Most expensive coffee from Poop? Can you believe it? But it’s true. It’s from an animal that eats coffee beans! Keep reading to find out more.
Contents
For coffee lovers nothing compares to starting the day with a cup of this delicious brewed drink. Among the existing varieties of this popular beverage are the Arabica and the Robusta. Other varieties include a mixture of these two in different proportions. But there is a particular variety that has come to transform the experience of drinking coffee into a very extravagant one. This is the Kopi Luwak, considered the most expensive coffee in the world.
What is Kopi Luwak?
Kopi Luwak is an Indonesian coffee that is extracted from the coffee beans found in the excrements of the luwak, an Indonesian mammal also known as the civet. Obviously, this is not a normal coffee. Would you dare to try it?
What is a Luwak?
This is a nocturnal animal, slightly larger that a cat, which feeds on insects, seeds, a variety of fruits and particularly coffee cherries. The luwak or civet has a preference for the most ripe coffee cherries. Once ingested, the civet’s digestive enzymes decompose all of the pulp and help reduce the coffee bean acidity level. Once digested, the coffee beans are deposited in their excrements. According to those who have tasted this coffee, this process is responsible for the production of a sweeter and caramelized coffee.
luwak civet cat – animal that eats coffee beans
The Production Process of Kopi Luwak
The coffee producer will then collect the coffee beans that have been disposed in the droppings. Coffee beans are washed and then go through the normal coffee production process. The beans are then peeled, roasted in the traditional way, and ground to obtain the end product that finally goes to the coffee machine. Hygiene is guaranteed by going through all this process.
Why is Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world?
There are several reasons why this coffee has become the most expensive in the world. The main reason is that its production is very low and it is very scarce. Indonesia only produces about 500 kilos of this coffee a year. The cost of production and its shortage, couped with the demand of millions of tourists who visit the country annually have made Kopi Luwak so expensive. A cup of this coffee can cost up to $90 dollars and a kilo can cost up to $995 dollars.
The Controversy
Many controversies have arisen around the production of this coffee. Many claim that the production revolves around abusive animal practices. Civets are being taken out of their natural environment to be forced to live in cages and in deplorable conditions. In the wild, these animals have a varied diet.
Besides coffee cherries, they can eat insects, a wide variety of fruits, like papayas and pineapples, and many seeds. But coffee producers have set up production farms where the animals are fed mostly coffee beans, thus limiting their diet and causing severe nutritional deficiencies and diseases among the population of civets.
Objections towards Kopi Luwak …
In 2014, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) banned the production of coffee from caged animals. In addition, the UTZ Certified, which is the world’s leading label for coffee production, determined not to certify products originating from these types of farms. Hopefully, these determinations will help eliminate these abusive and cruel practices.
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