Single Origin Coffee Beans

I, along with our CRITICS, would like to extend my warmest gratitude and sincerest appreciation to Oprah, Lesia and The Oprah Winfrey Show for including The Coffee Critic in their October 15th, 2003 show and featuring the rare Kopi Luwak coffee.

Everyone connected with The Oprah Winfrey Show was extremely professional, from the first conversation with Susan Schmirl to the last contact with Tom Kilty of M.P. Mountanos, Inc.

We have continually promoted Kopi Luwak, a rare and exotic coffee, which was imported for the first time by Mark P. Mountanos of M.P. Mountanos, Inc. Mark first learned about this coffee in the early 1980's. Stephen Kahl, another coffee importer, read about the Kopi Luwak in an edition of the National Geographic and discussed it with Mark, who then pursued to import it.

"Kopi" is the Indonesian word for coffee and the "Luwak" is the indigenous animal who plays an "active" role in the harvesting of the raw coffee cherries. The Luwak feasts on ripe, red coffee cherries seeking out the sweet taste of the cherry itself, wanting little to do with the parchment of the coffee. Once the Luwak eats the cherry, the parchment covered coffee beans are passed out of the Luwak, with the parchment cover still protecting the green coffee beans.

The local natives gather up the limited amount of the Luwak processed parchment coffee, remove the parchment shell, and ultimately ship it to the coffee broker.

Kopi Luwak has a very unique and distinguishable roasting smell and taste... like no other coffee.

We, at The Coffee Critic, roast this rare coffee to order, when available.

Robusta Dark Roast, Luwak Coffee

Blind Assessment: Evaluated as espresso. As a drip coffee fell quite short of 80. As espresso revealed some virtues. In the aroma sweet-toned with distinct chocolate and butter notes. In the small cup medium bodied, round-toned and sweet, with earth, aromatic wood and herbal notes (I read fennel) and hints of nut and chocolate. The finish was simple in the short and mildly astringent in the long. Surprisingly disappointing in milk: leanish in mouthfeel with banana and chocolate in front but a slight though disturbing note toward the finish that for me suggested salted meat.

Notes: A robusta species version of the famous (or infamous) Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee. The beans are harvested from the feces of a species of civet cat resident in Indonesia that eats ripe coffee fruit. None of the luwaked robustas we sampled for this set of reviews made attractive drip coffees; in fact, most were hardly drinkable. However, this very dark-roasted kopi luwak robusta produced an interesting if uneven espresso. Animalcoffee is a direct supplier, roaster and Internet retailer of kopi luwak with offices in Sumatra and Bali, Indonesia and Australia. Its impressive website offers well-written and colorfully illustrated answers to most questions about kopi luwak. Apparently coffee orders are custom roasted based on customer brewing method and preference. Visit www.animalcoffee.com for more information.

Who Should Drink It: Curiosity seekers with money and a good home espresso machine.

Kopi Luwak coffee

Kopi Luwak coffee, also known as Civet coffee or Kape Alamid, is coffee made from the poop of a Palm Civet. Kopi = coffee, Luwak = Palm Civet.

Yep, that’s right, it’s coffee that has passed through the digestive tract of the cat-sized mammal common in the Philippines & Vietnam. The Palm Civet will eat the coffee berries, and the beans pass through undigested.

The inner bean of the berry is not digested, but it is believed that enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee’s flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste. The beans are excreted still covered in some inner layers of the cherry, and locals then gather them and sell them to dealers. The beans are washed, and given only a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors which develop through the whole process. – Wikipedia

Why would anyone drink Kopi Luwak?

That I cannot answer. And yet, it is the single most expensive coffee in the world, selling at $75 USD per quarter pound.

The coffee is popular in the US and Japan, and is now available online. I’ve no personal interest in trying it, but if you do – go for it.