In the world of coffee, you would be hard pressed to find a species with so much controversy attached to it as is the case with civet coffee, also known by the exotic name kopi luwak coffee. And yet, as it happens, it all started by accident...
History of civet coffee
Coffee was an economically interesting crop in the 18th century, a time when islands like Java and Sumatra were part of the Dutch colonies. Natives who worked on coffee plantations were, of course, strictly forbidden to take the beans away for their own use. And it was they who noticed that the coffee beans remained virtually untouched in the excrement of the tiny palm civet, which likes to feast on the fruit of the coffee tree.
So they started collecting them, cleaning them, roasting them and enjoying the coffee that today's gourmets pay breathtaking sums for. Plantation owners may have turned up their noses at their employees' coffee at first, but no doubt only until they tasted it for themselves. The birth of...
The civet coffee phenomenon
The indigestible coffee bean goes through a fermentation-like process in the civet's gut. It is acted upon by digestive enzymes, which break down the proteins into shorter peptides or straight into individual amino acids. What interests the consumer, however, rather than the chemical process, is the result - that is, how the taste of this coffee is different, or better, if not - as some "experts" claim - the best.
Fermentation removes the bitter substances from the coffee bean, so the resulting coffee should be very aromatic and smooth. Are you tempted to try it? After reading the following lines, you may find it surprisingly bitter in your mouth.
Choose a quality How about civets?
These wild creatures certainly wouldn't particularly mind someone walking through the rainforest and picking up their excrement. But it would be naive to think that today's civet coffee comes exclusively from the droppings of wild civets. In practice, this means captive breeding, with civets living in cages, often in very poor conditions.
The very fact that they are solitary and distinctly territorial suggests that life in a small cage, in close proximity to other animals of the same species, is neither natural nor pleasant for them. The coffee beans are then often force-fed. A rather sad story of coffee, which its originality and "unavailability" has put on a pedestal, wouldn't you say?
We'll leave it up to you to decide whether you could enjoy such coffee in peace and comfort. But we can offer you a replacement with the taste of civet coffee.