Having a discussion on why the beans crapped out by the civet cat are supposed to be so good. The only thing I could come up with is that the civet knows how to pick the best beans to start with. Any theories on this? I know quite a few animals are known for picking the best fruit.
It’s not just civets, even more elite is Elephant Coffee. If there is money to be made, someone will find a way.
I think you are correct about the selection, but there is also the enzymes and digestive juices that, supposedly, make it so special. Wiki article…
Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection – civets choosing to eat only certain cherries – and digestion – biological or chemical mechanisms in the animal’s digestive tract altering the composition of the coffee cherries.
IMHO it’s no different than Antarean Parakeet Glands.
This raises the possibility that you could process your own beans. Just toss those babies down and get the strainer ready.
Denny
A friend of mine owns Black Ivory. I had dinner with him last year when he was in Toronto for Passover. Unfortunately he didn’t bring any with him, although I was offered a friends and family discount. At $85 for 35g pre-discount I’ll pass.
For what it is worth, elephants to not digest food efficiently. I have some thank you cards I send to selected people made with paper from elephant shit.
I have elephant crap paper I bought for art use. The more I think about the more gross it becomes. I try not to think about it. I am certainly not gonna drink shit coffee. I am also not eating sweet breads, or crawfish, or escargot or many other things. YMMV.
My daughter brought some back with her from Fiji. Good, definitely, but not worth the immense cost.
But I’m not a coffee fanatic.
As almost all kopi luwak produced now is from caged animals, I doubt they get all that much say in bean selection. Especially as they get fed far more coffee beans when farmed than wild ones would naturally eat.
I could well be wrong, but my first reaction would be skepticism over the authencity/concentration of actual kopi luwak. The luwak is native to Indonesia - I hadn’t heard that it was also endemic to Fiji (but what do I know?). Another possibility would be that somewhere in the fine print it says something like “10% luwak coffee”, and the stuff your daughter brought was made by adding a few luwak beans, probably the rejects, that they imported from Indonesia.
All mere speculation on my part. I do know that counterfeit kopi luwak is a problem, however.
I’ve had kopi luwak a couple of times (I wouldn’t drink it now, because of the animal cruelty issues arising from its popularity). I didn’t care for it, but I tend to be a mocha java kind of girl - really bright, acidic coffees turn me off.
Yeah, I would never buy this stuff, but surging popularity and the willingness of suckers to throw down their money have created a horrible industry.
I had no idea that kopi luwak was now mass produced , undermines the original intent. When I lived in Indonesia there was a place that offered a cup, but I never tried it, partly because I thought the idea was stupid and partly because I couldn’t be sure it was the real product.
I wonder if the process.could be reproduced artificially on an industrial level, e.g. by synthesizing the digestive enzymes. I suppose it would depend on how much of the quality is based on digestion versus selection.
A synthesized product is used for the production of some Vietnamese ersatz kopi luwak coffee.
Thread relocated from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Oops - brain fart on my part. I meant Bali. Which I was surprised to learn gets more air traffic than Jakarta.
They got out hours before the latest volcano spewing.
The last time I visited Vietnam it seemed like there was fake Kopi Luwak coffee sold on every street corner. The stores were full of the stuff.
Some friends of mine just returned from Hanoi, and they brought back a bag of “weasel poop coffee” (their words). I didn’t get to try it but I was skeptical that it was actual kopi luwak as I was under the impression that real kopi luwak was quite rare. They paid, IIRC, something like $180 / lb for it.
I’m a coffee snob and I’m a bit bummed they didn’t offer me a cup, even if it was fake.
It makes me wonder what other foods might taste better after they’ve been through an animal’s digestive tract.
But not enough to try to find out.
At $180 a poop? er, pop? They won’t just give it away to anyone, even friends.