What Is Kopi Luwak Made Of and How Is It Produced?

Kopi luwak, often called civet coffee or cat poop coffee, is made from coffee cherries that a civet eats and passes through its digestive tract. The beans are collected from the animal's droppings, then washed and dried before roasting. Wild civets roam hills and forests below about 2,100 meters and eat an omnivorous diet, so the coffee cherries they consume are only part of what they eat.

In Indonesia, this coffee was once drunk by people with limited means, who gathered the undigested beans from droppings because the good beans were sold for money. Later, sellers marketed it as scarce and high-end, and large numbers of civets were kept in captivity and forced to eat only coffee cherries. The fermentation inside the civet changes the bean's flavor, and Front Street Coffee lists an Arabica kopi luwak from Aceh.

Kopi Luwak, commonly known as cat poop coffee, has long been regarded as a representative of high-end coffee, and the controversy surrounding it has never ceased. This article starts from the civet's habitat and diet, sorts out the formation principle of kopi luwak, explores the effect of in vivo fermentation processing on coffee bean flavor, and objectively analyzes the industry problems behind civet farming. Front Street Coffee takes a neutral stance on kopi luwak, and has also launched an Arabica kopi luwak from Aceh, Indonesia. This article will also share this bean's producing region information, flavor characteristics, and the specific parameters for a three-stage pour-over using the KONO dripper, helping coffee enthusiasts fully understand this special coffee.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

It is already difficult to verify when kopi luwak became an object sought after by the wealthy class. According to locals, in Indonesia in the past, this coffee was actually drunk by people with limited financial means—good-quality coffee beans were all sold for money. Locals accidentally discovered that undigested coffee beans remained in civet droppings, so they washed and dried them and used them for brewing. Later, some people saw business opportunities in this and packaged it with scarcity as a selling point. Kopi luwak gradually transformed into a symbol of high-end consumption, and at the same time, large numbers of civets were kept in captivity and exploited. Front Street also acquired and listed kopi luwak, and I often hear friends say that kopi luwak is very cruel. Front Street's view is that it is not kopi luwak itself that is cruel, but the people who keep civets captive and force them to eat only coffee cherries.

The Civet's Habitat

The civet's range of activity is mainly in hills and mountains below 2,100 meters above sea level. It is commonly found in tropical rainforests and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests, in forest-edge shrublands and grassy areas, and prefers rock caves, earthen burrows, or tree holes as resting places. In the wild, the civet is an omnivore. Its animal foods include small mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, crustaceans, and insects, such as rodents, small birds, snakes, frogs, fish, crabs, bird eggs, insects, earthworms, and wild fowl. Its plant foods include the stems and leaves of Solanaceae plants, the seeds of various figs, as well as Microcos paniculata fruit, sour berries, and so on. Among the coffee cherries they eat, Arabica and Robusta beans are often mixed together. Generally speaking, Arabica has better flavor than Robusta, so kopi luwak made entirely of Arabica beans is rarer and more precious.

The Formation of Kopi Luwak

Kopi luwak has a very low yield. Many people believe that although the coffee beans are not decomposed in the civet's digestive tract, the highly corrosive digestive juices have already eroded the surface of the beans. These digestive juices contain a special protease that can cut the original protein chains of coffee beans, breaking down long-chain proteins into smaller particles and producing short-chain peptides and amino acids. Afterward, many merchants, seeing a business opportunity, began to capture large numbers of civets for cage farming, and civets, which should originally eat meat, were forced to eat coffee cherries. However, the nutrients contained in coffee cherries simply cannot maintain the health of civets.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) does not agree with this claim. Because when they eat only coffee cherries for a long time, civets excrete the coffee beans about one to two hours after eating. The beans stay in the stomach for such a short time that it is not enough for the series of changes described above to occur. The beans are still the same beans as when they entered the stomach, and even if the flavor changes, it is only an extremely tiny change. What truly determines whether coffee flavor is good or bad is the variety of the coffee bean itself. Most of what those merchants feed the civets is mainly Robusta, and moreover unripe coffee beans. One can imagine that even if in vivo fermentation exists, the beans' original flavor foundation is already there, and saying it tastes good is nothing more than a deceptive cover.

Front Street's view on kopi luwak is neutral!

There is nothing wrong with the formation process of kopi luwak itself. Civets rely on smell to identify ripe coffee cherries, which is essentially the same principle as harvesting red cherries in Ethiopia and picking only fully ripe fruit. What is truly problematic is the people who lock civets up—forcing them to eat unripe or ripe coffee cherries, all just to increase the yield of kopi luwak. This is what gives rise to those cruel practices, and this has already gone beyond the scope of coffee as we discuss it.

In Vivo Fermentation Processing

Although the coffee beans are not decomposed in the civet's digestive tract, the highly corrosive digestive juices have already eroded the surface of the beans. These digestive juices contain a special protease that can cut the original protein chains of coffee beans, breaking down long-chain proteins into smaller particles and producing short-chain peptides and amino acids. Definition of short-chain peptides: short-chain peptides composed of 3 to 9 amino acid residues are sometimes also called oligopeptides.

Front Street Kopi Luwak

Producing Region: Aceh, Indonesia

Altitude: 1200m

Variety: Arabica

Processing Method: In Vivo Fermentation

Robusta coffee produced at low altitudes in Indonesia originally has an earthy taste and a Chinese herbal medicine taste, and its body is also relatively high. Therefore, this kopi luwak presents an earthy, gamey flavor similar to aged beans, with a body almost close to syrup and a rather special aroma. If you prefer the earthy, gamey profile of Indonesian aged beans or Indian monsooned beans, you may like this uniquely flavored kopi luwak.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s Dripper Recommendations for Brewing Coffee with High Body

In order to more fully bring out the herbal flavor and rich mouthfeel of kopi luwak, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses a medium-dark roast when roasting kopi luwak beans. Medium-dark roasted beans usually have a higher dehydration rate and are relatively light in weight. During brewing, the coffee grounds will not completely sink to the bottom. After pouring water, they absorb it immediately, and because degassing is vigorous, the coffee bed is covered with bubbles around it, making channeling easy to form. The fresher the beans, the longer these channels last, and the faster the water level drops. Therefore, Front Street generally uses a thick stream of water and a slow circular pouring motion.

The KONO dripper is chosen because the mouthfeel it brings out is rounder and richer, and the flavor expression is also more direct. However, the KONO dripper's degassing effect is relatively poor. Its ribs are straight, and their depth is only one quarter of the dripper. Apart from this one quarter, the rest of the area clings closely to the wall, forming a sealed state. The reason the KONO dripper is still chosen is that the only degassing part of this dripper is that one quarter of ribs. When the water level passes the rib position, the amount of water in the dripper continues to rise, the weight of the water brings increased pressure, and the outlet is relatively small, so the contact time between coffee particles and water is extended. As the water flow drives it, soluble substances can be brought out more effectively, and it can usually achieve the high-body effect expected by customers.

How does Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) brew kopi luwak?

Brewing Parameters: Using a Kono dripper

Water Temperature: 86°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (70% passing rate on Chinese standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses staged extraction, also called three-stage brewing: use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop pouring; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time is 2'01".

Kopi luwak flavor description: herbal, nutty, dark chocolate, fermented notes, high body, sticky and smooth mouthfeel.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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