Coffee Craze or Crazy Coffee?
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, August 13th, 2010
The first time I heard about how Kopi Luwak Coffee is made, I thought there had been a mistake in the translation. I was at a coffee plantation north of Ubud in Bali, and my guide, Nya, sat across a round wooden table from me explaining the menu options. The first five options I could sample for free, or I could pay 50,000 Rupiah (approx $5) for a cup of Kopi Luwak. The final option on the menu was featured next to a photo of an animal that looked something like an anorexic raccoon.
“So which drink do you want, J?” (Nya didn’t like to try to pronounce any more of my difficult American name than the first letter.) “The Balinese Coffee, Ginseng Coffee, Cocoa, Ginger Tea, Lemongrass Tea or the Kopi Luwak Coffee? ”
“Well…if the first ones are free samples, N, …can I try all of them?”
Balinese coffee roasting on an open fire
Gluttonous, indecisive, noncommittal – I know. That’s just how I roll. Ginseng coffee was powerful, creamy, subtly spicy and took my cake.
But why was the Ringo-endorsed coffee not being handed out with the rest of the freebies?
And then Nya told me the harsh truth: Kopi Luwak coffee is made from cat poo.
That is, they feed coffee berries to this cat-like animal (an Asian Palm Civet, I later learned) and the cat digests, chops a log, and then they recuperate the beans from the cat’s droppings to make the coffee.
…and then they serve it to people. Coffee…made from kitty feces?!? And I thought the Ginseng Coffee was The Shizzle. Of course, there’s a reasonable explanation for this. Now I have plunged into chicken blood with my bare hands, salivated over cooking wasps, anticipated the day when I can commit omophagia – but I had to draw a line when it comes to consuming anything so close a cousin to fecal matter.
I feel I failed you, dear readers, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it – though if given the chance again today, I might …eh…naaaaaaaah. Probably not.
Would you? Because I just found out that this coffee is being sold in the US of A for $30 a cup, or $300 a pound. And apparently Counter Culture Coffee is cupping it in New York City this week, which means it could trickle down our way soon enough. It could make a really balanced breakfast right next to your slab of fried soylent green.
-Jamel Daugherty