You can order the most expensive bean coffee in the world by calling: 8 (495) 649-89-14 for residents of Moscow and for buyers from other regions of Russia. Luwak coffee is considered one of the rarest and most expensive products of the modern coffee market; it is supplied in limited quantities, but nevertheless it is also available in our online store Coffee-Shop24.ru.
True experts in the coffee industry have probably tried the most extravagant, unusually produced variety of coffee made from animal excrement, known under the telling name Luwak coffee (Indonesian “kopi lua”, where “kopi” is coffee and “lua” is musang).
The modern world of coffee amazes with the richness and variety of varieties bred. Only a beginner can assume that there are two types of the most expensive coffee: Arabica and Robusta coffee! People who are more experienced and experienced in tasting aromatic drinks know that each type has a whole system of varieties included in their composition, each of which is a new round in the aroma-taste picture of the world.
Who decided that the most expensive coffee in the world should be made from animal feces?
The most expensive type of coffee made from animal feces was born not so long ago, but now no one can say for sure who its discoverer is. Some say that the palm belongs to a certain visionary English entrepreneur Joshua Robinson, who personally appreciated the original and unique taste of the most expensive Luwak coffee, others believe that the idea of producing coffee with the help of small and nimble animals was born on Indonesian soil.
Both can be considered right. If the Englishman gave coffee from animal feces a commercial component, then the Indonesians in this chain took on the grunt work. According to legend, elite coffee appeared in Indonesia through the transportation of coffee tree seedlings from Holland in 1696. The first batches of supplies did not take root, but later everything went smoothly and coffee production improved.
The collection of ripe berries, their processing and “bringing them to perfection” was carried out by the peasant population, and the Dutch owners strictly ensured that local residents did not collect valuable coffee beans for themselves. In an attempt to somehow circumvent the imposed restrictions on light, the idea of coffee was born, which today is considered the most expensive on earth. The workers simply collected animal droppings containing fermented premium coffee beans.
If previously only Indonesia was engaged in making coffee from animal droppings, today India, Sumatra, the Philippines, the islands of Java and Bali, and Vietnam share production with it (the most expensive type of coffee beans there is known as Chon).
How to brew Luwak coffee
Like regular coffee, luwak in Europe or Asia is often brewed in Turks (this method is called “oriental style”).
In Vietnam, they prefer a different method: small metal cups with a sieve and a press, where coffee is poured with hot water, and it is infused, dripping drop by drop into the glass. We liked this method, we bought such devices for ourselves and now we always carry them with us.
What specific features does the most expensive coffee in the world have?
True connoisseurs of exclusive coffee varieties have long agreed that the specificity of production of the most expensive coffee in the world not only does not degrade the aroma and taste of the final drink, but also makes it brighter and richer. Slowly savoring the thick coffee mixture, many can discern a delicate bitterness and caramel flavor shaded with notes of butter, chocolate, nougat and honey. In addition to gastronomic pleasure, people who prepare an aromatic drink from the most expensive coffee in the world receive a whole vitamin and mineral set in one cup of coffee. Vitamins PP, E, B1, B2, potassium, phosphorus and iron are just a small part of everything that this extravagant drink from the Indonesian islands can offer.
Cost of Kopi Luwak in different countries
The cost of Kopi Luwak may vary depending on the country of origin. These are:
- Vietnam. Here the prices for this product are lower than anywhere else, when for 1 kilogram you will have to pay the entire 200 dollars . Accordingly, exports from this country are the most profitable;
- Indonesia. It is considered a classic option, but more expensive compared to Vietnam. Luwak coffee produced here costs about $300 per kilogram. If you visit this country, you can find the product not only in the market, but also in cafes or tea shops;
- Philippines. There are also farms producing this drink, where the average price on the market is about $350 per kg. Packs weighing 0.5 and 0.3 kg are often sold, with prices of 220 and 170 dollars , respectively;
- India. In the southern part of this country they also breed musangs and prepare this excellent coffee. Here, this artificial thing has been brought to an industrial scale, when varieties are sold and exported for 400-500 dollars per kg and more refined and aged varieties for 700-900 dollars per kg .
