Kopi Luwak is coffee made from coffee berries

What is your favorite coffee? Mine is the black coffee with milk but no sugar. It could end up as latte, cappucino, or macchiato. I don’t know what it takes to declare one as addicted to coffee, but I prefer coffee than tea, though. From coffee in the cup for 1,000 IDR in Meulaboh up to the green mark brand, give it to me and I will sipped it wholeheartedly. And yesterday, I just had my encounter with the most expensive coffee that I ever took. Kopi Luwak.

I heard this name Kopi Luwak for like ages, but still haven’t taste it or know it or even getting close with it. There’s this one coffee shop with title Kopi Luwak in Blok M Plaza and they said they were selling Kopi Luwak. But I think it’s just an ordinary coffee maybe with a flavour seemingly as Kopi Luwak

Taken from Wikipedia, Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, similar with musang). The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid) and in East Timor (locally called kafé-laku). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee, which is made from coffee berries which have been defecated by local weasels. In actuality the “weasel” is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet. The process of the coffee berries that were digested by the Civet is said to have perfect harvesting process for the resulted coffee beans. That is why this type of coffee is so different and indeed expensive because you will definitely takes time to produce such kind of coffee beans.

I took my first Kopi Luwak in the same stall of Kopi Luwak but this one is in Pacific Place. They said they only serve the original Kopi Luwak in Pacific Place and in FX, the new mall in front of Plaza ABDA. The waiter came with beautifully wrapped coffee sachet and the boiled water. The grilled coffee was then poured at my cup and added by the after-boiled water. No stirring should be made until around the 4th minutes so that the smell and taste will fall perfectly. She was then covered my cup maybe to groom the coffee. For me it was like small ritual and I am thrilled although it was just a cup of coffee. Then at the 4th minutes I open the lid and smell it. It was so, ahem, I dont know any adjectives to follow a smell. But it was great. Then I have my first sip, without sugar, and it was, hmmm.. different. It was so fully bodied and I think it was a Robusta, well, CMIIW, please. It was one of the greatest coffee that I ever experienced, but it’s not my favorite as well. But if you are a coffee lover I think you should appreciate those Civets by trying them.

My cup were USD 8. I guess it still cheaper than the price for other country as what written in the wikipedia:
Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between $120 and $600 USD per pound, and is sold mainly in Japan and the United States. It is increasingly becoming available elsewhere, though supplies are limited: only 1,000 pounds (450 kg) at most make it into the world market each year. One small cafe, the Heritage Tea Rooms, in the hills outside Townsville in Queensland, Australia has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at A$50.00 (=US$48.00) per cup, selling approximately four cups a week, which has gained nationwide Australian press. In April 2008, the brasserie of Peter Jones department store in London’s Sloane Square starting selling a blend of Kopi Luwak and Blue Mountain called Caffe Raro for £50 (=US$99.00) a cup.

Anyway, while I was browsing for the Kopi Luwak today, I found it to have less story on the production process. No specific story on whether there were civets farm to produce this coffee or these civets were just wild animals and the coffee farmers should really look up for their poos all around the forest. Still, this is one of the bizzarre things in coffee