Kopi Luwak (strange/exotic and extremely expensive coffee)

[shaniac]

Wiki page

I'm not an ultra-coffee connoisseur, but I do enjoy good coffee, and I've never seen anything as crazy-sounding as this stuff. Anyone tried it?

Some highlights from the wiki entry:

- Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet.

- Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for up to $600 USD per pound...One small cafe, the Heritage Tea Rooms, in the hills outside Townsville in Queensland, Australia has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at A$50.00 per cup. The locals line up for it, and it has gained nationwide press.

- A theory to justify this coffee's reputation proposes that the beans are of superior quality before they are even ingested; though this is not to say that the digestive enzymes play no role. At any given point during a harvest, some coffee berries are not quite- or over-ripe, while others are just right. The palm civet evolved as an omnivore that naturally eats fruit and passes undigested material as a natural link to disperse seeds in a forest ecosystem.

[El Diablo]

shaniac,

I haven't had this before, but I've heard of it. I dunno, the whole eating digested stuff always seems strange to me, even if regarded as a delicacy.

As for the price, seems well within the range of some 2+2ers to try. Looks like you get about 30 cups of coffee per pound, so it's much cheaper than lots of alcoholic beverages that people wouldn't bat an eyelash at buying.

[shaniac]

My friend and I were discussing the relationship between the weirdness of this digested delicacy and its price: "Hey," he told me, "If they told you the had been passed through the digestive track of a monkey, but it only cost $15 a pound, you wouldn't be interested in trying it, right?"

Are there other foods that are known for having passed through an animal's digestive tract?

I'd pay $50 to try a cup that was brewed perfectly. I currently buy Kona for around $30/lb.

[suzzer99]

Common Palm Civet

The SARS virus may have entered the human population from palm civets captured in the wild and improperly prepared for human consumption.[3]

Nice.

[Mike Gallo]

Hey Shane,

I have a friend that performs at a coffee shop and we had a discussion about this.

He told me that he heard that the coffee has a very robust flavor, however because of the way its processed he said he will never know. I tend to agree with him.

They featured the process of cultivating this coffee in the show "Dirtiest Jobs".

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]

They featured the process of cultivating this coffee in the show "Dirtiest Jobs".

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol, sifting through civet-poop for half-digested coffee beans sounds like a lot of fun. I really wonder how much different the coffee tastes though, the beans having been "processed" in this way.

[shaniac]

Somehow I just pictured the beans effortlessly passing through the digestive tract and coming out the other end pearly and clean and ready to be ground for drip!

If it weren't for the health and safety concerns that suzzer cited, I'd still try it I think.

[Mike Gallo]

[ QUOTE ]
Somehow I just pictured the beans effortlessly passing through the digestive tract and coming out the other end pearly and clean and ready to be ground for drip!


[/ QUOTE ]

Not quite, someone has to sift through that...crap..lol

[shaniac]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Somehow I just pictured the beans effortlessly passing through the digestive tract and coming out the other end pearly and clean and ready to be ground for drip!


[/ QUOTE ]

Not quite, someone has to sift through that...crap..lol



[/ QUOTE ]

Snickers bars come from Civets too?

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]

If it weren't for the health and safety concerns that suzzer cited, I'd still try it I think.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd have guessed a couple of minutes in boiling water would clear all this right up.

Also, I'd be surprised if the reaction to a cup of this coffee could be characterized by anything other than "That's a pretty [censored] good cup of coffee. I don't know if it's worth fifty dollars but it's pretty [censored] good."