Is Coffee Made From Poop? The Truth Behind Kopi Luwak

Kopi Luwak is an expensive type of specialty coffee made from beans extracted from the faeces of civets. Learn more about this unique type of coffee.

Is Coffee Made From Poop? The Truth Behind Kopi Luwak

The Kopi Luwak is a type of coffee made from beans that have been extracted from the faeces of civets. It's the most expensive coffee in the world and it's made from poop. The civet, found in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, has a long tail like that of a monkey, marks on the face like a raccoon, and stripes or spots on the body. The taste of Kopi Luwak varies depending on the type and origin of the grains excreted, processing, roasting, aging and brewing.

Civet's ability to select its berries and other aspects of civet's diet and health, such as stress levels, can also influence processing and therefore taste. Civet coffee, also called Luwark coffee, is expensive due to its rare production method. It is produced from coffee beans digested by civet cats. The feces of this cat are collected, processed and sold.

Kopi Luwak is a coffee from Indonesia that has been digested by an animal called an Asian palm civet. The civet is a cat-like creature that wanders through the forests of Bali at night, eats ripe cherries and excretes coffee beans. Then, the grains are collected, cleaned and roasted. The result? Kopi Luwak, also called civet coffee or cat poop coffee.

There are many strange types of coffee out there, but one of the strangest has to be coffee made with poop. What makes coffee with animal feces so special? Leaving aside the process (more on this later), animals' coffee poop has generally gone through a unique scientific process that makes it uniquely different from any other available process. With the prices of this specialty coffee so high, it's not surprising that coffee vendors want to profit, whether or not they have access to civets. One reason why this type of coffee is so expensive is because the civet is apparently very picky about food and only eats the best ripe coffee cherries. India, the third largest coffee producer and exporter in Asia, has started to produce the world's most expensive coffee, made from civet cat feces, on a small scale in the Coorg district of Karnataka.

They are also known as mishasho and uchunaris, so you might hear this type of poop coffee called mishasho coffee or cafe uchunari. While this may be effective in producing grotesquely delicious coffee, it restricts production flow quite a bit, leading some to experiment with alternative options that give us similar results. The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) states that there is general consensus within the industry. According to legend, the locals noticed that wild animals ate ripe cherries from coffee and left the grains. Some companies try to deceive consumers by claiming that they get their beans from “wild civets”, but a PETA Asia investigation, as well as a BBC investigation, revealed that beans labeled as “wild origin” were actually from caged civets. Some people think this specialty coffee is the best in the world, but there's a big reason you'll want to give it a pass - and it's not just its impressive price tag. The coffee produced in this way makes a unique cup that is fruity and floral, with a slight acidity that improves its delicate flavor profile. Even if you don't care about animal welfare, there is a reality that coffee doesn't taste so good.

In the 19th century, farmers in Central Java began to prepare and drink coffee from excreted grains collected on their plantations. Since then, it has taken the world of coffee drinkers by surprise - and at the same time it has brought a sense of amazement and disgust to everyone who finds out about this fascinating drink. This coffee comes from an Indonesian palm civet, or civet cat - a small mammal that belongs to the Viverridae family and found mainly in Asia and, to a lesser extent, in southern Europe and Africa.

Glenna Matthys
Glenna Matthys

Hardcore internet practitioner. Wannabe beer advocate. Infuriatingly humble beer expert. Devoted coffee evangelist. Hardcore social media scholar. Friendly beer fanatic.