Is Kopi Luwak the best coffee in the world?

Everyone has heard it, everyone knows what it's about - "It's the most delicious and expensive coffee in the world!"

Definition:

Kopi luwak, luwak coffee - a species of coffee native to Southeast Asia, made from coffee beans that are extracted from the excrement of a weasel-like animal, the muzang weasel (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), commonly known as civet, and locally as luwak.

And what is it really like?

The tickler takes great pleasure in munching the coffee fruit. Nature, however, has ensured that it does not digest its seeds, only the pulp. Therefore, after being gently digested and slightly fermented, the beans pass through the digestive tract and ... are excreted. As is well known, nature cannot be wrong, so the animal eats only the most ripe fruit, that's why - it doesn't like the inferior ones.

Unfortunately, man does not always agree with nature....

... trying to 'help' her out a bit sometimes... The high purchase price of kopi luwak coffee has prompted people to catch, lock up and feed the coffee fruit to the weasels. All this in order to obtain much larger quantities of the coffee species in question. What is more, these animals are very often kept in cramped cages and their mortality rate is far too high... Therefore, the production of this coffee species has been repeatedly described as unethical. It is hard to disagree with this opinion.

The situation described above and the unacceptable conditions for keeping animals do not prevent kopi luwak from being one of the most expensive coffees in the world.

Who came up with this idea?

All the fuss about kopi luwak owes a lot to the traveller, Tony Wild, who brought back the seeds from his expeditions as a curiosity. This curiosity became such a desirable commodity and pushed prices up so much that it led to the situation we outlined a few lines above. It is estimated that the current annual production of kopi luwak is in the region of 50 tonnes... What does this have to do with a small, well-kept plantation and production in harmony with nature? Answer for yourselves.

In addition, we can never be sure what will be in our cup... On the packaging of kopi luwak we can only find information about the country of origin of the beans, sometimes a little more detailed, for example that it is arabica. However, we still know nothing about the specific variety. Besides, Southeast Asia is unfortunately not famous for producing high-quality beans....

If you still insist that every coffee lover should try this "rarity" among coffees at least once, we will not try hard to change your opinion. If, however, it is the bitterness-free, sweet, caramelly flavour that appeals, we guarantee that you will find it in coffees grown and processed in the traditional way. Whether Brazilian or Guatemalan.