The characteristic flavor of civet coffee

Kopi Luwak is produced by the feces of Indonesian coconut cats (a kind of civet) as raw materials, so it is called "Kopi Luwak". This kind of animal mainly feeds on coffee beans. After completing fermentation in the coconut cat's stomach, it destroys protein, produces short peptides and more free amino acids, reduces the bitterness of coffee, and then excretes feces as the main raw material. Because coffee beans cannot be digested, they are excreted and Kopi Luwak is made after washing and baking. Coffee critic Chris Rubin said, "the aroma of the wine 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. "

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. Local farmers in Indonesia catch coconut cats to raise them and feed coffee beans to make them. But after all, there are some differences between artificial cultivation and natural ones.

In the coffee industry, Kopi Luwak is widely regarded as a product with novelty as the selling point. "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 Kopi Luwak is its story, not its quality." Using the SCAA standard, Kopi Luwak scored two points lower than the lowest score for the other three types of coffee. It can be speculated that the processing of Kopi Luwak diluted the high-quality acidity and taste and made 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 Kopi Luwak sold in the United States and concluded that "it tastes like Folger coffee." It's like rotten, lifeless taste. It's like petrified dinosaur shit in bath water. I can't finish it. "

The civet likes to choose the most ripe, sweet, juicy coffee fruit in the coffee tree as food. The coffee fruit passes through its digestive system, and only the pulp on the outside of the fruit is digested, and the hard coffee beans are then excreted intact by the civet's digestive system.

In this way, in the process of digestion, the coffee beans have an unparalleled magical change, the flavor tends to be unique, the taste is particularly mellow, and the rich, round and sweet taste is also incomparable to other coffee beans. This is due to the fact that the civets' digestive system destroys the protein in the coffee beans, making the coffee much less bitter and increasing the round taste of the coffee beans.

Because wild civets are obviously better at selecting good coffee fruits, this kind of coffee has outstanding characteristics.