Behind Luwak Coffee Production

Would you drink coffee made from animal poop? No, no, you heard it right. They truly exist and it ranks as the world’s most exclusive and expensive coffee. The term ‘civet coffee’ actually stands for the production method, not a coffee bean variety. Civet coffee is processed from the Indonesian wild civet cat’s poop.

Despite the production method that makes you frown, it’s what makes the coffee beans taste multiple times unique (plus, decaffeinated!). Now, learn more about Luwak coffee production that make civet coffee worth trying!

THE CIVET BEHIND ‘CIVET CAT COFFEE’

There are numerous kinds of civets, but the one responsible for Kopi Luwak coffee is the Asian palm civet. There’s a reason why Kopi Luwak for sale out there is also known as ‘civet cat coffee.’ Asian palm civets are cat-like creatures. It resembles small cats in size, with a weight of around 2-5 kg and a length of 48-59 cm.

These little creatures mostly live wild in the tropical rainforest throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia regions. Some to mention are Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Asian palm civets eat foods that are commonly found in their habitat; fruits like coffee cherries in the coffee plantations.

The civet’s ability to produce great-tasting coffee beans was found around the 18th century when the Dutch commonly traded Arabica coffee beans. During this era, the domestic workers in the coffee plantation are forbidden to pick the coffee beans for personal consumption. For this reason, they collected the Asian palm civets’ droppings and processed it. When the locals brewed the civet coffee, the owner of the coffee plantation tried it. Then he found out that the taste is better than ‘the original version’!

HOW TO PRODUCE CIVET COFFEE BEANS?

In the coffee plantation areas, there are 2 common methods for Luwak coffee production. The unsustainable one is to keep the Asian palm civets in cages, often in dire conditions. In executing this method, the Asian palm civets are typically forced to consume coffee cherries within a scheduled time.

The sustainable method allows the Asian palm civets to roam freely within the plantation area. At Wallacea Coffee, we use the second method and we strictly refuse to force animals for our profit. In the name of sustainability, we let them eat coffee cherries in our plantation area whenever they want! This will also produce a more exotic taste as these wild Asian palm civets can consume other fruits.

If you’re wondering what makes Kopi Luwak coffee prices high, we can tell you that it’s because of the uncommon processing of coffee beans. When Asian palm civets consume coffee cherries, the unique enzymatic process creates a fermentation process. Long story short, their digestive system helps to defecate the coffee beans. It also creates a unique taste in the coffee beans. The taste turns out to be less acidic and smooth.

Because the Asian palm civets were unable to digest the coffee beans, they pooped it out. Leave the droppings full of the partially-digested coffee beans, which the farmers hunt. Then, the droppings will be cleaned and processed in the farmers’ or companies’ facilities. In the end, no need to worry about unsterilized coffee beans every time you see the ‘Kopi Luwak for sale’ sign from your coffee supplier! Most of the time, a Kopi Luwak coffee supplier like us provides high-advanced machines in our facilities to guarantee hygiene. You can now rest assured of buying civet cat coffee with guaranteed hygiene!

HOW TO PRODUCE GROUND CIVET CAT COFFEE?

For our ground Luwak coffee production, we utilized high-advanced machines to process the coffee beans. From the coffee roasting machine, coffee grinding machine, and coffee packing machine. Not limited to time efficiency, we aimed to guarantee the hygiene of our products by minimizing human interference in the processing.

It starts from roasting green coffee beans to the medium-dark roast level. Roasting to this level enables us to preserve the coffee beans’ natural aroma profile and flavor notes. The roasted coffee beans are further processed to the grinding step to form ground coffee beans. Lastly, the ground civet coffee is packed into the packaging before being distributed to your locations.

WALLACEA COFFEE - A KOPI LUWAK COFFEE SUPPLIER IN THE UNITED STATES

Beware of the false claim! Authentic civet coffee should be certified by authorized parties to prove its authenticity. So uncertified wild civet coffee might be caged civet coffee labeled as the wild one. For this reason, it is crucial to pay more attention to the certificates when buying wild civet coffee.

Take Wallacea Coffee as an example. To produce wild civet coffee, we partnered directly with the Indonesian government and the Gayo Coffee Protection Society Foundation. Hence, the authenticity is maintained and certified directly by them. Both for ground coffee Luwak and civet coffee beans.