Kopi Luwak is one of the rarest and most expensive coffees in the world. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the coffee beans must undergo natural fermentation inside the body of a wild civet before being excreted, then washed, sun-dried, and roasted. This article systematically reviews the origins, processing flow, flavor characteristics, and market status of Kopi Luwak, analyzes the quality differences between wild and farmed beans, and introduces the correct brewing methods and tasting points. It also retains Front Street Coffee's recommendations and product information for pure wild Kopi Luwak, helping coffee lovers gain a comprehensive understanding of this highly controversial and rare coffee.

Kopi Luwak is the Indonesian term for this beverage, in which Kopi means coffee and Luwak is the local colloquial name for a tree-dwelling wild animal—the civet. This coffee ranks second on the global price list, with each pound selling for up to several hundred US dollars. Its production path is quite special: after the civet swallows ripe coffee cherries, they are excreted through its digestive system, and people then extract the coffee beans from the droppings for processing. Because the beans undergo fermentation in the stomach, the finished product has a unique flavor and has long been in short supply on the international market.

The civet prefers to select the fullest, ripest, and juiciest cherries on the coffee tree as food. When the coffee cherries pass through its digestive tract, only the outer flesh is decomposed and absorbed, while the hard coffee beans are excreted intact in the feces.

It is precisely this digestive process that gives the coffee beans an astonishing transformation. The flavor becomes more unique, the mouthfeel is especially mellow, and that rich, rounded sweetness is difficult for other coffee beans to match. The reason is that the civet's digestive system changes the protein structure in the coffee beans, greatly reducing the bitterness originally brought by proteins while enhancing the coffee's roundness.

Wild civets are clearly more gifted at selecting high-quality coffee cherries, which also gives this coffee an extraordinary quality.

Kopi Luwak comes from Indonesia and is one of the most expensive coffees in the world. Coffee crops are widely grown in Indonesia, and there is a local wild animal called the civet, which is omnivorous, has a pointed muzzle, and dark gray fur. Its favorite food is fresh coffee beans. After the coffee beans undergo fermentation and digestion in its body, they are finally excreted with the feces. The excrement contains coffee beans one by one, making it arguably the most expensive feces in the world. Because production is extremely limited, the price naturally remains high. Civets are distributed in Indochina, northeastern India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and Kashmir, but the only one capable of producing Kopi Luwak is the Sumatran civet, also known as the Indonesian civet.

After processing and roasting, Kopi Luwak becomes a luxury coffee beverage and flows into luxury markets around the world. In pursuit of high profits, local coffee farmers capture wild civets and keep them at home in hopes of producing more Kopi Luwak. However, coffee beans produced by captive civets are noticeably inferior in appearance and flavor. Even so, the production of this coffee remains very scarce, and not all coffee lovers can afford it.

This coffee originates from the excrement of an animal called the civet (commonly known in Indonesia as the civet). Although it comes from smelly feces, it is fragrant and sweet in the mouth, with an indescribable sweetness. Wild civets like to eat plump and juicy coffee cherries, but the hard cores (green beans) cannot be digested and are excreted with the feces. After being cleaned, they become Kopi Luwak green beans, so many people call it "cat poop" coffee. Indonesians discovered that coffee beans fermented in the civet's stomach and intestines are especially thick and mellow, so they began collecting civet droppings, screening out the coffee beans, and brewing them for drinking. Because production is scarce and the fermentation process is unique, its flavor is completely different from ordinary coffee. Traditionally, coffee cherries are processed by the washed or sun-dried method to remove the skin, pulp, and parchment layer, and finally the coffee beans are extracted; Luwak, however, uses natural fermentation inside the body to extract the coffee beans, and therefore has a special flavor.

It is said that early Indonesian coffee farmers regarded civets that specialized in eating ripe coffee cherries as sworn enemies, but at some unknown point, someone thought of picking coffee beans from civet droppings to make a uniquely flavored coffee. Coffee experts from various places praised it after tasting it. From then on, during every coffee harvest season, local farmers would spend a great deal of time each day collecting civet droppings in the forest.

