Kopi Luwak, Indonesia

Coffee lovers would agree that this is one of the world's most expensive coffee.  A cup of coffee costs $25!

That much for a cup of coffee? But why is this coffee so expensive and what's so special about it? 

I could not avoid not noticing kopi luwak signs everywhere in Bali.

Kopi is the Indonesian name for coffee and lewak is the Asian palm civet.

History of coffee in Indonesia:

Indonesia was a Dutch colony in the 18th century, and they started the plantation of coffee Arabica. 

The natives were prohibited from consuming this coffee but they were naturally tempted to taste it. They soon discovered  that the Asian Palm Civet or luwak ate these coffee beans. Once inside the stomach, the beans underwent a change.

The civet's digestive system could not digest the coffee beans and still- intact and undigested beans were passed out. However its digestive juices gave coffee beans a different flavor. The natives noticed the undigested beans, collected them, dried, roasted, and ground  them. The flavor was too good.  The fame of this flavor soon spread and it became a priced and expensive beverage since the process took a long time. You obviously had to rely on the civet !

We went to such a place near Ubud where they have a kopi luwak plantation.  My children desperately wanted to see the civet but were not too interested in drinking coffee at that time.  One person took us around the plantation where he showed us trees and plants of ylang ylang, coffee arabica, mango, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, turmeric, galangal, and ginger.  We came to a row of cages where these civet were kept.

civets in captivity in a coffee farm

It does make you sad at seeing these civets in captivity. Pity these animals who are forced to eat only coffee berries and this is a cause for concern. Moreover, what is the fun of having such an expensive coffee at their cost, even though it may taste heavenly.

The civets are fed these beans.  The undigested coffee beans are collected, washed properly in hot water. They are then dried, roasted and pounded to get the coffee powder.

      undigested coffee beans           washed and cleaned  coffee beans       manually roasting the beans                                                                                                                      

                pounding the coffee                            sifting                                         final outcome                                               

coffee on the table

I am not much of a coffee person, and honestly did not find any great difference and wondered about the high cost.  But my daughter who drinks a lot of coffee said that the coffee is mellow and does not have an after taste.  It has a rich flavor too. That said, it was not worth the price of putting the animals to such torture.
We were also offered a selection of 15 different teas and coffee to taste.  They was free sampling except for Luwak coffee.  I liked a few of them.

a selection of teas and coffee to taste

Among the teas, I liked lemon and rosella or sorrel and found coconut coffee an interesting flavor.

Though, not heart warming, the experience of visiting this place was different.