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The secret behind the world's most expensive coffee

Published: 2026-08-22 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/08/22, In the earliest days, civet droppings were collected from the wild and mixed with partially digested coffee beans. Gradually, more and more civets were confined to crowded, unsanitary cages on coffee plantations. Photograph: ULET IFANSASTI, GETTY IMAGES Wildlife Conservation Research Centre, University of Oxford and World Conservation Society, a London-based non-profit organisation

At first, people picked up the excrement of civets from the wild, which was mixed with partially digested coffee beans. Gradually, more and more civets are kept in crowded, unsanitary cages on coffee plantations. Photography: ULET IFANSASTI, GETTY IMAGES

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Research Centre at the University of Oxford and the World Conservation Society, a London-based non-profit organization, assessed the living conditions of nearly 50 wild civets. The civets are kept in cages on 16 coffee plantations in Bali. The findings, published Thursday in the journal Animal Welfare, paint a grim picture.

From the size and hygiene of the cages to the normal movement of civets, all the plantations surveyed by the researchers did not meet the most basic animal welfare standards. One of the investigators, Neil D'Cruze, said: "some of the cages are so small that they can be called rabbit sheds. There is shit and urine everywhere, and civets can only soak in it. "

Some civets are so thin that their diet is so strict that they can only eat coffee cherries (fruits wrapped around coffee beans); others are fat because they are unable to move freely. D'Cruze says some are addicted to caffeine.

Worst of all, many animals are forced to stand, sit and sleep on the barbed wire ground 24 hours a day. "standing on that barbed wire all the time can lead to ulcers and bruises," D'Cruze said. They have nowhere to escape, and the pain and discomfort are persistent and dense. "

Would you like to drink coffee made from animal waste? This lovely tropical mammal has a unique ability: its excrement is the source of the world's most expensive coffee.

In addition, many civets do not have access to clean water or communicate with other partners. For these nocturnal animals, they have to endure the noise caused by traffic and tourists during the day, which is especially bad.

Is it wild or caged?

This is the "machine" of making luxury goods. Experts believe that the reason why Nouak coffee is so special is that wild civets choose high-quality coffee cherries to eat. Keeping them in cages and feeding old coffee cherries will only produce shoddy products.

Moreover, a coffee expert quoted the American Special Coffee Association, a trade organization for boutique roasters and baristas, as saying that Nouak coffee is not suitable for beginners. Although the civet's digestion does make the coffee taste smoother, it also makes the unique acidity and flavor of the coffee disappear.

A civet in a cage

The captive civet, most likely caught in the wild, is looking pitifully at the world outside the wire cage. Locals put them in cages to make the world's most expensive Nouak coffee. Photography: NICKY LOH, GETTY IMAGES FOR WSPA

There is no way to tell whether a bag of Nuwak coffee comes from a wild civet or is caged. In 2013, the BBC undercover investigation found that coffee produced by caged civets in inhumane environments would be marked as wild civets exported to Europe.

Even Tony Wild, which introduced Nouak coffee to the Western world, wrote a warning for the Guardian. 'The situation has become more and more industrialized, with abuse and counterfeiting everywhere,'he said.

There is no certification scheme to ensure that coffee marked "wild" lives up to its name, while coffee certification bodies with regard to the growing and production environment refuse to certify any Nuwak coffee.

The New York-based Rainforest Alliance and other prominent coffee certification bodies have issued their own certification standards based on the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) standards, banning the capture and hunting of wild animals on plantations. In particular, it is forbidden in Indonesia to cage civets to produce coffee.

Another important sustainable coffee certification, UTZ, also forbids caging wild animals on plantations and says it will never certify Nuwak coffee.

Alex Morgan of the Rainforest Alliance (which adheres to the SAN standard) says the risk of certifying Nuwak coffee is too high to determine whether the beans come entirely from wild civets.

"I personally suggest avoiding this kind of coffee because it is probably made by civets in cages," he said.

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