M.P. Mountanos, the first company to introduce Kopi Luwak coffee to the United States, pointed out that when they first heard of this internally fermented coffee, they thought it was just an industry joke and did not take it seriously. Later, after seeing a special report on Kopi Luwak in National Geographic, they became interested in it. It took them a full seven years to find a stable supply source and begin importing it to the United States in small quantities. What does this coffee taste like? Generally speaking, Indonesian coffee has an earthy flavor and a medicinal herbal note, and its body ranks among the highest of all continents, while Kopi Luwak's earthy, gamey note and body are even more pronounced, with a body almost close to syrup and a very special aroma. If you already dislike Indonesian coffee, you will certainly dislike Kopi Luwak even more; if you prefer the earthy, gamey flavor of aged beans, you may fall in love with this alternative coffee. Experts who have tasted Kopi Luwak have given polarized evaluations, with some comparing it to the finest coffee in the world. Although it is a premium product, whether you are willing to spend thousands to drink a cup of cat poop coffee is a matter of personal preference.

Luwak coffee bean roasting process:

1. The civet loves to eat the ripe red coffee cherries on the coffee tree;

2. Pick out the undigested coffee seeds from the cat feces;

3. Remove the silvery-gray film from the coffee seeds, wash them with water, and put them in the sun to dry;

4. Pan-roast them into Luwak coffee beans.

1. Indonesians remove the silvery-gray film from the surface of the coffee beans, wash them with water, dry them in the sun, and then pan-roast them, thus making Kopi Luwak beans.

2. From one catty of civet excrement, only about 150 grams of coffee beans can be extracted, and the roasting process also causes a 20% loss. Because both the raw materials and the production process are very unique, this coffee can be said to be extremely rare, with annual global supply of no more than 400 kilograms of coffee beans at most.

3. Traditionally, coffee cherries are processed by the washed or sun-dried method to remove the skin, pulp, and parchment layer, and finally the coffee beans are extracted. However, Luwak uses natural fermentation inside the body to extract the coffee beans, and therefore has a special flavor.

Coffee beans generally must go through a process of fermentation with the outer shell. In the civet's intestinal tract, special bacteria provide a unique fermentation environment, making the flavor unique, especially thick and mellow. Coffee beans fermented in the civet's stomach and intestines are especially thick and mellow.

Eva, the proprietress of "Special Café," is a coffee enthusiast who travels around the world every year collecting rare items. She told reporters that "cat poop coffee" was once a tribute offered by Indonesia to the Dutch royal family. Back then, the industry treated this coffee named after "cat poop" as a joke, and only after National Geographic did a special report on it did people gradually become interested in this "cat poop coffee."

"Cat poop coffee" is the world's least produced coffee. A 50-gram bag of coffee beans is worth more than 800 yuan and can only brew 4 to 5 cups of coffee. Converted, a cup sells for about 200 RMB. The civet coffee small gift box produced by Indonesia's largest coffee supplier, Kapal Api Group, sells for 600 yuan for 50 grams at the e-commerce store Shangpin Coffee, with extremely luxurious packaging, while 100 grams costs more than 2,000 yuan. The annual global output of wild coffee is no more than 400 kilograms. Today, villagers in these areas not only collect wild Luwak excrement but also begin caging Luwaks. Large basins of picked coffee cherries are placed in front of the Luwak, and the hungry Luwak has no choice but to eat all the coffee cherries. Luwak coffee produced in this way naturally suffers a major decline in taste. "Rare things are precious," which has kept the price of this rare treasure, Kopi Luwak, high. To drink a cup of this coffee, you may need to prepare 50 pounds, and it may not even be available just anywhere.

★ At the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a cup of coffee made from 12 grams of cat poop coffee powder sponsored by Kapal Api Group cost 380 yuan, with only 12 cups available per day and demand exceeding supply.

★ In Bali, a cup costs more than 200 thousand (over 200,000) Indonesian rupiah, equivalent to more than RMB 150.

★ In the United States, 1 kilogram of cat poop coffee beans costs as much as USD 1200. On the international market, it has consistently remained around USD 1000.

★ In the UK, a cup costs 50 pounds (RMB 500).

