Premium Indonesian Kopi Luwak Coffee Beans Introduction - Indonesia Civet Coffee Bean Price Worth Buying

"Kopi Luwak" is produced in the Sumatra Islands of Indonesia and has continued its legend with its rarity and uniqueness.

Sumatra Island is rich in Arabica coffee beans, and the island's civets love to eat mature, plump coffee cherries. After fermentation through the civet's digestive system, the coffee cherries undergo magical changes, resulting in a mellow and unique flavor with a lasting aftertaste and rich, rounded layers. The unique production process and scarce yield have created the exceptional and precious Kopi Luwak.

The History of Kopi Luwak's Fame

In the 17th century, Dutch colonists first introduced coffee seedlings to Indonesia. The unique geographical environment and mild climate of the Sumatra Islands nurtured high-quality coffee beans. However, a local wild civet species loved to eat mature, plump coffee cherries. During harvest season, coffee plantations were frequently raided by these animals, causing great distress for coffee farmers who were already burdened with heavy taxes. As a result, they drove away and killed large numbers of them.

Until one day, Captain Willemsen, as usual, led his team on patrol past a farmer's house when he smelled a mellow aroma of coffee from afar. He rushed into the farmer's yard and saw the farmer roasting coffee beans in an iron pan. Willemsen, who was worried about being reprimanded by his superior for not harvesting enough coffee beans, was very angry. Just as he was about to erupt, he was attracted by a cup of black coffee handed to him by the farmer.

Upon first sip, Willemsen felt incredible smoothness and richness, a never-before-experienced sweet fragrance instantly assaulting his taste buds! When he saw the raw beans the farmer showed him, he was stunned—they were actually feces excreted by wild civets! It turned out that local farmers couldn't drink the coffee harvested from the plantations. Seeing many coffee beans on the ground that the civets had eaten but couldn't digest, they felt it was a pity, so they collected them, cleaned them thoroughly, and enjoyed them themselves, calling them "Kopi Luwak."

FrontStreet Coffee Indonesia Kopi Luwak

Region: Indonesia, Sumatra
Variety: Arabica
Processing Method: Civet body fermentation
Grade: G1

Civets mainly inhabit tropical rainforests and subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest margins in hills and mountains below 2100 meters altitude, choosing rock caves, soil holes, or tree holes as their habitat sites. The coffee bean varieties are generally dominated by Robusta, because civets are active in medium to low altitude areas, so most coffee varieties are Robusta. High-altitude Arabica Kopi Luwak production is rare.

Indonesia's low-altitude Robusta coffee beans originally carry earthy and herbal medicine flavors, with high viscosity. Therefore, this civet coffee has the earthy taste of aged beans, with viscosity almost approaching syrup, and a very special aroma. If you prefer the earthy taste of Indonesian aged beans or Indian monsooned beans, you might fall in love with the flavor of civet coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's civet coffee is pure Arabica variety, collected by local coffee farmers after cleaning the feces and sorting them by variety. This Indonesian Kopi Luwak is Arabica coffee, and Arabica coffee's flavor and richness are higher than Robusta coffee beans. Generally, Indonesian Kopi Luwak undergoes animal body fermentation, with a flavor carrying special herbal aromas, and excellent richness in body. Thus, Kopi Luwak became a favorite among the wealthy, and its price is also very expensive. Although expensive, relatively speaking, the bean quality is poor.

In-Body Fermentation Method

Civet body fermentation utilizes the lactic acid bacteria and digestive fluids from the civet's digestive tract to remove the pulp and pectin attached to the original bean surface. The original beans are finally excreted with feces, and then coffee farmers go up the mountains at dawn to collect the civet's excrement, cleaning out precious in-body fermented beans one by one. People believe that civets select the most mature, flawless coffee cherries to eat. This is like guaranteeing the quality of the coffee beans.

Civets come out at night, relying on vision and smell, specifically choosing the reddest coffee cherries to eat, having no interest in half-ripe, raw beans. Therefore, the excreted beans are all superior quality, without any immature, astringent beans. These Kopi Luwak beans are cleaned and then roasted, killing all bacteria, so there's no fecal contamination problem.

In-body fermented coffee beans are not limited to Kopi Luwak; there are also South American wattled jacana coffee, Indian monkey coffee, and Sri Lankan elephant coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kopi Luwak beans are Arabica coffee beans, and when brewed, the coffee has a smooth mouthfeel with herbal and nutty flavors.

