Coffee Kopi Luwak Bali. Civet Poop Coffee!

The most expensive coffee in the world, coffee Kopi Luwak, starts with a Civet in Bali. These little civets are hard at work processing coffee beans to make Kopi Luwak. Looks like a tough job doesn’t it. I’d never heard of coffee kopi luwak until the day we accidentally visited a spice garden in Bali, much less knew how it was produced, whoever would have thought that coffee kopi luwak needed some extreme processing to make it so smooth and expensive?

Civets busy making Coffee Kopi Luwak Bali

Before and after, the coffee berries are red, the little brown parcels are the end result,                                     after civet processing.

This may offend the more sensitive among you.

Coffee Kopi Luwak Bali, How It’s Done.

The little furry chaps eat the red coffee berries, digest the fruit and pass the indigestible beans in the normal way. During the process digestive enzymes enter the beans, doing something to peptides and amino acids that makes the resulting coffee less bitter. The civet poop beans are washed, dried and brewed as normal

I tried it. I wasn’t hugely impressed, I certainly wouldn’t pay the hefty price tag even if civet abuse wasn’t involved, but it’s good coffee.

We visited a spice farm on Bali where they produced the Kopi Luwak, it’s also made on Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi. If you’re visiting Bali with children or have a particular interest in civet poop coffee, this would be one of my top ten things to do.

Hand roasting the civet coffee beans

Despite the coffee not doing it for me, the spice farm was great, we travel with two small children so it’s all new and interesting to them, touching and smelling the spices, watching the coffee beans being hand roasted and tasting a selection of teas and coffees. Lemon grass tea was a big hit with them, heavy on the sugar.

If you’re ever in Bali, check it out, but be aware that the industry, on a big scale, is very abusive to these little civets. There are links in the comments.

Part of Photo Friday on Delicious Baby.