Gourmet Foods - Kopi Luwak

We are usually particular about where our food comes from. We do not shop at run-down grocery shops. We insist on buying our processed food from known and trusted brands. And some of us, the health freaks, will go to the extent of ensuring that our vegetables and fruits come from organic farms and so on. Where our food comes from says a lot about its quality, its nutritional content and its safety. Coffee connoisseurs obviously do not think like the rest of us because of the form of coffee that they seek out almost with a maniacal zest comes from a questionable (if not downright disgusting) source: the anus of a monkey! It is called kopi luwak and it is by far the most expensive coffee in the world. A single pound of this form of coffee can cost upwards of five hundred dollars. And yet, it is one of the most sought out types of coffee in the world.

Kopi luwak is Indonesian and it comes originally from the jungles of Sumatra. An animal known in English as the Asian Palm Civet (and in the local Indonesian dialect as luwak) feeds on coffee beans in the area. It then partially digests them and eventually excretes them. The excrement of the Asian Palm Civet is collected by farmers and the partially digested coffee beans are collected, cleaned (obviously!) and dried. The rest of the production process is more or less similar to the production process of normal coffee. Only the roasting of the coffee bean differs a little. Kopi luwak is generally only light roasted. The idea is to keep as much of its varied natural flavors undisturbed. Kopi luwak, literally, means coffee from a luwak. The reason why coffee connoisseurs are stricken with love for this form of coffee is because it has a distinct taste. It is not as bitter as normal coffee and it is a lot more balanced. Many believe that the digestive enzymes of the luwak work its magic on the coffee beans, giving them their famed, rich taste.

Many people have tried to control the process of making kopi luwak but with limited success. Kopi luwak farmers must keep very large areas open for the Asian Palm Civet to roam (it does not perform its function well if it is confined in small places). One must remember that coffee beans are just a constituent of the luwak's diet. So when the feces of the Asian Palm Civet is tracked down and collected, it must be cleaned of all the other berries and plants the luwak has eaten and digested. Roasting it, as mentioned before, is a delicate art and requires a professional. All these factors have kept the price of kopi luwak unbelievably high. There have been efforts to synthetically produce kopi luwak but these variants are sold for far cheaper and usually in the domestic Indonesian or Vietnamese markets only. Researchers identified a number of digestive enzymes that the Asian Palm Civet has in its digestive system and synthesized them. These enzymes were applied to the coffee beans artificially. The result is a coffee that tastes different but not nearly as unique as kopi luwak.

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