What Does Civet Coffee Taste Like and Why Is It So Costly?

Indonesian civet coffee, known as Kopi Luwak, is made from coffee cherries that civets eat and then pass through their digestive tract before the beans are collected, cleaned, and roasted. It carries the herbal aroma typical of Indonesian coffee, a heavy body, and a sweet finish. A pound sold for as much as $500 in New York in 2002, and very low production keeps supply tight.

The story starts in the early 18th century, when Dutch colonists planted coffee in Sumatra and Java and barred farmers from picking the cherries. Civets, known for choosing only the ripest red fruit, became the accidental processors. Indonesia remains the reference origin, while Vietnamese and Myanmar versions are cheaper and generally considered lower in quality.

Kopi Luwak was once regarded as a luxury in the specialty coffee world, selling for as much as $500 per pound in New York in 2002, and its scarcity is an important reason for its high price. It has the herbal aroma unique to Indonesian coffee, a heavy body, and an indescribable sweetness, but is its flavor really worthy of its name? From the perspective of Front Street Coffee, this article sorts out the origin story of Indonesian Kopi Luwak, the reasons behind its flavor, the real impact of the in-vivo fermentation processing method by civets, and compares it with Indonesian Mandheling and Chinese Yunnan Kopi Luwak. Finally, it includes the roasting and brewing data for this Kopi Luwak at Front Street for coffee lovers' reference.

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Indonesian Kopi Luwak is often compared to "Hermès" in specialty coffee circles. In the New York market in 2002, a pound of Kopi Luwak coffee beans sold for $500. The fundamental reason for the high price is extremely low production. Although the name does not sound elegant, its flavor does carry the herbal notes unique to Indonesia, with a prominent body and an accompanying sweetness that is hard to describe accurately in words. Next, Front Street Coffee will talk about the characteristics of Kopi Luwak coffee beans and the story behind them.

The Origin of Indonesian Kopi Luwak

The place of origin of Kopi Luwak is Indonesia. Later, as its fame grew, Vietnam and Myanmar also began producing Kopi Luwak, but their quality is inferior to that of Indonesia, and the price is relatively cheaper.

According to Front Street Coffee, the first discovery of Kopi Luwak in Indonesia was in the early 18th century. At that time, Dutch colonists introduced coffee trees to Sumatra and Java in Indonesia for cultivation, developed the coffee economy and trade, and at the same time prohibited local coffee farmers from picking and eating coffee cherries.

But local Indonesian coffee farmers also wanted to taste what the cherries they grew tasted like. Just then, the civet, a cat-like animal unique to Indonesia, often came to steal coffee cherries. Civets are especially picky eaters. Although they are omnivores and mainly eat meat, they still come to steal the ripest, reddest coffee cherries. This infuriated the local coffee farmers, who watched their labor being stolen and eaten by wild civets while they themselves could not taste a single one.

Against this background, local coffee farmers found that coffee cherries excreted by civets could often be seen in the grass outdoors. Civets cannot digest these coffee cherries; they can only digest the ripe coffee pulp, while the hard coffee beans are expelled from the body after being partially digested. So at the time, whether out of greed or curiosity, the local coffee farmers took these coffee beans excreted from civets home, washed them clean, then processed and tasted them, and found that the taste was really excellent, not only very full-bodied but also sweet, which delighted them greatly. Thus Kopi Luwak spread among the local coffee farmers.

But the good times did not last long. The existence of Kopi Luwak was also discovered by the Dutch colonists, so they sold Kopi Luwak to European royalty at high prices. Because production was scarce, its price at the time far exceeded noble coffees such as Jamaican Blue Mountain, making it the most expensive coffee bean in the coffee industry.

Here Front Street Coffee also wants to emphasize one point: not just any coffee beans excreted by cat-like animals can be called Kopi Luwak. Only coffee beans excreted by local wild civets in Indonesia can be called Kopi Luwak.

What Does Indonesian Kopi Luwak Taste Like?

So how good is the flavor of Kopi Luwak that it drives coffee fans around the world crazy for it? In fact, Front Street Coffee believes that the flavor of Kopi Luwak coffee beans is largely similar to that of Indonesia's most famous Mandheling coffee beans.

Because civets mainly inhabit the hills below 2,100 meters above sea level in Indonesia, which are low-altitude areas of Indonesia, the coffee varieties in these areas are generally mainly Robusta. Therefore, Kopi Luwak contains not only Indonesian Typica coffee beans but also Robusta beans, so Kopi Luwak also has the earthy and herbal aroma unique to Robusta coffee beans. In addition, Indonesia's special wet-hulled processing method also makes the coffee fuller-bodied and gives it a unique herbal flavor.

