Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

So follow me on this. This little “animal” – pictured to the left – called the Asian Palm Civet – aka a Luwak – somewhere deep in the rain forests of the Indonesian Archipelago – eats a bunch of cherry-like berries. They are not digested. Inside its stomach everything gets stuck together -  it undergoes a sort of chemical treatment and ferments. The Luwak (cat) eventually eliminates – poops – it all out. Stay with me now. It then has to be “collected” fast so it doesn’t get rained on. Then it’s made into the world’s most expensive coffee – $600 a pound – or about $33 a cup. No, I’m not joking. It is called Kopi-Luwak. Supplies of this “brew” are extremely limited – at most about 1000 lbs, a year to the worldwide market.

According to Wikipedia: “In early days, the beans would be collected in the wild from a “latrine,” or a specific place where the civet would defecate as a means to mark its territory, and these latrines would be a predictable place for local gatherers to find the beans. More commonly today, civet farms allow civets to roam within defined boundaries, and the feces produced are then processed and the coffee beans offered for sale.

“ Many consumers question whether civet coffee is safe and sanitary, and whether it contains e-coli bacteria. The civet is not known as a carrier of e-coli or other bacteria potentially dangerous to humans, and there is no public record of any illness conveyed by civet coffee. It is professed by producers that the enzymes in the digestive tract, as well as the rigorous washing and sun drying of the beans, help to eliminate bacteria, along with the high temperature roasting process, and that the coffee is entirely safe.”

According to About.com: “The resulting coffee is said to be like no other. It has a rich, heavy flavor 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 coffee isn’t as unusual as you would expect. It is very strong, and has a heavy roasted taste. There is a slight sweetness to it, like burned sugar.”  That’s Oprah, who can easily afford this stuff every morning, trying a cup for her gazillions of viewers.

There is also a cigar made from the beans. It is the Oliveros Kopi Luwak Corona. At http://www.cigarjack.net/ the review says: “it was a mlld to medium smoke – the taste earthy, leathery, like dirt, but peppery.”  A box of 20 of these beauties will set you back about $79.95. I seriously doubt that Pilot, or any truck stop for that matter, is going to be offering any version of Kopi Luwak soon – the same for the cigar. But if you want to give it a try, head over to http://kopiluwakonline.com/ where you can get more information about ordering it.

Photo credits are: http://www.sallybernstein.com/beverages/coffee/kopi_luwak.jpg, maximuswiser.blogspot.com/ 2007/12/day-of-disc, www.indonesiangrocery.com/