Kopi Luwak (or This Coffee Tastes Like Ass!)

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Thursday, October 17, 2002

Ryan

Kopi Luwak (or This Coffee Tastes Like Ass!)


Co-worker and long-time Pinger Frank stopped by my office the other day and mentioned Kopi Luwak, supposedly the best coffee in the world. But there's something slightly strange about this coffee...

It comes from Indonesia.

No, that's not the funny part. This is: it's made from beans that have passed through the digestive system of a palm civet, a strange little catlike member of the mongoose family. Only 500 pounds of this coffee is made a year, which explains why it can cost $300/pound (of course, I've had $200/lb green tea before, but I only bought a half-ounce worth).

So how do they get these beans to make into coffee? Well, there's definitely a new "worst job you can have" on my list. Interestingly, Argan oil, which comes from a Moroccan tree, is also gathered in a similar way (the pits are removed by hand from goat dung).

So what does it taste like? I can't speak from experience, though I'd be willing to give it a shot, but from what I've read it's a very strong, rich taste with a smooth earthiness about it. One person said about it, "I've never tasted anything like it. It's an unbelieveable taste in your mouth," but a coffee purveyor said, "It's excellent coffee. But I always caution customers that you can't get $75 worth of quality in any coffee, there's no such thing." Another added, "Kopi Luwak is, in my opinion, indistinguishable from many an average robusta, especially if you cup them next to each other."

The coffee is hard to find, but you can always buy a tasteless t-shirt.

Bottoms up!


Comments
FROM: Greg
DATE: Thursday October 17, 2002 -- 1:10:37 pm
Is this something that vegitarians can enjoy too? I would think that there's a bit of mistreatment of these animals through the whole process. We could check with PETA.


FROM: Franko
DATE: Thursday October 17, 2002 -- 1:53:38 pm
Lest I be accused of representing that I discovered the monkeyshit coffee all by ownself, I will freely admit that I am not that guy, I'm the guy behind the guy who brought it to everyone's attention. That would be the guy on HBO's original hit series "Mind of a Married Man". Just giving credit where credit is due.

As for the PETA comment, this article has me thinking that the palm civet acts according to its nature and would suffer no ill effects from the "harvesting". Of course, some may object to the ingestion of the lingering enzymatic juices, but not me I'm just a dumb animal. Sorry.


FROM: Huyen
DATE: Thursday October 17, 2002 -- 2:18:57 pm
Did you know that the ""The
scientific name is paradoxurus hermaphroditus"? Very interesting! I would like to nominate this to the Hall of Pings.


FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Thursday October 17, 2002 -- 6:02:51 pm
I don't know why you call that t-shirt tasteless. It tastes great to me!


FROM: Marcus Mackey
DATE: Friday October 18, 2002 -- 8:56:16 am
Ahhh, le ca-ca coffee. If Starbucks catches whim of this, we could be in for it. Millions upon minions will be going for the double-poop espresso.

I can just imagine Folger's testing the market by passing the beans through various animals. Mmmm... freeze dried goodness from the intestines of a wombat. Mmmm mmmm mmmm... sign me up. ;-)

Somehow I don't think bringing up the old "We secretly replaced Ryan's coffee with..." advertisement at this time would, well... y'know. Sit well with some people (especially Ryan).

Mind you, Denis Leary and George Carlin both thought it was bad enough when you had flavored coffee (the whole Coffee-flavored-coffee skit)... now what do you think they're gonna' say about this? I'm almost scared to ask...


FROM: dave
DATE: Thursday February 20, 2003 -- 6:14:37 pm
Im interested in buying a quarterpound?


FROM: Suryaningsih
DATE: Friday January 23, 2004 -- 2:17:23 am
Why are Americans so interested with kopi luwak? Many Indonesians don't even give a damn about it. Having known this fact, I think I'll consider to take over the whole Indonesian market..., since I've finished with my study here and are planning to go back to Indonesia.


From: civet coffee (URL)
Date: 10.22.2008 10:15

Dear Suryaningsih,

So you dont know anything about cofee..
i bet you never try the original luwak coffee by your self, thats because..in our country the original coffee luwak is rare, but the fake luwak brand is anywhere.

there is a lot fake luwak coffee now days..
so be carefull dont let yourself to be a victim.

we only sell the best and natural civet luwak.

Our coffee come from natural civet not from pet civet in the cage.

www.luwakcivetcoffee.com

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