“Without my morning coffee, I’m just like a dried-up piece of roast goat.”
A quote by Johann Sebastian Bach, a great German composer
Drinking coffee in the morning has become a culture in Indonesia, and even the world. There are some people say that without coffee, they will not survive the day. Coffee can be served anytime; in a breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Every person has their own answer, why they love coffee so much. But one thing is sure; coffee is more than just a drink, coffee is a treasure. Speaking of which, we’re going to talk about the most well-known coffee in the world, the Civet Coffee, or Kopi Luwak.
What makes this coffee so special? This is how it’s made in short explanation; an animal eating the coffee cherry, pooping it out, cleaning the coffee bean, and roasting it. Sounds a bit strange? What on earth could it taste like?
Asian civets, known as mongoose or “Luwak” in Bahasa, are small, furry, long-tailed mammals and tree climbers living in South East Asia. They tend to be nocturnal, eat fruit and seeds. One of his favourite foods is coffee cherries. Civet will roam to find this delicious food. When they have found it, they will choose the best, the tastiest and the most cooked to eat. Unfortunately, mongoose can’t digest all the beans. The beans are left intact all the way through the digestion system.
During the digestion process, a fermentation occurs, giving the special flavour to the seeds. The still-intact beans are collected, cleaned, and then roasted. The resulting coffee is said to be very extraordinary. The enzymes inside the civet’s stomach extract the bitterness from the coffee, making “Kopi Luwak” smooth and mild with a sweet aftertaste, and has a lower caffeine. This unique method of collecting, gives this coffee a special value. There is not much Kopi Luwak produced in the world, which makes it become one of the most expensive coffee in the world, close to 800$ for a kilo.
Originally, Kopi Luwak made from the beans that found in a poop from wild civets. But nowadays, a lot of Kopi Luwak comes from civets in captivity, which cause to emerge some question. Will it taste the same like the original? As we know that the wild civets are quite picky animals when it comes to coffee and only eat the best berries. Moreover, some company did a manufactured brand of Kopi Luwak which you can easily find in supermarkets.
Despite the rumours that genuine kopi luwak from actual wild civets is insanely hard to purchase and hard to prove if it is real or fake, it is still a must-try on your to do list when you are in Bali. Some shops and cafés sell it, especialy in Ubud or Bedugul area. Whether the taste of Kopi Luwak is worth the price or not, it is inarguably a unique experience to drink a cup of coffee that comes from a poop!
