Kopi Luwak
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Kopi luwak are coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Common palm civet. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, as well as the country of Vietnam and the coffee estates of South India. The cats gorge on the ripe berries, and the undigested beans are excreted.
"Kopi" is the Indonesian word for coffee, and "luwak" is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee "berries" as part of its usual diet. This animal eats a mixed diet of insects, small mammals, and fruits, along with the softer outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans, instead excreting them still covered in some inner layers of the cherry.
Locals then gather the beans—which come through the "animal stage" fairly intact—and sell them on to dealers. It is believed that enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee's flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste.
The bean is usually given a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors which develop through this process.
External links
- University of Guelph article on the effects of the digestive system on coffee beans (http://www.uoguelph.ca/research/news/articles/2002/purr-fect_cup.shtml)
- Report on Guelph research (http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemie/bericht-31682.html)
- The Straight Dope on Kopi Luwak (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010525.html)