"kopi luwak" news and stories

Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is the most expensive coffee in the world. The name "civet coffee" comes from the fact that the coffee berries are eaten by civets, which are mongoose-like critters, in Indonesia and the coffee beans are excreted by then after digestion. The beans are then cleaned and roasted to make the coffee.

A rare brew, this coffee is not available just everywhere, but Coffee & Tea LTD in Linden Hills, Minneapolis stocks it. The shop sells the coffee for $10 per 8-ounce cup, making it one of the most expensive cups of coffee in the country, if not the single most expensive. The owner, Jim Cone, buys green beans from Indonesia and roasts them to order in a vintage 1910 coffee roaster. He compares the coffee to fine wines, noting that it "might be too much to drink everyday" and describes the coffee as "having a rich and caramel-like taste."

Interestingly, Forbes has priced Kopi luwak at $160 per pound, while Coffee & Tea LTD sells it for $420 per pound. Granted, the coffee shop roasts its own beans on site, but it still seems like there would be a cheaper way to get your hands of a pound of the coffee than to pay retail there.

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Like true coffee addicts, the guys over at Forbes have scoured the globe looking for the most expensive coffees in the world. And we're not talking about specialty coffee drinks, but about the beans themselves. Starting off the list at $160 per pound is Kopi Luwak, which we have already heard about, since the berries are digested by civets before the bean is extracted and brewed. This is followed by Hacienda La Esmeralda (Panama, $104/lb), Island of St. Helena Coffee Company ($79/lb), El Injerto (Guatemala, $25-50/lb), Fazenda Santa Ines (Brazil, $50/lb), Jamaica Blue Mountain ($49/lb), Los Planes (El Salvador, $40/lb), Kona ($34/lb), Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon ($24/lb), Yauco Selecto AA (Puerto Rico, $22/lb), Fazenda Sao Benedito (Brazil, $21/lb).

Keep in mind that many beans in supermarkets (and cafes) are "Blue Mountain-style" or "Kona-style" and do not necessarily contain all of the beans that the name suggests, which is why prices in some venues appear to be lower. The Starbucks blend is worth noting because it is part of the company's Black Apron line, a selection of frequently changing premium coffees. Premium, however, doesn't always mean better, especially because several of the prices given here are for the green beans, and a good or bad roast is vital to achieving a quality cup of coffee from high quality beans.

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A recent article on Damn Interesting reminded me of something I'd somehow managed to forget about: civet coffee. The animal you see here is a civet and Civet coffee or Kopi Luwak is made from coffee beans that these little guys eat and excrete. Yep, that's civet poo in your brew. Well, not really. It's supposedly washed before roasting.

And it ain't cheap, either. You can find it at Edible.com for about $20 per ounce. According to Edible, civet coffee has "a rich chocolate like flavour and no aftertaste." Also, it the beans get partially fermented as they pass through the digestive systems of these little Sumatran tree shrews, lending the cup an even more distinctive flavor.

According to DI, the majority of the 500 pounds of Kopi Luwak harvested each year is sold in Japan.

USA Today also reported on civet coffee a few years back in an articled entitled "Civet coffee: good to the last dropping." I wish I'd thought of that one.