In Indonesian, "Kopi" means coffee, and "Luwak" is the name Indonesians commonly use for the "civet." It is said that the annual production of this coffee does not exceed 500 pounds, and the price per pound ranges from 300 to 800 US dollars depending on the year, because production is not fixed every year.

On the international market, Luwak coffee has always been a veritable luxury. The main reason is that the maker of this coffee is not humans but wild animals. Traditionally, coffee cherries are processed by the washed or sun-dried method to remove the skin, pulp, and parchment layer, and finally the coffee beans are obtained, but Luwak coffee is made through the natural fermentation process inside a wild animal's body. Moreover, these wild animals exist only on small islands such as Indonesia. Their times and locations of activity are mysterious and unpredictable, and their numbers are declining day by day. Although Indonesia once claimed that protection and artificial breeding had stabilized and restored the civet population, this thing that relies on its digestive system to create a temptation for human taste buds ultimately cannot be compared with products of the industrial age.

The "civet" is an omnivore. It is naturally solitary, likes to be active at night, and inhabits tropical rainforests below 2,000 meters above sea level, subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest areas, mountain scrub, or hills, mountains, and grassy areas. Its food includes small mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, crustaceans, insects, and plant fruits, seeds, and so on. The "civet" likes to select the ripest, sweetest, plumpest, and juiciest coffee cherries on the coffee tree as food. When the coffee cherries pass through its digestive system, only the outer flesh of the fruit is digested, and the extremely hard coffee beans are then excreted unchanged by the "civet's" digestive system. This is the "natural fermentation method" that Americans once scoffed at. It is said that when Americans heard that coffee was made this way, they regarded it as a tall tale, and only after National Geographic magazine reported on it did they become interested.

The world's most luxurious coffee, the world's most expensive coffee, the world's rarest coffee...

People always describe Kopi Luwak this way, and it sounds like a dull anecdote.

It makes one cannot help but think of Oscar Wilde's words:

People always pay too much attention to the price of things, while often ignoring their own value... Forget the clumsy and useless embellishments in the rumors,

Let us begin a magical journey of cat poop coffee... —Kafei.

Indonesian coffee has an earthy flavor and a medicinal herbal note, and its body also ranks highest among all continents. But "cat poop coffee" has a stronger earthy, gamey note, and its body is even closer to syrup, with a very special aroma. After drinking it, a faint minty coolness remains in the mouth. This is an "exclusive taste" that ordinary coffee does not have. After finishing a cup, take a deep breath or hold a mouthful of cold water, and you can clearly feel a coolness from the mouth to the throat, truly as if you had just finished a mint throat lozenge.

Experts say that the Indonesian "civet" has a gland near its sexual organs that secretes a milky white oil. This oil has long been a precious raw material in the perfume industry, and even Shakespeare's play King Lear contains the line: "Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination." Some also say: "This coffee is unique and is a specialty of Indonesia. Drinking it is like finding a diamond in a stone." Because wild "civets" are clearly better at selecting good coffee cherries, this coffee has an outstanding character.

According to the head of the coffee company, the Kafei brand guarantees 100% pure wild Kopi Luwak, which must be produced on the Sumatra highlands above 1,000 meters above sea level; it is not the many products from Vietnam or other plain areas of Indonesia. Many Indonesian farmers produce coffee beans from captive civets. Most of the Kopi Luwak coffee claimed on the market today is fake and not Kopi Luwak. The forms in which it appears can roughly be divided into these types: the first is claiming that coffee beans collected from trees on coffee estates where Luwaks have appeared are called Kopi Luwak coffee, not coffee beans actually excreted after digestion by a Luwak; another is coffee roasted with added spices for flavor; otherwise, it is simply using the good name of Kopi Luwak to seek reputation and raise the price. Moreover, domestic coffee businesses have no favorable proof to show consumers for verification, and products often must be obtained through agents in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, or Australia rather than imported directly from the Indonesian place of origin, resulting in uneven coffee quality.

Front Street Coffee guarantees 100% pure wild Kopi Luwak, produced on Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi, which are part of Indonesia's 13,677 islands. The Kopi Luwak brand is the only brand officially recognized by the Indonesian government, and is deeply loved by coffee lovers for its unique fruity aroma and long-lasting aftertaste.

