If you’ve been lucky enough to travel to the striking and far-off climes of Asia, you’ll likely have come across the distressing beverage, kopi luwak, on your adventures.
If you’re unsure what it is, kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is a type of brew that is produced from beans that have been excreted by the luwak, otherwise known as the Asian palm civet, an animal found across Indonesia and Southeast Asia, as well as sub-Saharan Africa. The timid creature is reminiscent in appearance to a weasel or cat, with a long tail like a monkey, face markings like a racoon and stripes or spots on its body. It is a solitary and nocturnal species living in the jungle, and enjoys freely visiting the multitude of coffee plantations located close by. Luwaks play an important role in the food chain where they live, eating a varied diet of insects, small reptiles, fruits including mangoes and infamously, ripe coffee cherries — the fruit of coffee plants. In turn, civets are eaten by crocodiles, leopards and large snakes that also inhabit the jungle. Sadly, it is their love of coffee cherries that has caused them to become so exploited by humans.
Kopi luwak is so sought after in Indonesia (and more recently, in Europe), that it has become one of the most expensive coffee variants in the world, with global retail prices reaching £470 per kilogram. Even in Bali, one of the chief places that it is produced, an average cup of the beverage can set someone back between $35 to $80 USD. It’s made on a massive scale, too, in Bali, Suluwesi, Java, Sumatra and East Timor, as well as in farms on islands of the Philippines. Worryingly, one Indonesian plantation claims to produce 7,000kg a year from 240 caged civets (guardian.com). But why is coffee that is, essentially, produced from poo, so highly priced and desired?