The Story of Kopi Luwak (Wiesel Coffee)


Dutch colonial rule during the 18th century was not just a fruitful time for the Dutch in the "East-indies", but also for the people of Indonesia thereafter. The Dutch were colonizing the west-indies when they realized that the land in Indonesia (Arabic Bean), would do well to be planted in Indonesia. The Dutch shipped Yemen's beans to the East Indies through the "East-Indies Trading Co."

Soon thereafter, the plantations were scavenged by Luwak (Civet). The droppings of the jungle cat were found and noticeably a coffee bean. The processing of the fruit from around the Bean was easily absorbed into the body of the Luwak while the bean remind intact even after defecation.

This was an extremely beneficial thing for local Indonesians as they were specifically instructed not to remove the beans from the plantation. Nothing was ever said about collecting them from the wild jungle, storing them and harvesting them to brew their own coffee.

Upon eventually hearing that the plantation workers were brewing their own coffee, the plantation owners visited and found the coffee to be exquisite. The popularity of Kopi Luwak was a slow trend to catch but eventually became one that made its way into the more noticeably luxurious lifestyles as portrayed in Hollywood by Jack Nicholson's rich-playboy character in "The Bucketlist".

When I was visiting the Kopi Luwak Coffee plantation on Bali Island, I found a lot of places say they sell Kopi Luwak and usually t fairly cheap prices considering what it goes for in other places around the world. A couple things to note when going and looking for an experience like this, you want to find the most authentic place possible, check reviews, contact the plantations and stay away from highly commercialized tours as they just go to the places that pay them the most-the reason these places can pay them the most, is because they sucker a bunch of tourists into their lair each day and sell fake Kopi Luwak at "relative" prices. Something else to consider...you can always haggle!  But remember, Kopi Luwak are mean't to be wild, not in captivity, they usually won't eat coffee beans until they are ripe (perfectly ripe) and that how it gets that beautiful aroma after digestion. But many of these plantations basically starve the cats into eating ripe or not in order to meet supply and demand quotas. When lurking through the fields you will be able to see the coffee beans and make you own deductions on whether or not the Kopi Luwak coffee from that particular plantation is legitimate or not.

All the best,

Bono 

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