Coffee Luwak - the most expensive coffee in the world

There is no such thing as bad publicity — even for a form of coffee bean excreted by a civet cat for human consumption.

Following discussions by Indonesia’s main Muslim organizations that a fatwa be placed against luwak coffee, sales of the world’s most expensive brew have increased 30 percent, according to one supplier.

For $50 you might be able to try the most expensive and, according to many coffee drinkers, the most delicious coffee in the world – Kopi Luwak.

Though the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) eventually chose not to impose the religious edict, West Lampung district coffee dealer Wahyudi Santoso said on Monday that the discussions had had a positive impact on the industry.

“The public’s response is shown at a fair in Lampung, where people wanted to know more about the ... coffee powder making process; the sale of the product increased by up to 70 kilograms, or more than 30 percent,” he said.
A wild civet eats ripe Arabika coffee fruits at a coffee plantation producing the expensive Luwak coffee in Bangli district on Bali Island in July. Suppliers of the coffee in Lampung province are reporting increased sales of the world's most expensive coffee after religious scholars initiated talk of a fatwa.



He said that thanks to talk of the fatwa, coffee business operators had also been encouraged to improve the quality of their product.

Lampung’s powdered luwak coffee sells for Rp 750,000 ($84) per kilogram and beans for Rp 200,000 per kilogram.

The industry is becoming increasingly important in West Lampung, a local official said.



This natural, unexpected collaboration between Robusta coffee trees and Asian civets is what makes kopi luwak the most expensive coffee in the world. Rather than collect the natural deposits of wild civets, Indonesian coffee farmers today keep civets in contained areas on their farms, and then harvest the seeds from the animals' deposits. The further steps in the process washing the beans thoroughly, drying them in the sun, roasting them carefully at high temperature to produce Cinnamon- or Medium-coloured beans all contribute to making kopi luwak coffee the world's best and most expensive.
Civets love the bright red cherries produced by coffee trees, whether Robusta or Arabica. The animals are drawn by color and scent to select the richest, ripest, tastiest coffee cherries. They consume the fruit to nourish themselves.



Known as the most expensive coffee in the world, kopi luwak coffee comes from Indonesia, the third largest coffee producer on earth. To understand why kopi luwak is considered the world's most costly coffee, it's necessary to understand coffee in general, and the particular process that results in kopi luwak coffee.

Kopi Luwak, also known as Civet Coffee, typically sells for $200 - $600 per pound. These treasured coffee beans come out of Indonesia and other Southeast Asian Countries, but the supply is strictly limited. A coffee bean must survive a very unusual process in order to be considered Kopi Luwak. While most regular coffee beans are harvested directly from coffee trees, Kopi Luwak coffee beans are passed through the digestive tract of an Asian Palm Civet, a furry skunk-like creature indigenous to Southeast Asia.