Why is Kopi Luwak so expensive? is Kopi Luwak delicious? is it really made of shit?

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Kopi Luwak (Kopi Luwak), also known as civet coffee (English: civet coffee, Indonesian: Kopi Luwak, Filipino: Kape Motit, Kape Alamid, Kape Mel?, Kape Musang).

In Indonesian, Kopi means coffee and Luwak means civet. The natural origin and artificial farms of civet coffee are mainly concentrated in Indonesian island groups such as Jawa, Sumatra, Bali and Sulawesi, as well as the Philippines and some places.

Musk cat coffee, produced in Indonesia. In the early 18th century, the Dutch established coffee plantations in the Indonesian colonies of Sumatra and Java, and banned locals from picking and eating their own coffee fruits. Indonesian locals inadvertently found that civets love to eat these coffee fruits and will drain the beans intact when defecating.

The production of civet coffee is very small and therefore very expensive. And the land sold is even less, even in the country of origin in Indonesia, it can be called the best and most expensive coffee in the world. Therefore, most of the Kopi Luwak sold on the market are kept artificially, and their flavor is naturally different from that of the most primitive and natural wild Kopi Luwak. Coconut cats are omnivores. In addition to eating seeds, they also eat insects, snakes, birds, amphibians and reptiles, so the feces discharged by really wild coconut cats will be mixed with all kinds of substances.

Kopi Luwak is processed by raw beans in the feces of Indonesian coconut cats, so it is called "Kopi Luwak". The coconut cat mainly feeds on coffee beans. After fermentation in the stomach, it destroys protein, produces short peptides and more free amino acids, the bitter taste of coffee will be reduced, and then the feces will be coffee raw beans (raw beans). Because coffee beans cannot be digested, they will be excreted, and after washing and baking, they will become civet coffee. Because of its high price and bizarre processing method, getting a cup of coffee with a special aroma, civet coffee has always been a very controversial term, even if coffee glutton may not be able to fully understand and accept it. Experts who have tasted this kind of coffee criticize its taste at both poles.

Although the civet coffee comes from smelly poop, it is full of sweetness and indescribable sweetness. This wild musk cat likes to eat fat and pulpy coffee fruits, but the hard hard nuts (raw beans) are indigestible and are excreted with feces. After being cleaned, they become Kopi Luwak coffee raw beans! So many people call it "cat shit" coffee. The Indonesians found that the coffee beans fermented by the civets' intestines and stomach are particularly thick and mellow, so they collect the civets' feces, sift out the coffee beans and brew them to drink. Because the yield is rare and the fermentation process is unique, the flavor is very different from that of ordinary coffee. Traditionally, coffee fruit is washed or sun-treated to remove the peel, pulp and sheep skin, and finally take out the coffee beans. However, Luwak uses natural fermentation in the body to remove the coffee beans, so it has a special flavor.

[positive comments]

Contemporary coffee critic Chris Rubin said, "the aroma of Kopi Luwak is so rich and strong, and the coffee is incredibly rich, almost like syrup." Its thickness and chocolate taste, and lingering on the tongue for a long time, pure aftertaste.

[negative comments]

"the consensus in the industry is that it tastes bad," said the American Special Coffee Association (Specialty Coffee Association of America,SCAA). SCAA quoted a coffee expert as saying: "obviously, the selling point of civet coffee lies in its story, not its quality." Using SCAA standards, the score of civet coffee is two points lower than the lowest score of the other three coffees. It can be speculated that the processing of civet coffee weakens the high-quality acidity and taste and makes the taste more insipid. Of course, many people also seem to regard this insipid taste as the advantage of this kind of coffee. "

Tim Carman, a food columnist for the Washington Post, commented on civet coffee sold in the United States and concluded that "it tastes just like Folger coffee." It's like rotten, lifeless taste. It's like petrified dinosaur shit in bath water. I can't finish it.

The variety and quality of coffee beans produced by civets distributed in Indonesia and its islands are different:

First) Wild civets are small creatures living in the tropics and subtropics, and they are not cold-resistant, so they live at low elevations, while coffee trees growing at low elevations are mostly Coffee Robusta with strong resistance to diseases and insect pests. Civets naturally choose the most mature and sweetest fruits, so they eat ripe red coffee cherries.

Second, high-altitude Arabica species (Coffee Arabica) have the best flavor, such as non-captive or fed with high mountain beans, most of them are difficult to have rich taste, while the civet coffee is mixed with low-altitude robusta and Arabica beans.

Third) Musk cat is not a single breed, due to the difference of gastrointestinal bacteria, civets take gray as the top, black as the second, which is not noticed by ordinary consumers.

(4) Coconut cats are omnivorous animals. In addition to eating seeds, they also eat insects, snakes, birds, amphibians and reptiles, so the feces emitted by really wild coconut cats will be mixed with various substances that must be collected before noon to avoid decay.

Indonesia's low-altitude robusta coffee originally has the taste of soil and traditional Chinese medicine, and its consistency is also high, so this civet coffee has the fishy flavor of aged beans almost close to syrup, and its flavor is very special. if you prefer the fishy smell of Indonesian aged beans or Indian-style soiled beans, you may fall in love with the flavor of civet coffee.

If it is alpine Arabica civet coffee has a unique nutty aroma and chocolate flavor, mellow thickness is particularly smooth, rich and round sweet taste incomparable to other coffee beans, such as honey, chocolate sweet, no bitterness. If it is the gold mantenin of Aceh in Sumatra, it has a balanced acidity and mellow thickness, which may be described by civet coffee lovers as "the best in the world" with an unusual taste.

In a word, Kopi Luwak, which is described as Qiong Jade liquid, has its favorite ethnic groups touting their favorite characteristics of taste and flavor.