With a price tag of £150-800/Kg ($225-1200 USD) civet coffee certainly deserves the title of ‘the world’s most expensive cuppa’. civet coffee or Kopi Luwak as it’s called Indonesia starts life as any other coffee bean would, as an ordinary and unassuming coffee berry. From here though the story begins to unfold as to make civet coffee the berries are first consumed by the Asian palm civet, a cat-like animal related to the mongoose. In most other parts Asia the civet is normally hunted for it’s meat but on the coffee plantations of Indonesia their droppings are literally worth their weight in gold. 

 

Yes, their droppings! That’s right. Once the civet has got stuck into their favourite afternoon snack of coffee berries their digestive system goes to work breaking down the beans proteins and creating shorter peptides that carry a more delicate flavour and aroma. The beans are then excreted in clumps that are then collected, washed and roasted and voilá – civet coffee.

The coffee made from these beans has been described as having aromas of ‘fermented plum and dark chocolate with hazelnuts’. Unfortunately, only 500 Kg of this unique blend are produced each year, so not only is it expensive, but you won’t be finding it in you local supermarket any time soon! Only a few specialist retails sell civet coffee helping to keep it as one of Indonesia’s best keep secrets but if you consider yourself a coffee connoisseur then you can get your hands on some of this amazing civet coffee at AmazonCivet Coffee. It also makes a great gift for friends and family!