Attention all Starbucks-chugging coffee consumers and coffee connoisseurs of the world! ~ your most expensive cup of Java awaits! It’s from Indonesia, and the roasting facility is nothing you’d ever imagined. It’s as exotic (read: unusual, rather stomach-churning, and not for the faint-hearted) and organic as it gets. Let’s get some facts on the table first: the name is Kopi Luwak (Luwak Coffee), and it’s produced when a Indonesia’s fox-like cousin that has a penchant for coffee, dines on delicious raw coffee fruit, and extracts (yes journeying through its digestive system) the coffee pits (yes, the prized coffee beans, already nicely roasted!). Gaining attention from everyone from Oprah, the Wildboyz of MTV’s Jackass fame, to Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods. Here’s a look at this exquisite coffee, as reported by Alun Evans of Kabar Indonesia.

Not a week goes by when I do not get an email from someone, somewhere in the world, asking me a question relating to Kopi Luwak. Kopi Luwak, or “KL” as we call it, is one of the rarest and most expensive coffees in the world. At around $800/kg it dwarves the moderately expensive Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona Arabica Coffees.

For those of you who do not know what Kopi Luwak is, take a deep breath, put your cappuccino down and read on. Luwak is the Indonesian name for the Masked Palm Civet. This animal has close relatives throughout most of Asia, as well as in Ethiopia and Kenya. Its poor cousin in China got blamed for being a link in the SARS epidemic in 2004 and got pretty much wiped out in a government cull. Before that it had been a culinary delicacy in Mainland Chinese cuisine. In Indonesia, the range of the Luwak is quite widespread. Their habitat includes higher altitude, less densely populated areas of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi and the islands of Nusa Tenggara. The Luwak is nocturnal by nature and is quite wary of human contact. It nearly always comes out at dusk to hunt for food and to forage, by morning it is tucked up sleeping.

Luwak droppings. Exotic food par excellence!!

So this brings us around to the part the Luwak plays in one of the stranger chapters of global coffee consumption. Not unlike the way in which coffee was first discovered (thanks to a herd of dancing goats back in Abyssinia over 1000 years ago), Kopi Luwak somehow accidentally made its way from animal to human; albeit in a more direct and slightly revolting way.

Luwak generally forage ripe coffee cherries from the trees during the night, gorging themselves on the fruit. The gastrointestinal tract of the animal removes the pulp and skin from the cherry, but is unable to digest the stone or bean inside. Finally the beans are deposited in a star-fish shaped pile from the rear end of the Luwak. The excrement, which looks a bit like peanut brittle candy, is then collected, cleaned, dried and roasted by the villagers, who savour it for its unique taste profile. Of course in the village Kopi Luwak actually has two meanings. The first and most common does not actually refer to coffee consumed and subsequently passed by the Luwak, but rather to ripe coffee that was picked by human hand, the Luwak reference being to the fact that if the Luwak had seen the cherry first he would have eaten it, as it was that ripe.

As the Luwak is an omnivore it must be said that the taste of the final cup does depend somewhat on what else the Luwak has been eating along with the coffee cherries. Cupping reports from experts include comparisons to fruit such as Papaya, Pineapple, Mango and Blackberry. On the other hand there are also frequent comparisons to “game” (meaning the dead mouse consumed before the coffee cherry I suspect).

As the Luwak is found all over the coffee producing regions of Indonesia, the regional cupping characters of the coffee will still be apparent in the coffee. Because over 80% of coffee from Indonesia is the less interesting Robusta, then the Luwak’s intervention in the traditional coffee chain does not dramatically change the cupping character of this type of coffee. The cupping characters of the Arabicas however are altered by the inner workings of the Luwak.

Prof. Marcone and Alun sampling Kopi Luwak in a West Java Village.

Steve-o and Chris from MTV's Wildboyz testing their stomach strength, enjoying a Cuppa Luwak

Whether it deserves a serious place in the mainstream of specialty coffee is debatable. However it can not be doubted that Kopi Luwak is absolutely unique and it comes from right here in Indonesia.

Known as Kopi Luwak throughout much of Southeast Asia and popularly translated to English as weasel or civet coffee, this gourmet beverage is brewed from beans that have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet.

The Asiam palm civet is not a member of the weasel family, but is commonly referred to by the Vietnamese word meaning weasel.

Palm civets have a taste for the ripe fruit of the coffee plant, known as coffee cherries. While the flesh of the fruit is broken down by the civets’ digestive tracts, the beans contained within the berries pass through the animals intact.

Clumps of coffee beans that have passed through civets.