In Russia, the most expensive coffee is mainly sold only in Moscow.
Why is the price of coffee made from animal excrement so high?
Today, only the most sophisticated gourmets can truly appreciate Vietnamese coffee made from animal excrement. Belonging to the line of premium coffee varieties, today Luwak coffee costs from 29,000 rubles per 1 kg. Why is Luwak coffee so expensive? It's all about the incredible complexity of coffee production. While conventional coffees are produced by collecting and then processing coffee berries, the main participant in the entire process is the musang (palm marten).
Feasting on ripe coffee beans in between other meals, he later removes the eaten berries, which have undergone fermentation in the stomach, from the body, and far-sighted planters collect them and, after processing and appropriate manipulations, put them on sale. The civet contained in the stomach of the animal gives the eaten coffee tree fruits a specific astringency and slightly bitter taste.
Who is the Luwak animal?
The official name of these cute little ones is musangs or palm martens.
Curious
And infinitely cute
These animals simply adore ripe coffee berries. After they ingest the coffee cherries, the pulp surrounding the coffee beans themselves is digested in their stomach, and the beans are passed unchanged during bowel movements (excuse me for such details). After this, people collect the valuable cargo, wash it and dry it. We hasten to assure you that there is no expected unpleasant odor after these procedures.
Valuable musang excrement before washing
The animal is especially valued for the fact that while in its gastrointestinal tract, coffee beans are fermented in a special way, due to which they lose the bitterness characteristic of coffee. And the taste of coffee becomes sour.
Luwak coffee beans after washing
They can even fry it right on the farm.
Luwak coffee beans after roasting
There is a legend about how people first learned the unique properties of Luwak coffee. A misfortune happened to one poor family: wild Masangs (or Tsiwengs) ate the entire harvest of ripe coffee beans for sale. The family was very sad, but then they noticed animal excrement, and in it there were undigested grains. Out of despair, these beans were washed, fried and passed off as regular coffee. Imagine their surprise when its taste turned out to be simply delicious!
Today, producing Luwak coffee is a complex and expensive process. Wild animals are caught and placed on a farm. They produce a special enzyme only 6 months a year, so the rest of the time they are fed regular food, usually vegetables and fruits. When the time comes, all other food is removed from their diet and they are fed exclusively coffee fruits. Since feeding animals is quite expensive, they are often simply caught in the right season, and after coffee production is released to be captured the following year. In addition, it will not be possible to breed them on a farm: these animals do not breed in captivity.
We saw farms producing Luwak coffee in Vietnam and Bali, and everywhere there was a lot of pity for the animals: such living machines operated by humans.
A cramped animal hole on a farm
By the way, we heard that they began to produce coffee from elephant and even bird excrement. The process is approximately the same as with musangs, but the volumes, of course, are several times greater. We have not seen such coffee in Vietnam, but they say that it is as tasty as luwak. If this is so, maybe soon furry animals will stop being tortured on farms? Still, one elephant can produce 100 times more delicious coffee than a small rodent.
How difficult is it to produce the world's most expensive coffee from animal droppings?
The whole problem with the most expensive coffee from the litter is that it is very difficult to control the movement of the animal in the wild. That is why today many people breed special musang farms. However, the quality of the produced coffee raw materials still suffers somewhat, and recreating the most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luwak, in laboratory conditions is not at all possible.
You can buy coffee beans in the online store Coffee-Shop24.ru by calling us at: 8 (495) 649‑89‑14 for Moscow, for Russia or by placing an order on the website.
A kind of exotic
Coffee is drunk all over the world, but the most exotic type is the one obtained from animal droppings. Well, not literally like that. This is the peculiarity of technology.
Coffee beans, after passing through the stomach of an animal, lose their bitterness and acquire a completely different taste. This is due to their saturation with specific enzymes that are released during the functioning of this organ.
