by Mark Tebeau | February 21st, 2009
For Christmas, my wife gave me Kopi Luwak coffee, from Animal Coffee. Basically, the palm civet (or Kopi Luwak) eats ripe coffee cherries off of coffee trees. (Coffee beans come from the cherry, sort of like the pit of a cherry fruit.) The Luwak eats and digests the cherries and expels the beans. Not all the beans are masticated and some portion are expelled hole, with the pergamino (the thin husk surrounding the bean) intact. The excrement of the Luwak is collected by Indonesians, who also clean, dry, and separate the beans, which from that point follow a normal process to become coffee. These become Kopi Luwak coffee.
The key to this story is that the Civet’s digestive system removes the proteins from the cherries/beans, and protein is what gives coffee its acidity. As a result Kopi Luwak coffee is exceptionally smooth. Below are some tasting notes, and I would mostly agree.
The coffee is very earthy and rich, and also distinctly smooth and non-acidic. It has a fabulous aroma and quality. I am not sure that I would rank it among the best coffee that I’ve had. But, it has a unique and pleasant character.
I want to warn you that between 80 % and 90% of Kopi Luwak (Civet Coffee), which is available at coffee stores and on the Internet is not 100% Kopi Luwak and it sometimes does not contain anything of the genuine coffee. I would recommend that you should investigate where the coffee comes from and who sells it.
More info about Kopi Luwak or if you want to try it, email to: info@realkopiluwak.com
I agree that it is an interesting story. I started drinking coffee last semester as a way to combat the fatigue I was experiencing from practicum demands. Not the best option I guess but it works. Anyway, I have been trying different brands to see which one I like best. Right now Maxwell house columbian roast is my favorite and all varieties of Caribou coffee are my least favorite. The next step for me would be invest in a coffeemaker for myself so that I can make my own cup of coffee rather than wait for someone else to do it for me.
Great story! Ironically, my wife bought me a coffee-maker for Christmas. This gift is also part of the end process for making good coffee.