Kopi Luwak An Exotic Coffee Experience

Knowing I love coffee, one of my neighbors Jim told me about an “exotic coffee” called Kopi Luwak. This coffee comes from Sumatra in Indonesia. Sumatra is well known for its fragrant and smooth coffee.

In addition to being one of the perfect places to grow coffee, Sumatra is home to a little creature called a Paradoxurus or luwak (Asian palm civet). The little creatures are especially fond of coffee cherries which cover the coffee beans. According to Wikipedia the luwaks are skilled in picking the sweetest and most ripe coffee berries.

After making their coffee berry selection, the luwaks eat the coffee berries. The coffee beans ferment in their stomachs and then exit in whole coffee bean form. Supposedly the pass through the luwak's insides eliminates the bitterness commonly found in coffee.

Locals collect the beans, clean them and then lightly roast the beans. Needless to say, the amount of coffee is limited so the coffee is expensive from $100-600 per pound. Wikipedia estimates only 1000 pounds are found and roasted each year. Not every local coffee shop is apt to carry this exotic coffee. The taste is supposed to be earthy, musty with caramel or chocolate.

As the supply is limited chemically treated coffee has been developed to reproduce the Kopi Luwak coffee taste. I'm not sure if I want to try either the original or simulated Kopi Luwak coffee experience.

Not the usual grind,