Civet Coffee Facts

Are you curious enough to try out a cup of civet cat coffee from beans extracted from the animal’s poop? For many coffee connoisseurs, the answer is a resounding yes! For most people however, just the word dung is more than enough to put them off this product. But civet coffee enthusiasts say that you only have to drink it once to be converted.

Civet coffee is one of the world’s rarest and most expensive coffees, and it is produced in Southeast Asia and some parts of China. It is known by many names, such as kopi luwak in Indonesia, and kape alamid in the Philippines. It is so called because the beans are taken from the dung of the Asian Palm Civet, also referred to as the civet cat, which is a member of the mongoose family. The civet cats consume the best coffee berries, and the beans are partially digested in their stomachs before being excreted whole into the ground. Since the civet cats tend to use the same places to mark with their manure, the farmers have no trouble finding and harvesting these coffee beans. These defecated beans are then subjected to a good cleaning, and are sun-dried. This process is said to get rid of any germs on the coffee beans.

It is not unusual to find a combination of Liberica, Exelsa, Robusta and Arabica coffee varieties in each batch of civet coffee, depending on what the animal ate. According to one study, the enzymes in the civet cat’s digestive tract augment the flavors of the diverse coffee varieties. Those who have tasted this coffee have praised it as smooth, sweet, slightly dark and chocolatey, with a lovely aroma. Unlike other coffees, civet coffee is does not have that bitter aftertaste.

Approximately 2000 kilos or so are roasted of this tasty treat annually, as civet coffee is still harvested from the droppings of civet cats in the wild. Apparently, some efforts were made to rear the civet cats in a farm setting, but they did not produce as much, making the scheme non-viable. Thus, the supply will always remain low.

Civet coffee has found a dedicated following among coffee lovers in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and other parts of the world. Prices for this exotic food item can go as high as 100 dollars for 100 grams, or about $30 per cup, mostly due to limited and labor intensive production. If you are interested in trying out some civet coffee, you can find both ground or whole roasted beans in specialty coffee shops, in some Asian markets, or in online stores. But beware, there are many fake or adulterated civet coffee beans in the market today, so make sure to shop around for a good store before making a purchase.

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