The civets’ contribution to the palatability of the resulting beans is twofold. Since these animals are drawn to the ripest and most healthy coffee berries, their excrement is filled with the choicest beans. Secondly, the unique combination of digestive enzymes that the coffee beans are exposed to inside the civets reduces their natural bitterness. Washed thoroughly and then brewed as a light roast, these beans are said to produce some of the most delicious coffee in the world. The flavor is widely described as “sweet and smooth”.

Due to the scarcity and desirability of the beans, Kopi Luwak is often sold for several hundreds of dollars a pound, making it the world’s most expensive coffee.

Connoisseurs point out that, in addition to possessing a notably reduced bitterness, Kopi Luwak displays a complex bouquet of flavors not found in any other type of coffee. This is caused by the civets’ digestive enzymes penetrating the coffee beans and interacting with certain proteins contained within. The resulting palatability is a serendipitous side effect.

The use of animals to identify, gather, or alter morsels of food that are subsequently considered gourmet is seen in several other modern practices. Pigs used to locate truffles, hounds that aid bird hunters, and bees that convert flower nectar into honey all play an important role in human culinary tradition. But none aside from Asian palm civets can brag that gastronomes pay hundreds of dollars for sacks of their scrumptious shit.

Some Further Reading:

An article about the coffee from a Vietnam travel guide

An online shop selling weasel coffee beans, for those curious enough to try it for themselves

A look at the Asian pal civet

An article about an Australian café that serves Kopi Luwak for $50 a cup

“From Ethiopia to Panama to Portland, journalist Weissman shadows today’s vanguard ‘coffee guys’ in their pursuit of the perfect, caffeinated beverage… Tagging along behind the main characters in today’s specialty coffee scene, [she] travels from the exotic to the expected to artfully deconstruct the connoisseur’s cup of coffee.”
– Publishers Weekly

“This book is a love story. I went out one day to do some reporting, and I fell in love with specialty coffee and the people – especially the people – who populate this lively realm.” So begins Journalist Michaele Weissman as she journeys around the globe in the company of the world’s best known gourmet coffee buyers, seeking out the growers, roasters, exporters, baristas and coffee shop owners who are revolutionizing the high-end coffee industry.

GOD IN A CUP: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee ( Wiley Hardcover; $24.95; May 12, 2008 ) is a smart, fast-paced narrative about the burgeoning high-end coffee business and the unlikely young entrepreneurs who are rewriting the rules of the coffee trade and altering what the culinary world expects from a cup of coffee.

Weissman begins with Esmeralda, a rare bean from Panama that sold at auction in 2007 for an unheard of $130 a pound wholesale – Esmeralda’s roots trace back to Ethiopia, where coffee evolved tens of thousands of years ago. Curious about this mythic coffee and hungry to know more about the 30-something entrepreneurs whose energy and anti-authoritarian spirit is shaping the specialty coffee business, Weissman set off on a year-long adventure. She tagged along on the travels of two of the most respected young coffee buyers in the world – Peter Giuliano of Counter Culture Coffee and Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia Coffee, journeying with them to Nicaragua, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Later, she crisscrossed the United States, learning about espresso and coffee roasting, visiting elite specialty roasters, attending a barista competition, and exploring the hipper than hip café culture.

Weissman visits Durham, North Carolina, home of Counter Culture, a roasting company devoted to teaching students, chefs, and foodies the secrets of high-end coffee while wholesaling beans to the hottest coffee bars and restaurants up and down the East Coast. She travels to Chicago to track the progress of Intelligentsia, which will go anywhere and spend any amount to acquire the best beans and is now engaged in a high-stakes gamble to conquer the Los Angeles market. And she visits Portland, Oregon, home base of what many consider the ultimate purist specialty coffee company, Stumptown, owned by the rock-and-roll coffee roaster some consider the most cutting edge in the world, Duane Sorenson.

Her travels span the entire coffee chain – from farm to café, from producer to consumer, from poverty to wealth from coffee cherry to roasted bean. Along the way, she attends a coffee cupping competition in Nicaragua, meets an Ismaili trader working to revive the Yemen’s coffee trade, is present as the poorest nation on earth privatizes its coffee industry, and she spends time in Panama with the growers of the fabulous Esmeralda who help her fathom this alluring coffee’s unique genetic and culinary characteristics. Rarely does a journalist get so close to the people and the companies that are driving a fast growing, ever-changing business.

God in a Cup takes coffee lovers into a rich, aromatic world they never imagined, providing an unparalleled and detailed look at the people and passions behind today’s quality-obsessed, super-premium coffee culture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michaele Weissman is a journalist and author who writes about food, families, business, and American culture. Her work appears frequently in publications such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Her previous books include A History of Women in America.

For more information, contact: David Greenberg 201-748-6625 dgreenbe@wiley.com

GOD IN A CUP By Michaele Weissman Wiley; May 2008; $24.95 ISBN: 978-0-470-17358-9; Hardcover