Coffee beans obtained from the following animals are in great demand:
- White elephant. This type of coffee is called Black Ivory. Only a few tens of kilograms of this product are produced per year. An elephant needs to eat 35 kg of grains so that a kilogram of raw material can be extracted from its excrement.
The process of making Black Ivory coffee.
- Brazilian variety "Jacu Bird". The future expensive coffee is obtained by extracting raw materials from the poop of the Jacu bird. It was considered a pest that eats ripe coffee berries and thereby causes great damage to plantations. But somehow a farmer got the idea to brew coffee from beans extracted after poultry defecation, and since then it has been one of the most expensive coffees in the world.
- The “Bat” variety is also obtained with the help of the animal of the same name, but in this case it does not completely eat the fruit, but bites it and sucks out the juice. After this, the grain on the branch dries in a special way and gives a completely different taste than the widely known one.
- Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, the beans in this case are extracted from the stool of the musang, native to Southeast Asia.
The legend about how a person began to drink such coffee says that a Vietnamese farmer, having grown a good crop of coffee fruits, discovered that most of them were eaten by musang.
In desperation, he began to collect grains that came out of the animal naturally, washed them, dried them - and as a result, an unusual drink with an absolutely phenomenal taste appeared.
There are plantations where coffee trees are grown and the beans are obtained in a similar way in other countries.
The process of processing coffee from animal excrement from Vietnam
As soon as the farmer receives a product ready for processing from the animal, it is sent for drying - these are the future Luwak coffee beans. Laid out on special canvases with wooden frames, it absorbs all the best from the gentle breeze and friendly rays of the sun.
The smell, of course, is not the most pleasant, but what sacrifices would you make to produce the most expensive coffee in the world processed by animals - Kopi Luwak! After drying, the animal's excrement is washed, cleaned and returned to drying. Only after this the grain is roasted (clay dishes and a clay ladle for stirring are used as a roasting pan; the coffee is roasted without oil) and the products ready for sale are sorted into bags.
Luwak coffee production volumes are very limited. Musang does not consume so many coffee fruits per day, and the output from 1 kg of consumed raw materials is only 50 grams. product. In addition, animals also eat other foods. And civet, which plays a key role in the production of Kopi Luwak coffee, is produced only during six months (from April to September). Therefore, many farmers, in order to save their budget, keep animals in artificial conditions for a limited period of time, and then release them into the wild. You can order and buy the most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luwak in Moscow, or any other types of coffee in our online store Coffee-Shop24.ru.
Palm civet
This is another name for musang, which lives not only in Vietnam, but throughout Southeast Asia. What kind of animal is this - the “producer” of the most expensive grain in the world, changing the usual taste of coffee?
This is a small animal, up to 60 cm long, with a long tail. The musang's fur is gray, hard, with black stripes; its muzzle, paws and ears are also black. Musang weighs from 2.5 to 4 kg.
This is what the Musang animal looks like
It is nocturnal and sleeps during the day, choosing secluded places, such as tree hollows. By the way, he climbs trees very well. There are 30 subspecies of this musang.
The palm marten is omnivorous; coffee is not its main food. The animal's diet includes various other fruits, as well as insects, worms, bird eggs and even small animals.
The enzymes that give coffee beans processed in the stomach their unique taste are produced only six months a year.
“Elite beast”, or the main secret of the famous variety
Musangs - producers of famous coffee
So, meet this wonderful animal with the unusual names musang, civet or palm marten. It is in this animal and in the unusual production technology, and not in the type of coffee beans, that the main secret and uniqueness of the famous Luwak lies.
Amazing civets eat berries from coffee plantations. But only their pulp is digested, and the grains come out naturally along with the droppings. And specially trained personnel carefully collect, wash and dry the raw materials to create an exclusive drink. But we hasten to assure you that excrement does not affect the coffee beans themselves. There is no unpleasant smell, but exactly the opposite. Otherwise, who would drink this, and at an elite price too?!
The main value of these Vietnamese animals is that coffee beans undergo special fermentation in their stomach. And the bitterness that is characteristic of grains disappears from them.
That is why the famous Vietnamese Luwak coffee has such a delicate and unique taste.
