Kopi Luwak – the Rarest Coffee

It is the most expensive coffee in the world. But it isn’t from Kona, or even from Jamaica’s fabled Blue Mountains. It is from Indonesia and is called Kopi Luwak. The drink is made from coffee beans eaten by wild civets in the Sumatran jungle.

These jungle cats roam the forests and eat the coffee cherries off of the trees. The beans then pass whole through their digestive tracts and are excreted on the jungle floor. Villagers track the civets and scoop up the dried droppings and remove the undigested, whole coffee beans. The beans are then collected, cleaned, roasted, and ground and used to brew a cup of coffee. Supposedly, the digestive juices from the cat’s body give the coffee an unusual flavor.

I was determined to try this drink on a recent family trip to Indonesia. And as luck would have it, an Indonesian importer found a café that offered the delicate brew. We sampled it in two strengths. The first was 10 percent Kopi Luwak, with the remainder being a blend of other Indonesian beans. The second was 100 percent Kopi Luwak. The 10 percent drink tasted like any other cup of Indonesian coffee. But the 100 percent drink was truly distinctive. It exhibited the usual flavors of a classic Indonesian Sumatran coffee — earthy, smoky, musty, all of which make it my favorite origin. But the drink had a richer, more complex flavor, with more pronounced chocolate and caramel notes. The cost of each cup was about $10. I’m glad I tried it once, but for the price I prefer to drink a classic Sumatran for my daily cup.

Interestingly enough, Kopi Luwak last week made its American debut in Orlando.