Kopi Luwak Brewing Methods, Flavor Profile, and Pricing Guide

What is Civet Coffee?

Civet coffee, or kopi luwak, comes from Sumatra, Indonesia. It can cost up to $300 per pound, which is 10 times more expensive than Blue Mountain coffee. The reason for the price? It is the excrement of civets.

When civets eat coffee cherries from the trees, the coffee that emerges after passing through their digestive system becomes civet coffee. The cherries are not digested in the civet's stomach, but enzymes in the digestive tract interact with the beans, breaking down proteins and thereby reducing the coffee's bitterness and astringency. Because the beans cannot be digested, they are excreted intact. They are still covered by parchment, and after cleaning, drying and roasting they become civet coffee.

Origin and Production Process

Civet coffee starts with the civet itself, which naturally selects the ripest, sweetest fruit. It eats mature red coffee cherries, pulp and beans together. The enzymes in the civet's digestive tract combine with the beans, breaking down proteins and reducing bitterness and astringency. The hard coffee seeds cannot be digested and are excreted after a unique fermentation process. Still coated in parchment, the beans are then cleaned, dried and roasted to become civet coffee. Traditionally, coffee cherries are processed by washed or natural methods to remove the skin, pulp and parchment layers and release the bean. Luwak instead relies on in-body fermentation, which is where its special flavor comes from.

Value and Rarity

Indonesians discovered that coffee beans fermented inside a civet's digestive system are particularly rich and aromatic. They began collecting civet droppings, filtering out the beans and brewing them. Because production is so rare, the price stays extremely high. Civet coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world, and civet droppings have become the most expensive feces on earth.

Taste Profile and Expert Opinions

Experts who have tasted civet coffee offer polarized verdicts. Some describe it as an exceptional coffee, quite thick, with an extraordinary flavor that is hard to describe—somewhat earthy, with a slightly pungent taste and organ meat notes that linger in the mouth until the last drop. Others find it difficult to swallow and consider it not worth spending money on "stinky coffee."

Flavor Characteristics

Generally speaking, Indonesian coffees carry earthy and traditional Chinese medicinal notes, with the highest body of any coffee origin. Luwak's earthiness and body are even stronger: the body is almost syrup-like, and the aroma is very distinctive. If you don't like Indonesian coffee to begin with, you will almost certainly dislike civet coffee more. If you do enjoy the earthy notes of Indonesian aged beans or Indian monsooned coffee, you may fall in love with the similar profile of civet coffee.

The Civet's Special Gland

The Indonesian civet has a gland near its genital organs that secretes a milky-white oil, long a precious raw material in the perfume industry. Even William Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" contains the line: "Give me some civet oil to stimulate my inspiration." In large doses it has a pungent odor, and civets sometimes spray the oil to defend themselves.

Despite Its Unusual Origin

It looks disgusting, yet many people love to drink it.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests the following brewing parameters for civet coffee:

V60/90°C/1:15 ratio/2 minutes brewing time

Flavor: Rich and smooth body, caramel, chocolate, nuts, with a hint of mint in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kopi luwak is priced as an oddity, but the coffee it is measured against is a genuine benchmark: at roughly a tenth of the price, Jamaica Blue Mountain offers rarity and balance without the novelty. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 is the top grade of Jamaican Blue Mountain, and only coffee grown in a specific section of the Blue Mountain range and certified by the Jamaican authorities can legally carry the name. The range lies in eastern Jamaica, its highest peak reaching 2,256 meters, and the year-round cloud and mist that give it the name also slow the cherries' ripening, letting them build sugar and aroma. Fertile volcanic soil, steady rainfall and a mild climate do the rest.

The Clifton Mount Estate behind this lot has grown coffee since around 1750, with its farm and processing site sitting at an average of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters). Roasted medium-dark, the coffee shows cream, caramel, chocolate, nut and honey with a light fruit note—smooth on entry, sweet in the middle, clean and long on the finish. Total Jamaican Blue Mountain output is under 2,500 tons a year, and Japan has historically taken more than 70% of it, so supply is genuinely tight; traditional 15, 45 and 70 kilogram barrels and the accompanying certificates are the marks of the real thing. Brew it as a pour-over at 1:15 to 1:16 with 85-88°C water and a medium-coarse, granulated-sugar grind, or use a moka pot for a fuller, chocolate-and-caramel cup. It is a far more rewarding way to spend the money.