These Javanese young ladies were so friendly and even posed for pictures as I bought my coffee.
There was one thing I knew I wanted to bring home from my trip to Java: coffee. Not just any coffee. The most expensive coffee in the world. Kopi Luwak.
You may be asking yourself, what’s so special about Kopi Luwak? Well, it’s harvested from the poop of a civet. What is a civet? The term ‘civet’ describes a dozen different mammal species mostly found in southeast Asia. They generally look like cats with the heads of a mongoose. Not that I’ve ever seen one outside of the Cincinnati Zoo.
Hhhm. My husband and I are Bearcats. Maybe we could…. no.
The civets in Indonesia eat coffee berries which then travel through their digestive tracts without being digested. During this process, the coffee berries are enhanced with enzymes before they’re pooped out, harvested, and roasted to create the world’s most expensive coffee. Which leads one to wonder why someone ever did this in the first place, and why I can’t get my cats to do the same thing at home. I could be a millionaire!
Instead, I found bags of Kopi Luwak in a tourist centre. (Of course.) None of the locals I asked had ever tried it, but they all knew of it and laughed when I said I wanted to buy some. I’m not surprised they hadn’t imbibed. It is way out of their average price range — and they probably have more sense than I do.
So I bought a bag of coffee for $18.00. It made about one pot. My husband and I were hesitant to drink it because it seemed like we needed a REALLY special occasion (not because we worried about drinking coffee that civets had pooped out). But we never could decide what kind of occasion would call for poopy coffee. Instead, on a typical Saturday like any other, our Kopi Luwak Day finally came.
Looked like any other coffee beans.
We examined the coffee like true connoisseurs. The beans looked like regular coffee beans. We brewed a pot. It smelled like regular coffee. It looked like regular coffee. We took a sip. It tasted….smooth. Mild. Like regular coffee without any of the bitterness. If you usually add cream and sugar to hide that bitterness, you wouldn’t need to with Kopi Luwak. It was very, very smooth.
Which made me realize — it was kinda wasted on us. We are such coffee-aholics that we’ll drink coffee thick as tar from a gas station. We’ll drink coffee any way we can get it. Dare I say we might even drink coffee harvested from our own cats’ litterbox?
No. No, we wouldn’t. But we’re not above harvesting it and selling it to tourists. Just let me know if you’re ever in Cincinnati. 😉
How does a nice cup of Kopi Luwak sound to you?
Browsing The Atlas 
that cute little bearcat is so sweet, it’s so weird how people could think of making a poop coffee. maybe I should open a coffee shop and make my cat and her ‘products’ special – some kind of hipster coffee 😀
I’m not really against that kind of coffee (I mean the bearcat :D) but don’t like coffee that much to spend so much money on it 🙂
Hipster coffee would be a top seller. We could keep our cats busy if we could find the right buyers. 🙂
There is an English comedian called Milton Jones, one of hios stand up gags goes:
‘I used to farm cats, but their eggs didn’t taste as chocolaty as they looked’
Coffee from a cat’s bum no thanks
Yeah. It’s hard enough to stand changing the litterbox, let alone thinking of ingesting anything that comes from it.
There’s something famous in morocco that is harvested from the goat poopy – I remember being told about it, but omg that’s awful! Lol no, it’s “offal!”
Hahaha. 🙂 You’ve got to be “kid-ding!” ;p I’m afraid to know what delicacy comes from goat poop, but if I were in Morocco, you know I’d try it.
Hahahaha you are one brave lady!!!
I’m starting to see that I’m not very discriminating about what I’ll eat or drink at all, am I? :}
Lol, if it looks edible, eat it – if it tastes bad pretend you’re tying your shoe and spit it out! (This works even with ‘dirt’ on a toenail in case you’re barefoot!) ;^)))
LOL!!! Great life philosophy. I’ll remember that. 🙂
My dad had it once at a coffee shop and I tried some. Maybe I just don’t have fine enough taste in coffee but aside from having a good aroma and smooth taste, I couldn’t see how it was any better than the cup of Kenyan coffee I was drinking. But I learned something today because I didn’t know it originated in Indonesia so I appreciate the cultural lesson. 😉
We were happy to try it once, but probably wouldn’t go out of our way (or pay the exorbitant price) to try it again.
I’ve seen this Kopi Luwak for sale, but have never bought any. It did seem very overpriced for poop pellets. 🙂
LOL! It is.
Why would a civet want to eat something it can’t digest 😕
Good question, though I could ask the same of my dog and all the paper towels he eats.
Maybe the berries just tasted good??
Very interesting. First I’ve heard of this. My husband, on the other hand has seen this on a TV documentary. Again, mighty interesting…
I’d heard of it, but wasn’t sure how I felt about drinking it. I must admit, I was very relieved to see that the coffee beans looked like any other coffee beans. That eased my mind.
As as a coffee connoisseur, I’ve always wanted to try this, despite how gross it sounds!
Do it, Gina! 🙂
unfortunately I do not like any kind of coffe,, t,t but the way you describe, make it interesting,lol
I do wonder what non-coffee lovers would think of this. It does taste like coffee, but doesn’t have any of the bitterness.
how about the smell? :p
It looked like coffee. It smelled like coffee. I choose to believe, it was basically just coffee. 😉
When you said litter box I thought you were going to talk about, well, anything but a litter box. Just couldn’t see where the litter box was going to fit in. Thought, this must be some clever misdirection or cultural term unrelated to cat’s litter. Well, now I see it.
I think I’d have to try it from your description. I can’t stand to drink coffee unless it’s mild and smooth (I often get around this with a lot of milk, but my other trick is to drink tea instead).
You may really like this, then. My husband even said that it was smooth like tea.
Alright. I’ll look out for opportunities.
Dear Jiliann,
I’ve heard of this kind of coffee before, but don’t know if I’d have the courage to try it. Glad you did, because your post made me laough out loud!
Thanks, Naomi! Glad you could experience it vicariously through me.
Sometimes, and especially in this particular case, that seems the best way to go!
Poop coffee, huh? Sure…why the heck not?! : )
That’s the spirit! 😉
Yes, I have drunk it – in Australia it costs about $50 a cup! Once was enough. And now you can also get coffee produced in a similar way by elephants! I’d rather have tea, I think. http://aglasshalf-full.com/2013/01/05/wide-eyed-about-coffee/
Elephants! Wow. I’m not sure I’d be daring enough to try that. And I know for sure I wouldn’t pay $50/cup regardless of the animal it came out of. 😉
Thanks for sharing the link!
I don’t really know how to differ one coffee from the others. Coffee is coffee to me. The way I see it. In a cafe, they skim the milk better. They crunch the coffee beans more finer. That’s all it really is. And sometimes in the end, it’s how well you measure the amount of coffee, sugar and/or cream. Love how the Japanese pose to pictures, and they are so willing too.
I am not sure I would be as brave as you Juliann! 🙂
I know you would be, Madhu. It’s not chai tea, but maybe if the civets could eat tea leaves…