A cup of "shit" coffee

For us foodies there's always an urge to try the most exclusive of items; a bottle of Romanée-Conti, white truffle from Alba or a 12 grade steak from Kobe. When it comes to coffee the most expensive, rare, and mythical is "Kopi Luwak" from Indonesia. The cat-like animal Civet or "Luwak" loves to eat the ripe coffee cherries which later is passed through the digestive tract. Since the beans are hard to digest for the animal it follows the fecal and can be gathered, washed, sun dried and then lightly roasted for coffee. The enzymes in the Civet's stomach is the cause for the low acidity, lack of bitterness and the unique taste of the final brew.

Two years ago I visited a coffee plantation in Bali where they "produced" luwak coffee. To sit on a bench, overlooking the jungle and drink it on site from beans just roasted over open fire was a very special experience.

                            Kopi Luwak

                            Lady roasting beans in Bali

I recently bought 100 grams in Jakarta for 45$ (you can calculate the kilo price yourself) and if you have the luck to find it in an exclusive coffee shop you'll pay 40-80$ per cup!!!

So how did my "Rolls-Royce"-coffee taste?

After a medium-fine grinding of the lightly roasted beans and a three minutes extraction in 95 degree water it was finally time to have a sip.

The nose was light with a creamy aroma of hazelnuts followed by a light to medium full taste of milk chocolate and nuts. Well balanced acidity and minimum bitterness. What struck me was the extremely long taste, it just linger and linger. It's truly a great tasting, elegant coffee but is it worth the price? maybe not? There are so many great, exciting estate coffee's on the market for a fraction of the price. But it could still be worth trying ...if you'll find it.