Kopi Loewak

It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civet, then passed through digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for the fleshy fruit pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet’s intestines or digestive tract, the beans are then defecated in clumps, keeping their shape and still covered with the fleshy berry’s inner layers. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting, and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness. This coffee is widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world. Kopi Luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago. It is also produced in Philippines, East Timor and Vietnam. Sumatra is the world’s largest regional producer of Kopi Luwak. Sumatran civet coffee beans are mostly an early Arabica variety cultivated in the Indonesian Archipelago since the seventeenth century.