Anyone who has seen the film “The Bucket List” – with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman will have heard of Kopi Luwak coffee – however I always assumed that Kopi Luwak coffee was an urban legend – and was amazed to stumble across a video of a coffee shop that is selling the coffee for $30 a cup.
Kopi Luwak coffee comes from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an area well-known for its excellent coffee. Also native to the area is a small cat-like animal called a Paradoxurus. That’s the scientific name, the locals call them luwaks. These little mammals live in the trees and one of their favorite foods is the red, ripe coffee cherry. They eat the cherries, bean and all. While the bean is in the little guy’s stomach, it undergoes chemical treatments and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system, and exits. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee.
The resulting coffee is said to be like no other. It has a rich, heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, musty and exotic. The body is almost syrupy and it’s very smooth. The average total annual production is only around 500 pounds of beans and because of the rarity of this coffee, the current cost for a pound of Kopi Luwak is around $300 or more.
I have to admit that part of me is intrigued and I wonder what the coffee would be like to drink – but at the same time I find myself thinking of the underlying message of the movie. It is essentially the story of an unscrupulous multi-millionaire businessman who puts money above all else in life to include his own family – who learns about humility and human connectedness only after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The film demonstrates how easy it is to be drawn into the glamour of living and to lose sight of the things in life that matter the most. How sad that for so many people it is not until they are at the twilight of their years that they start to realise how wonderful life can be….
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Nice final words but let me do some corrections:
Kopi Luwak comes from all the big coffee areas in Indonesia, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and Bali.
The world production now is about 1.400 pounds and growing.
About the origins: In colonial times in Indonesia, the Dutchmen don’t allow local farmers to consume the coffee harvested in “their” plantations so, they collect the beans found in the floor (the civet pooh) and finally realize that the coffe made with them taste better than the normal one.
Kopi Luwak is not a myth! If you want to know all about Kopi Luwak or want to try it, please visit: http://www.realkopiluwak.com There you can find a description of the Luwak animal, the process to obtain the Kopi Luwak, how to make a perfect cup of coffe, warnings about buying kopi luwak, description of this rare coffee, pics and video. You can also buy kopi luwak online. Thanks
Thanks for the update – good to know a little more about this fascinating story – and thanks for the acknowledgement regarding the final words – which is really what this article was all about 🙂
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Kopi Luwak Coffee tastes sweet and aromatic. It is the world’s most expensive coffee cause of its unique processing of the coffee bean. I’ve read reviews about it and it’s all good.
Harvests of the World . com Has the cheapest price in the internet for this rare coffee in the world KOPI LUWAK
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Kopi Luwak Coffee tastes authetic which is only be found in the island of Sumatra and is recognized world wide as an astonishing discovery. It is the world’s most expensive coffee because of its exceptional processing of the coffee bean.
Suryana is a big producer of luwak “chivet” coffee in Indonesia. We own more than 150 chivets ‘cat’. We produce 5 kgs luwak coffee bean a day in average. We are ready to supply any demand from all over the world and we quarante that our luwak coffee products is originally fermented by luwak . To ensure that, we issue a certificate of quarantee for every product we release to buyers.
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