Cat poop coffee is absolutely an international luxury, because its producer is the civet (Luwak) rather than humans, especially the wild civets native to Indonesia. They are herbivorous animals and are very rare and precious. Indonesian coffee has a long historical background, and traces of coffee can be found in almost every corner of the country. The mountainous islands are very suitable for its growth, and wild-grown coffee can even often be found throughout the forests, which provides convenient conditions for the producer of cat poop coffee—the civet.

The aroma of Kopi Luwak is more likely to dissipate than that of ordinary coffee. To preserve the flavor, the coffee beans must be individually packaged, and nitrogen is then injected to prevent oxidation of the coffee beans. The production process is complex and rigorous. If you want to enjoy the true taste of Kopi Luwak, do not add sugar or milk to the coffee. It is recommended to use a siphon (Siphon vacuum pot), add 160–180 milliliters (ml) of pure water, and pour in 17 grams (grams), about 2 level scoops of a coffee-specific spoon, of coffee powder. After the water boils and rises, gently press the raised coffee powder downward with a flat bamboo strip. Remember!! Do not stir, otherwise the coffee will become bitter, sour, and astringent.

The water temperature is set at 96°C, the water pressure is 9–10 atm, and after boiling for about 1 minute 45 seconds to 2 minutes, quickly remove the heat source and at the same time repeatedly wipe the lower glass pot with a cold wet cloth to cool it rapidly. The brewed coffee will quickly descend and present a large amount of golden, fine foam, thus achieving the ultimate flavor. With ordinary brewing methods, some say civet coffee can be brewed 2 to 3 times, but with the above brewing method, because it has been boiled for a long time, it is regarded as the essence at its finest, and re-brewing is not recommended.

It is said that experts who have tasted this coffee have gone to two extremes in evaluating its taste. One describes the coffee as "the finest in the world," with an unusual taste that is difficult to describe in words: "A bit earthy and gamey, slightly pungent and with an organ meat note, lingering in the mouth until the last drop." Another evaluation is completely opposite: "Hard to swallow, entirely a gimmick, not worth spending money to buy stinky coffee."

Regarding such widely differing opinions on taste, it truly depends on individual perspective. What coffee experts mean is that most Luwak coffee is produced from low-altitude Robusta beans, which shows that the "civet" prefers Robusta beans far more than Arabica beans from high-altitude areas. Because the Luwak's range of activity is at low to medium altitudes, most of the coffee varieties are Robusta beans, while high-altitude Arabica beans are even rarer in production. Indonesian coffee itself has an earthy flavor and a medicinal herbal note, and its body also ranks highest among coffees of all continents, but the earthy, gamey note and body in Luwak coffee are even stronger, especially with a body almost close to syrup and a very special aroma (if aroma can be used to describe it).

Coffee brewed from genuine civet coffee gives off an aroma resembling honey and chocolate. Without adding sugar or non-dairy creamer, it has a sweet, smooth, and rich mouthfeel, and the original texture of the water is fully coated by the coffee's rounded, rich body, so when it first enters the mouth, the tip of the tongue can hardly feel the texture of water. It is not bitter, not sour, not astringent, but has a little more milky aroma, and after swallowing it does not scrape the stomach or cause stomach discomfort. Even when it has cooled, the taste remains mellow and sweet. After tasting, the cup still retains a sweet milky aroma. It is a coffee with a uniquely rich texture and depth, absolutely a one-of-a-kind premium product. But if you already do not like the taste of Indonesian coffee, then you can be sure you will dislike Luwak coffee even more; if, on the contrary, you like the earthy, gamey flavor of Indonesian aged beans or Indian monsoon beans, you may fall in love with Luwak coffee, which has a similar flavor.

Once, at a tasting event, many celebrities carefully savored every fragrance of Luwak coffee without being told the truth, and tried to use flowery language to describe their sensory reactions. However, when people learned the origin of this beverage, they invariably felt stomach discomfort. Salespeople for civet coffee suggest that if you want to serve this coffee to guests, either never tell them the truth, or explain the coffee's origin in advance and let them decide whether to drink it or not, so as to avoid overreacting.

