Kopi (Coffee) Luwak – In search for the most expensive coffee in the world
12 Comments February 5, 2010 / Posted in Food & Wine, Travel
Mai and the best coffee in the world - Coffee Luwak (Civet Coffee)
I live in Melbourne, one of the cities of the world where there is a strong appreciation for a good coffee. Sourcing, roasting and the art of making a good coffee is competitive here and consumers benefit greatly from a high standard of coffee as a result. But there is one grind that you will not find at a Barista in Melbourne or in most places around the world for that matter.
The coffee I speak of is called Kopi Luwak (meaning coffee Luwak) and it is the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world. Oprah recognised it as being so and it also made Morgan Freeman’s “Bucket List”.
The coffee is sourced from the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi.
As all of you know, I LOVE coffee and after realising I will be in Indonesia I made it my mission to find this rare, tastiest and the most expensive coffee in the world.
Kopi Luwak – Coffee Luwak
What it is that makes this coffee so rare, expensive and unique? Is it because locals trek deep into caverns to hand pick the cherries from a rare bush? No. It is not the work that is done by people which makes it special; it is the work that is carried out by an animal called a civet (known to locals as the Luwak).
The civet is a cat like creature that lives and travels through the trees. One of the trees they like to climb is the coffee tree where they would eat the coffee berries much to the dismay of locals and farmers. To make matters worse, they know how to choose the best berries for eating. It is not exactly known why the practice began, perhaps out of resourcefulness, but locals began to retrieve the coffee beans from the excreted cherries of the civet.
The natural fermentation process that occurs during the digestion of the berries created a uniquely aromatic and flavoursome coffee that cannot be replicated by human processing. This process of making Kopi Luwak is what helps to make it the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world.
The Search for Kopi Luwak
I did my homework, asked many locals and eventually found this little piece of heaven! I had finally found the plantation that farmed Coffee Luwak.
This coffee plantation used civets from the wild and kept them caged for 3-6 months. The civets don’t just eat coffee berries, they are also feed dry fish, rice for breakfast, cat food for dinner and then coffee beans for dinner. After 6 months they are released back into the wild.
The Civet - Responsible for the world's most expensive coffee
Mai and Civet
The surrounding coffee plantations were so beautiful and fertile – they can grow anything from strawberries and other fruits and vegetables. The plantation was very remote so you are basically living like a local, ie bad roads, bad accommodation, bad food although I can’t complain because things were very cheap, coke was $0.30c and meals were only $1 (Nasi Goreng – IndonesianFried Rice).
Mai at Coffee Plantation - surrounded by seedlings 
The remote and serene surroundings around coffee plantation
Plenty of fresh and yummy vegetables being planted near the coffee plantation
No more Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice) for me for a while
Back to the coffee. Below are photos of Coffee Luwak in its rarest form.
Coffee beans that has been cleaned up after passing through a Civet's digestion system. Doesn't look too clean does it? :S
- Ahhh thats better. Civet Coffee (Kopi Luwak) Beans – the final product ready to be roasted
The Taste Test
Processing aside, I am sure you are just as interested in how it tastes. Cups of the coffee were made for me at the plantation.
The smell of the grind was earthy but not too strong. Onto drinking and the coffee has a strong and delicious aroma. It is thick with a slight overtone of cocoa, light on the bitterness with a very smooth aftertaste, just divine.
Kopi Luwak is still a very rare coffee and things don’t seem to be changing there. The process is not something you could speed up or increase the volumes without some potential side effects of an environmental or ethical nature.
As such the coffee has an element of exclusivity enjoyed in high demand by the Japanese, US and a select few elsewhere around the world including boutiques of New York and Hong Kong. Like the process of extracting Kopi Luwak beans, the taste and aroma of this smooth coffee is praised by aficionados world wide as truly unique.
For those wanting to buy a sample Kopi Luwak
Ok, I loved the coffee so much I bought enough to last me a year 
Imagine that, $50 coffees daily! haha While the coffee is very expensive they are much cheaper if you buy them directly from the plantation which is precisely what I did. For those wanting to sample some Kopi Luwak please send me an email to mailintalks@gmail.com, I have the coffees in sealed packages.
Related posts:
Luwak coffee was shit hot !!!! try it.
I know
– I love Luwak Coffee and drinking it almost every second day, I am also selling it – ping me if you all would like a slice of luxury and immensely lovely after taste.
i came across your post and would like to try the luwak coffee you speak of! how do i buy some?
Hi May,
Please email me at the above email
Hey there!
I managed to buy a small (and I mean SMALL) bag of that stuff while I was in Indonesia over the Summer. Ironically, the beans actually smelt really good – like chocolate and nutmeg. Taste-wise, I thought it was very strong and lovely. My boyfriend wasn’t a fan but his workmate L.O.V.E.D. it
Hi Libby,
I agree with you, Coffee Luwak has a very unique flavour. I’m like your boyfriend and am addictive to it !! Needless to say Im happy I don’t have to pay the $50 a cup like you would in Japan or the US as I drink it every second day
On that note, time for another 
Your cute!
Yeap, still cute!!
Cheers
Hi!
Really enjoyed yr article re kopi luwak. Please let me know
if u have any left for sale, a great Xmas present for my
coffee mad partner
cheers, Ako
Hi Ako,
Glad that you enjoyed the post. Could you please email me at mailintalks@gmail.com. We can then talk about where to send a sample for your enjoyment and work things out.
Mai
Beautiful Mai Lin. You’re lucky to have a kopi luwak taste on your trip to Blawan plantation
Thank you