How Much Does Authentic Indonesian Kopi Luwak Cost? Is 396 RMB Per Cup for Civet Coffee Normal?

What Is Kopi Luwak? The World's Most Expensive Coffee

Anyone who has been to Bali knows about Kopi Luwak. This is currently the most expensive coffee in the world!

It sells for $1,200 per kilogram in the United States; £50 per cup in London; and at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a cup of Kopi Luwak sold for 396 RMB. But on Taobao, Kopi Luwak beans cost only 200 RMB for 100g, which seems incredible. So what is the actual price of Kopi Luwak, and are the Kopi Luwak beans sold on Taobao authentic?

In reality, there are no fake Kopi Luwak beans. The fact is that Kopi Luwak is coffee beans excreted by civet cats after eating coffee fruits. What sells for a higher price is wild Kopi Luwak, but the price of Kopi Luwak also depends on its origin—for instance, Indonesian is more expensive than Vietnamese, and Vietnamese is more expensive than Yunnanese. The cheaper Kopi Luwak comes from captive-bred civet cats. Theoretically, all are genuine Kopi Luwak, but it's generally believed that wild Kopi Luwak has the most authentic flavor.

The Collection Process

Wild Kopi Luwak beans are collected by workers who专门 gather the civet droppings and extract the undigested coffee beans from the foul-smelling (though Indonesians claim it's not smelly) feces.

This cat is not an ordinary cat, but the Asian palm civet, which actually belongs to the civet family. Its head and facial fur are black and white, its body is grayish-black, while its body shape and tail are cat-like. Some Chinese people who see it call it a fruit-eating civet. These civet cats are often active at night. Therefore, every early morning, workers must go up the mountains to collect the droppings, because if they wait until noon, the coffee beans can easily over-ferment and spoil. Thus, Kopi Luwak beans must be collected before dawn for cleaning and drying.

The Magical Digestive Process

In the civet cat's intestines, there is a special digestive fluid containing large amounts of lactic acid bacteria. When coffee beans encounter these lactic acid bacteria under appropriate temperature and conditions, they begin to ferment. The proteins in the coffee beans break down into small particles, which are small-molecule enzymes. When these coffee beans are later roasted, these small-molecule enzymes react chemically with the coffee beans' carbohydrates or sugars. The result not only removes the bitterness from the coffee but also produces a mysterious, intense aroma.

The civet cat's stomach is a magical processing factory. Countless experiments have proven that no processing method in the world can compare to it. Therefore, once coffee beans are excreted in the civet cat's feces, they become the royalty of coffee—noble and incomparable!

Why Wild Kopi Luwak Is So Expensive

The reason wild Kopi Luwak is so expensive, besides its unforgettable special aroma, is most importantly its extremely scarce and unstable production. From the pricing perspective of "scarcity creates value," wild Kopi Luwak easily becomes astronomically expensive.

Meanwhile, captive-bred Kopi Luwak has stable production, but because the diet of captive civet cats is greatly reduced, their digestive systems become monotonous, making the produced Kopi Luwak relatively less flavorful, hence the lower price.

For More Information

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473