Flavor: The overall impression of aroma, acidity, and body.

Acidity: The sharp, bright quality possessed by all coffees grown in highlands. The acidity here is different from bitterness or sourness, and has nothing to do with pH value. It refers to a fresh, lively quality that enables coffee to refresh the mind and cleanse the palate. The acidity of coffee is not the acidity or sour odor in pH, nor the uncomfortable sourness that enters the stomach. When brewing coffee, the expression of acidity is very important. Under good conditions and with good technique, a special taste with refreshing acidity can be developed, and it is an essential condition for premium coffee. The acidity of coffee describes a lively, bright flavor expression. This term is somewhat similar to the descriptive style used in wine tasting. If coffee beans lack acidity, they are like losing vitality, tasting hollow, dull, and without layered depth. Acidity has many different characteristics. For example, coffee beans from Yemen and Kenya have acidity characterized by striking fruity aroma and a red-wine-like texture.

Body: The mouthfeel left on the tongue after drinking coffee. Changes in body can be divided from light, like water, to thin, medium, high, and buttery, and some Indonesian coffees are even as thick as syrup.

Aroma: The scent and fragrance emitted after coffee is prepared. Words used to describe aroma include caramel, charcoal roast, chocolate, fruity, grassy, malty, and so on.

Bitter: Bitterness is a basic taste, with the sensory area distributed at the back of the tongue. The bitterness of dark roasting is deliberately created, but a common cause of bitterness is using too much coffee powder and too little water.

Bland: Coffee grown in lowlands usually has a rather light, tasteless mouthfeel. Coffee made with insufficient coffee powder and too much water will also produce the same bland effect.

Briny: After coffee is brewed, if it is overheated, a salty taste will be produced.

Earthy: Usually used to describe spicy, earthy Indonesian coffee, and does not mean that the coffee beans have been touched by soil. Exotic: Describes coffee with a distinctive aroma and special scent, such as the sweet qualities of flowers, fruits, and spices. Coffees produced in East Africa and Indonesia usually have this characteristic.

Mellow: Used to describe coffee with medium acidity and good balance.

Mild: Used to describe a coffee with a harmonious, delicate flavor, and used to refer to all highland coffees except Brazilian ones.

Soft: Describes low-acidity coffee such as Indonesian coffee, also described as mellow or sweet.

Sour: A taste whose sensory area is mainly at the back of the tongue, and is a characteristic of light-roasted coffee.

Spicy: Refers to a flavor or aroma reminiscent of a specific spice.

Strong: Technically speaking, it describes the degree of various taste strengths and weaknesses, or refers to the relative proportion of coffee to water in a specific prepared product. In popular usage, it describes the intense flavor of dark-roasted coffee.

Sweet: Essentially like fruity flavor, and also related to vinous flavor.

Wild: Describes coffee with extreme flavor characteristics.

Winy: The contrasting, special flavor created by fruity acidity and smooth body.

Indonesia's "cat poop coffee" is fragrant, mellow, sweet, and smooth, and its unique aroma is even more unforgettable. It is hailed as a premium coffee, and because it is rare and delicious, half a pound costs NT$6,000. British media revealed that Indonesian shops are suspected of abusing the civets that produce cat poop coffee, locking them in extremely small cages and feeding them large amounts of coffee beans to force increased production.

After the civet eats coffee beans, fermentation is completed in the stomach, breaking down the proteins in the coffee beans and producing short peptides and more free amino acids, reducing the coffee's bitter and astringent taste. Because the coffee beans cannot be digested, the civet excretes them. After washing and roasting, they become civet coffee. An eyewitness went directly to a cat poop coffee shop in Sumatra, Indonesia, and found that a female civet was kept in a small cage behind the shop, while other smaller civets were kept in more than 20 small cages placed in concealed spots on the roof, forced to eat coffee beans frantically. Traffic, a conservation organization that monitors the wildlife trade, says similar farms have been increasing year by year in Southeast Asia, causing the civet mortality rate to rise higher and higher.

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