The World's Rarest and Most Expensive Coffee

I love coffee.  Every morning and in the afternoon I have a very large cup. It's the equivalent of 2.5 cups. Years ago I used to sit in the cafe reading and drinking coffee for hours.  Living in the Philippines or anywhere in SEA means access to the world's rarest coffee:  Kopi Luwak.

Kopi luwak (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˈkopi ˈlu.aʔ]), or civet coffee, refers to the coffee that includes part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection and digestion. Selection occurs if the civets choose to eat cherries. Digestive mechanisms may improve the flavor profile of the coffee beans that have been eaten. The civet eats the cherries for the fleshy pulp, then in the digestive tract, fermentation occurs. The civet's protease enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the cherries are then defecated with other fecal matter and collected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

The first time I drank this coffee was in Manila at a place called the Frazzled Cook.

I don't remember the taste.  It was coffee.  It was black. That's how it tasted to me. Like black coffee.  I could not tell that the beans had passed through the intestines of an animal on its journey to my cup.  Look, the cup even has Alamid written beneath a picture of the creature.  How cute and authentic.  The price was authentic too.  I think it was 750 pesos for one cup.  I had two and I bought a bag of whole beans for 3000 pesos.

The second time I was able to drink this rare coffee was in Kuala Lumpr.  

Again I do not remember the taste.  It was coffee. It was black.  And it was about $50 for a cup if I recall correctly.  I was told by the owner of the cafe that she personally selects the Kopi Luwak beans and that they are authentic.  See how they are stored in what looks like a small apothecary's bottle? See how she poured them out onto a plate to inspect like they are magic beans?

It would be inauthentic and suspicious if the beans came in large numbers since the traditional way to gather these beans is to allow the civet to eat what he selects and harvest them from wherever he chooses to drop them. If you ever come across large amounts of civet beans then you can read assure they are either fake or they are not collected the traditional way which is very problematic.

The traditional method of collecting feces from wild civets has given way to intensive farming methods in which civets in battery cage systems are force-fed the cherries. This method of production has raised ethical concerns about the treatment of civets due to "horrific conditions" including isolation, poor diet, small cages and a high mortality rate. Intensive farming is also criticised by traditional farmers because the civets do not select what they eat, so the cherries which are fed to them in order to flavor the coffee are of poor quality compared to those beans collected from the wild. According to an officer from the TRAFFIC conservation programme, the trade in civets to make kopi luwak may constitute a significant threat to wild civet populations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

At a market in Kuala Lumpur I did come across large cans of civet beans for sale which automatically set off my warning radar.  It was obviously fake.  I asked the seller how they were harvested and he reassured me it was the traditional method and that the coffee was genuine. Very doubtful.

The third time I had the pleasure of drinking a cup of the world's rarest and most expensive coffee was a few days ago.  At the mall.

 

This coffee tasted sharply bitter. A little tangy. I don't know how to describe it really.  It tasted like black coffee.  The thrill is knowing that you are drinking a coffee brewed from beans which passed through an animal's intestines and then out his butt. Don't tell anyone but harvesting coffee beans from faeces is the only way the slaves were able to obtain beans to drink.

The origin of kopi luwak is closely connected with the history of coffee production in Indonesia. In the early 18th century the Dutch established the cash-crop coffee plantations in their colony in the Dutch East Indies islands of Java and Sumatra, including Arabica coffee introduced from Yemen. During the era of Cultuurstelsel(1830–70), the Dutch prohibited the native farmers and plantation workers from picking coffee fruits for their own use. Still, the native farmers wanted to have a taste of the famed coffee beverage. Soon, the natives learned that certain species of musang or luwak (Asian palm civet) consumed the coffee fruits, yet they left the coffee seeds undigested in their droppings. The natives collected these luwaks' coffee seed droppings, then cleaned, roasted and ground them to make their own coffee beverage. The fame of aromatic civet coffee spread from locals to Dutch plantation owners and soon became their favourite, yet because of its rarity and unusual process, the civet coffee was expensive even during the colonial era.

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak}

I am wary of this third experience. 200 pesos for a cup of the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world? I don't believe it.  The barista assured me it was genuine.  The tiny amount of beans assured me that it was genuine. The relatively high cost, relative to everything else on the menu, assured me that it was genuine. I have passed by this coffee stand many times and I do not recall seeing that they sold civet coffee.  It could be that I was not paying attention but it could be that this is a brand new offering.

It's nice to think I can go to the mall and buy a cup of the world's rarest and most expensive coffee for 200 pesos but after all the trouble I have had buying authentic honey I have my doubts and like any good skeptic must suspend my judgement on the matter for now.