You certainly have heard about civet coffee or maybe rather the more colloquial expression of cat poop coffee. To add a more sophisticated touch and to establish it as an upscale product it is now mostly marketed under its Indonesian name Kopi Luwak.
The most expensive coffee
You may also have heard that it is one of the priciest coffees in the world. Harrods in London sells genuine Kopi Luwak for a whopping $1,300.00 per one pound. A cup of this brew in a cafe might set you back by anywhere from $50 to $100. Sure, you can find also much cheaper versions of this coffee on the market, but there usually is a reason for the lower prices. Further down in this article I will explain.
But the high price is also used as a marketing gag. GC has included Kopi Luwak as a topic in their series “Most Expensive Shit”. Here is their video featuring rapper 2 Chainz trying out this coffee. I have no idea about his gourmet expertise and I will hold back my comments. But feel free to comment as you wish at the bottom of this post.
What exactly is civet coffee or Kopi Luwak?
Once you recover from sticker shock, you may wonder what makes this coffee so special that some folks are ready to pay such exorbitant prices.
After all, this coffee is from the same kind of tree as other coffee grown in Indonesia. But it is harvested in a very different way, by enlisting the help of a little nocturnal animal, the palm civet. This creature has the size of a cat and a long tail like a monkey and is native to South East Asia. Zoologically, it is not a cat as one would expect from the folksy expression “cat poop coffee”.
One of the favorite treats for the palm civet is ripe and juicy coffee cherries. The smart animal naturally chooses the ripest and juiciest berries. It indulges on the fruit but it doesn’t crack the coffee beans and swallows them whole. Since it can’t digest the coffee beans they leave the animal the natural way after having passed its intestines. On their way through the animal, the coffee beans are exposed to various digestive enzymes and are undergoing some kind of fermentation process. The excrements are then collected, washed and further processed like regular coffee beans.
This internal fermentation process, and the fact that the discriminating animal chooses only the ripest and tastiest coffee cherries supposedly lends this coffee its special characteristics and great taste.
Historically, first to discover this specialty were the slave workers in the coffee plantations in Indonesia. This was in the 1800s when Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule and the Dutch owned the coffee plantations. The workers were not allowed to pick coffee cherries for their own use and therefore resorted to the coffee beans found in the civet droppings.
What about the taste, is it really that good?
You can argue about taste forever. After all, it will always be a very personal thing.
Most seem to agree that civet coffee is well rounded and significantly lower in acidity than regular coffee. This is good news for those with a sensitive stomach. But depending on your selection of appropriate coffee beans and the brewing method, eg. cold brewing, you can achieve the same effect.
When it comes to the evaluation of the taste beyond acidity, opinions vary quite a bit among coffee professionals as well as among coffee loving regular folks.
Opinions range from the very negative to the very positive. Here is just one example of a tasting on video showing a variety of opinions and as you can see there is not even consensus about acidity.
There may also be actual variations in taste depending on through which palm civet the beans have passed. Like in humans, the composition of the intestinal bacteria colonies can vary significantly and affect the taste differently. But I have my doubt whether anyone can really identify the differences.
The dark side of Kopi Luwak
Because of the tedious and labor intensive way of gathering the civet poop and processing it, it is quite understandable that supply is limited. Limited production and ramped up demand lead to higher prices. Some sources claim that the annual production of wild kopi luwak is only around 500 kg, which may be true or not. It probably is not, but it is very difficult to obtain reliable numbers.
Attracted by the high price it does not come as a surprise that a whole new industry developed in Indonesia and the Philippines to take advantage of the juicy price level. Plantation owners are now holding civets in cages and force-feed them with coffee cherries to mass produce the prized coffee.
Tony Wild of Taylors of Harrogate, the famous British Tea, and Coffee company, was the first to import Civet coffee to the West in 1991 as an exotic novelty. Years later, when he saw the mistreatment of civets in Indonesia and a few other countries he regretted his involvement. He wrote a detailed article about these unfortunate practices which was published 2013 in The Guardian. The BBC also did an undercover research in the same year and reported about the inhuman treatment of the animals and the fraudulent mislabeling of the coffee. The National Geographic Magazine also did a piece on that horrible situation and confirmed the abusive living conditions of caged palm civets in almost all plantations. Unfortunately, this article is no longer online.
Kopi Luwak from caged animals is still commonly sold as wild civet coffee. Some producers claim to offer their coffee as being from wild civets and display some certification to that end. However, the system of certification is not foolproof at all. Producers pay a fee and go through a one-time inspection. They receive their certifications and nobody cares what happens then. There usually is no regular follow-up control.
Synthetic Kopi Luwak
In recent years, there were many attempts to recreate in the lab what usually happens inside the palm civet. A research team of the National Pingtung University of Technology and Science, Taiwan claims to have succeeded in creating this process under lab conditions. Other biotech companies are taking inspiration from the natural process and experiment with various fermentation techniques. This is not necessarily to replicate the exact process of the digestive tract. The resulting coffee may or may not be similar to the real thing, but at least no animals are harmed. And prices should be much lower.
Does the craziness stop here?
Kopi Luwak has been hyped beyond any reasonable limit. Even Jack Nicholson appeared in a hilarious promotion video, published in 2010. Sure, kopi luwak has this novelty factor working for it along with a hint of disgust at the production process. But is it really worth the money? That’s entirely your own decision. If you have money to burn, go ahead. But keep in mind that there may be some animals having to suffer for your pleasure.
The craziness does not stop here, more creative minds are jumping on the poop bandwagon. Coffee extracted from the poop of monkeys and elephants is already available. What would you think of a human version…?
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Where to buy Kopi Luwak?
If you are out of luck with your local coffee store, you can always try amazon.com. Here are two choices. Please note that these choices may be only seasonally available and shipping may not be possible to your country.
- Luwak coffee starts with Asian Palm Civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) picking only the ripest coffee cherries
- 2 Bags Of Kopi Luwak Coffee - 1x 250g Whole Bean & 1x 250g Ground Coffee
- Wild Ethically Sourced Premium Kopi Luwak Coffee
- Imported From Indonesia
- Tasting Notes: Smooth, not bitter, with a complex aroma. Hints of Caramel & Chocolate.
- Great Christmas Present / Gift
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