Second, the biggest difference between Kopi Luwak and Indonesian Mandheling coffee beans is that Kopi Luwak beans are selected by civets using their keen sense of smell for the ripest and sweetest coffee cherries. This is somewhat similar to Ethiopia's red cherry program, except that one is manually harvesting 100% fully ripe coffee cherries, while the other is selecting ripe coffee cherries through animals, and these ripe coffee cherries naturally lay the foundation for the high quality of Kopi Luwak's flavor.

Therefore, Front Street Coffee believes that the flavor of Kopi Luwak is good, but with the development of the specialty coffee market, many producing regions now choose fully ripe coffee cherries to produce coffee beans. For example, the Golden Mandheling coffee from Indonesia's local PWN company uses fully ripe coffee cherries and undergoes three rounds of manual sorting to remove defective beans and one round of machine sorting to ensure the quality of Mandheling. Therefore, Kopi Luwak is more of a gimmick. If you are not really curious about what is so special about the flavor of Kopi Luwak, then Front Street Coffee still recommends that coffee fans choose Indonesian PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans.

And according to information Front Street has gathered, some cupping experts also say that the selling point of civet Kopi Luwak lies in its story rather than its quality. This is because according to SCAA standards, the score of Kopi Luwak is sometimes not as high as that of ordinary coffee beans, and sometimes even lower than theirs.

In addition, through cupping, Front Street found that the flavor of Kopi Luwak is flatter in acidity and taste than other general Indonesian coffees such as Mandheling. Front Street Coffee quotes experts who have tasted Kopi Luwak as saying that Indonesian coffee generally has an earthy flavor and a Chinese herbal medicine taste, with a relatively thick concentration, but a very special aroma. However, if you do not like the flavor of Indonesian coffee, Kopi Luwak is not very suitable for you, but if you can accept the fishy smell of aged Mandheling coffee beans, you may fall in love with the unique flavor of this Kopi Luwak.

The In-Vivo Fermentation Processing Method of Civet Kopi Luwak

Second, Front Street Coffee has also often said in previous articles that the flavor quality of a coffee bean is mainly determined by the coffee producing region, variety, and processing method. So does the civet in-vivo fermentation processing method really have such a big impact on the flavor of coffee beans?

Some merchants believe that although coffee beans are not digested in the civet's digestive tract, the highly corrosive digestive fluid has already corroded their surface. These digestive fluids contain a special protease that can break the coffee beans' original protein chains, decomposing long-chain proteins into small particles and forming short-chain peptides and amino acids, making the flavor of the coffee beans better.

But in fact, according to Front Street's understanding, the time for civets to excrete coffee beans may be only one or two hours after eating them. Front Street believes that one or two hours in the civet's stomach is not enough to produce the series of changes mentioned above. The bean is still the same bean as when it was eaten; even if the flavor changes, it is only a subtle change.

The in-vivo fermentation processing method is merely a gimmick used by merchants to sell Kopi Luwak, because after collection, local coffee farmers still have to process it using Indonesia's special wet-hulled method, and the civet's contribution is only selecting ripe coffee cherries. So in fact, the contribution of the civet in-vivo fermentation processing method to the flavor performance of Kopi Luwak is not very great.

The above is the story and related content about Kopi Luwak compiled by Front Street Coffee. Next, Front Street will share some information about this Kopi Luwak at Front Street Coffee and its roasting and brewing data.

Front Street Coffee Indonesian Kopi Luwak Coffee Beans

Country: Indonesia

Region: Sumatra

Altitude: 1600-2100

Variety: Arabica

Processing Method: Civet in-vivo fermentation

Flavor: Herbal, nuts, dark chocolate, fermented flavor

Front Street Kopi Luwak Roasting Recommendations

Roaster: Yangjia 800N: Preheat the roaster to 200°C, lower the setting to charge at 160°C, set the damper to 3, adjust the heat to 130, turning point at 1'28''. Maintain the heat; at 5'40'' it turns yellow, the grassy smell disappears, and it enters the dehydration stage. Increase the heat to 140, open the damper to 4. Wrinkles appear on the surface, and the toast aroma turns into coffee aroma, marking the prelude to first crack. Lower the heat to 100, open the damper to 5, and listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'15'' first crack begins, and the damper is fully opened to 5. After first crack, develop for 4'25'' minutes, then drop at 203°C.

Front Street Kopi Luwak Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: KONO

Water Temperature: 86-87°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-coarse grind (75% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street uses staged extraction: Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small circular stream until 125 grams for the stage break. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Start timing from the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time is 2'00''.

Kopi Luwak Flavor Description: Herbal, nuts, dark chocolate, fermented flavor, full-bodied, smooth.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.