Everything you need to know about Kopi Luwak coffee
What is Kopi Luwak?
Kopi Luwak is a variety of coffee known for its unique processing method - the coffee berries are eaten by civets and then harvested from its faeces before being roasted. Kopi Luwak is also known as Cat Poop Coffee!
Where does Kopi Luwak come from?
Kopi Luwak originates in Southeast Asia and Oceania, and is mostly produced on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, the Philippines, and in East Timor. According to the specialty coffee chronicle, the coffee was originally gathered and processed by coffee pickers who were prohibited from harvesting coffee for their own use.
How is Kopi Luwak made?
Kopi Luwak is collected from the faeces of civets. This can be either from wild civets, or from captive civets in the case of more intensive farming methods. It is said that the enzymatic reactions that happen during digestion give the coffee unique characteristics. The coffee berries themselves come from local plantations and are often unique varieties, of which there are 20 commercially produced across Indonesia.. Once the beans have been digested and defecated (what a lovely thought…) they are roasted in the same manner as other green coffee to prepare them for consumption. Kopi Luwak is often a blend of Arabica, Robusta and Liberica beans as the civets will often select the berries which taste best to them.
Why is Kopi Luwak expensive?
Because of its unusual processing style and difficulty collecting wild scat containing the beans, Kopi Luwak is quite rare (particularly for the wild variety) in the context of the rest of the global specialty coffee market. At the time of writing, a price point of around £80 per kilo for farmed, up to around £1000 per kilo for the wild variety can be expected. Aside from these usual considerations, it's worth noting that this is subject to fluctuations in global coffee prices, foreign exchange rates, and on Indonesia's output.
How does Kopi Luwak taste?
Here’s the crazy part… It is pretty much universally accepted in the coffee industry that Kopi Luwak tastes awful, and where not awful, just disappointing. There are many more exceptional premium and prestigious coffees you are better off spending your money on (*spoiler alert: they also haven't been in any poop*) such as two of our favourites, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and Hawaiian Kona Gold.
Conclusion
Everything about Kopi Luwak is pretty bizarre. Its unusual processing style and accompanying price tag is what makes it stick in people's minds, effectively elevating it to novelty status and putting Indonesia on people’s radars as a coffee producing nation.
While we’re not necessarily into this particular speciality coffee, Aside from Kopi Luwak Indonesia does produce some very fine coffees.
Our team have been in the top end of the speciality coffee market for over a decade now, and the FUSI YAMA brand embodies our desire to bring the world's best coffees to our customers.