Kopi Luwak coffee seeds from the Indonesia civet. - Photo Wibowo Djatmiko
The latest craze among Australian coffee lovers is Kopi Luwak; a civet, a wild cat-like animal, digests coffee beans grown in Indonesia. The partially digested beans are then harvested from the animal’s feces. The civets digest the outer flesh of the coffee cherries but pass on the beans. Stomach acids then attack the bean, helping to give them a revered flavor and aroma.
In Australia, coffee drivers are paying as much as $15 a cup for Kopi Luwak. A pound of the beans cost around $200, but there is such high demand that imitation coffees have started to infiltrate the market Down Under.
“It’s damn hard to get a hold of,” said Dean Merlo, a coffee expert in Brisbane. “There are lots of people selling it, but most of it is not authentic. I’d strongly suggest people don’t but it on the Internet, you’re unlikely to get the real deal.”
So-called cat poop coffee also recently reached Calgary, Canada.
The Bean Stop began serving the new product on Tuesday. A single cup is priced at $25.
“It’s a very exclusive type product,” said Bean Stop owner Ken Cutler.
He noted that the price is due to the limited quantity of Kopi Luwak produced each year, approximately around 1,000 kg is what Cutler heard, the driving factor in determining its high price. Another extravagant product for the rich coffee connoisseurs.
“I’ve been able to obtain 41/2 pounds, which will translate into about 125 cups,” he said.
The product will appeal to two types of people, Cutler said, true coffee connoisseurs and people who want to try the coffee just to say that they did.
What people are talking about.Story about kopi luwak coffee.