K for Kopi Luwak (cat coffee)

Cat coffee aka Kopi Luwak - The exotic delicacy

Kopi Luwak (also known as "cat coffee") is probably the strangest variety of coffee there is. Why is that? Well, it is the most expensive coffee in the world - and at the same time a digestive product of the luwak, an Indonesian species of cat. That seems very contradictory at first. But there is a special exclusivity behind the cat coffee: the luwak (or spotted musang) lives in the tropical forests of Indonesia. It is a special gourmet and only feeds on the best and ripest coffee cherries. These undergo a unique fermentation process in its digestive tract, which differs from all other coffee preparations. Kopi Luwak is a coffee with a unique, mild aroma and an incomparable taste experience - demand is still rising today.

But there are also downsides: For one thing, Kopi Luwak is often associated with animal cruelty. Many of the cats are kept in cages and it is often difficult to tell from the outside whether they are free-range Luwaks. On the other hand, there is a lot of fraud due to the high selling price - many people produce the coffee under false pretenses in laboratories or from conventional beans.

Kopi Luwak: The production

The production of Kopi Luwak is without question unmistakable. This is because the spotted musang is a gourmet among cats: With its special climbing skills, it searches for and finds the best quality coffee cherries. It can only digest the pulp, but not the beans: They are later excreted unharmed. Before this happens, however, they undergo an extraordinary fermentation process in the intestine: the coffee loses acidity and bitter substances - and at the same time gains mildness and aroma. The beans are then cleaned, dried and any defective beans are removed - only then do they make their way to the roasting plant.

The most expensive coffee in the world

Cat coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world: Kopi Luwak is traded at a price of between 800 and 1,200 euros per kilo. But why exactly is it so expensive? It owes its exclusivity above all to its rarity. The beans can only be extracted with the help of animals, which makes the coffee very rare. Is the high cost justified? This is a matter of debate, as is the taste. Many coffee roasters see Kopi Luwak more as a high-priced marketing gimmick.