How Should Kopi Luwak Be Brewed?

FrontStreet Coffee's Kopi Luwak beans use medium-dark roasting to best express the coffee's herbal flavors, so we use the KONO dripper for brewing.

The KONO dripper can bring out a more rounded and rich mouthfeel, with more direct flavor expression. However, the KONO dripper has relatively poor exhaust effect because its ribs are straight and only extend one-quarter of the dripper's depth. Above this quarter, the surface forms a sealed state against the cup wall. We chose the KONO dripper because its only exhaust area is in those quarter-ribs. When the water level passes the rib area, the dripper's water volume continuously increases, creating pressure through the water's weight. Since the outlet is relatively small, it can extend the contact time between coffee particles and water. As the water flow drives this, it can more effectively extract soluble substances, generally achieving the high richness effect that customers expect.

To better express Kopi Luwak's herbal flavors and rich mouthfeel, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting for Kopi Luwak beans.

Medium-dark roasted beans generally have higher dehydration rates, so they weigh less. During brewing, the powder doesn't completely sink to the bottom; it's immediately absorbed upon initial water injection. Due to vigorous degassing, bubbles surround the powder, creating channels. The fresher the beans, the longer these channels are maintained, causing rapid water level drop. I generally use a coarse water flow, circling slowly.

Brewing Parameters:

Water Temperature: 86-87°C
Grind Size: Granulated sugar
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15 (15g coffee to 225ml water)

Brewing Demonstration:

1. First pour 30g of water for a 25-second pre-infusion.
2. After pre-infusion, pour the second stage of water until the scale reads 125g. After pouring, wait for the water level to drop to half.
3. When the coffee bed is about to be exposed, pour the third stage of water until the scale reads 225g. Stop extraction when the last 5g remains, with a total time of about 1'50"-2'00" seconds.

Kopi Luwak Flavor Description: Herbal, nutty, smooth mouthfeel, rich body.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kopi Luwak Bean Roasting Recommendations

Roasting Machine: Yangjia 800N: Preheat the drum to 200°C, then reduce to 160°C for loading. Open the air damper to 3, adjust heat to 130. Return temperature point at 1'28", maintain heat. Turn yellow at 5'40", grass aroma disappears, entering dehydration stage. Increase heat to 140, open damper to 4. Surface develops wrinkles, toast aroma turns to coffee aroma, signaling first crack prelude. Reduce heat to 100, open damper to 5, and listen carefully for first crack sounds. First crack starts at 9'15", open damper fully to 5. Post-first crack development time: 4'25" minutes, unload at 203°C.

Why Does FrontStreet Coffee Choose Kopi Luwak?

After reading about the brewing process, some might wonder why FrontStreet Coffee would choose such cruelly produced coffee beans?

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the natural formation of Kopi Luwak itself is not problematic. The civet uses its nose to identify mature coffee cherries, which is similar to how Ethiopian red cherries are also harvested from fully mature coffee - both achieve the same goal through different means.

The origin story of Kopi Luwak has been exploited as a gimmick, and now most of it comes from civets kept in cages.

Those who keep civets in cages force them to eat coffee berries regardless of whether they're mature or not, just to increase Kopi Luwak production, leading to those cruel acts. This no longer falls within the scope of coffee we're discussing.

FrontStreet Coffee's Alternative Recommendations

Considering the scarcity and expensive price, FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend everyone to drink Kopi Luwak. Although authentic Kopi Luwak has excellent flavor, coffee from other producing countries is also outstanding. For those who love floral flavors, FrontStreet Coffee recommends Panama Geisha Coffee, one of the world's most expensive coffees; for those who prefer fresh, acidic coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends Ethiopia Flower Queen Coffee Beans, with notes like black tea and berries; for those who like balanced nutty caramel flavors—that is, coffee that's neither acidic nor bitter—FrontStreet Coffee recommends Brazil Coffee Beans; if you still love the solid, rich mouthfeel of Indonesian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing the highest grade FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling Coffee, which undergoes multiple hand-sortings to minimize defect rates, resulting in clearer coffee aroma and better aftertaste. All of the above coffee beans can be purchased and ordered at FrontStreet Coffee stores and FrontStreet Coffee's Tmall flagship store.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473