luwak has been called "the most expensive coffee in the world." It's so prized that it can sell in Japan and the United States for somewhere between $100 and $600(US) per pound. An Australian caf called the Heritage Tea Rooms, situated in the hills above Townsville, Queensland, sells one cup of kopi luwak for A$50 (or about $35US)!
What is there about kopi luwak that makes it such a highly desirable gourmet delicacy? Coffee connoisseurs can tell you that it's the exceptional aroma, the smooth taste or the complex top notes of the brew; but the really priceless quality of kopi luwak is in the process. Kopi luwak results from one of Mother Nature's most extraordinary collaborations between Robusta coffee trees, the kind grown in Indonesia, and the Asian palm civet. In fact, that's the meaning of "kopi luwak" civet coffee.
Civets are small animals that look something like cats, but in reality are their own species. Native to Indonesia, one of the largest producers of kopi luwak, civets love to eat the vivid red coffee cherries produced by Robusta coffee trees. Civets are something of an animal gourmet themselves, because they invariably choose to eat the ripest, most delicious coffee cherries.
While coffee cherries tickle the civets' taste buds, their digestive systems are challenged by the coffee beans. Although the civets' naturally occurring digestive enzymes try to consume the coffee beans, instead the bodily chemicals only succeed in breaking down the proteins in the beans. Since coffee proteins are what make Robusta coffee so bitter, the civet digestive system acts like a natural coffee factory!
It took years before Indonesian coffee farmers learned exactly how this collaboration between civets and coffee could benefit their industry. All they knew in the beginning was that civets were consuming their coffee crops! Rather than give up, the farmers with peasant practicality raked through the civets' droppings to gather the excreted coffee beans. These beans were given a thorough washing, allowed to dry in the sun, and then roasted carefully to a cinnamon color. (A light roasting at high temperature is one way to reduce the bitterness of Robusta beans).
To the coffee growers' shock, the resulting coffee was a heavenly beverage unlike any they'd had before. The "luwak" treatment had actually improved the "kopi."
Today Indonesian coffee growers work in partnership with nature, keeping their own bands of civets on their farms to "process" beans for kopi luwak. The opportunity to buy kopi luwak is something that has lured coffee aficionados to Indonesia for decades, since until recently few stocks made it into the world market until now.
Part of what entices gourmets to buy kopi luwak is its enthralling diversity. Each kopi luwak harvest, like a vintage of fine wine, results in a distinctive variation in aroma and taste complexity, depending on what else the civets have eaten. While the "vintage" of kopi luwak can vary delightfully, it consistently produces coffee with an aroma and taste that rivals any exotic delicacy anywhere on earth.
by: Vikram kuamr
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