Monday 11 January 2010

Kopi Luwak


This coffee is just awesome and so unique. It wasn’t so long ago that Rick Stein was on the television singing the praises of this drink. At US$9 per cup we decided to share just to get a taste of this Javanese speciality in Semarang. So what’s so special about this coffee? Let us tell you!

Kopi luwak (Civet coffee) adalah kopi yang diproses dari buah kopi yang dimakan oleh binatang luwak, sejenis musang atau Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

Translated into English by a friendly member of staff, here it is:

"Kopi luwak (Civet Coffee) is a coffee that is processed from coffee beans, which are eaten by Asian Palm Civets. The coffee beans are selected coffee beans. The civet only selects fresh beans from the rape tree. The beans will remain in its digestive system for 10 to 12 hours."

The coffee farmers have many rape trees on their plantations and there is a strong mutual relationship between the farmers and the civets. The civets survive by eating the raw red coffee cherries as part of their diets, but because only the outer layers of these are digested, the actual coffee beans that were enclosed are passed out again in the faeces. The locals then collect these and use them to make this type of coffee. It's so valuable because the civets only choose the best kind of cherry to eat, thus providing farmers with the best coffee bean as the locals collect the turds.

We had heard about Kopi Luwak and we have been trying to find it everywhere. Semarang, Java, was our last chance saloon and we found it inside a shopping mall in the downtown area. It was absolutely delicious and went down smoothly... No funny turns as yet...

3 comments:

  1. I'd ask you to bring some home, but I fear your budget wouldn't go that far!

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  2. You're not talking "shit" are you you two?!!!Seriously, sounds amazing. Are the civets few and far between or the particular beans? you say that there are trees a plenty. Yes, bring some home so we can try some when we see you in April. Great blog so far............of course! Love to you both. Keep safe. xxx

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  3. Do you like Indonesian Coffee? visit http://churrachia.blogspot.com/. thanks

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