Kopi Lowak coffee.....

[simon the viking]

Anyone tried it...... If you haven't heard about it then here's a wiki link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

Basically its coffee cherries (before they are roasted and becomes the 'beans' we know...) that have been eaten by wild cats and err... passed though the system.. collected washed and roasted and sold to gullible discerning westerners...

If you buy a cup in a posh cafe/restaurant it can cost £75 a cup but I can get enough for a few cups off Amazon for £20... However I do have issues as firstly it can be farmed in appalling conditions for the cats and by force feeding them the coffee it defeats the object as part of the taste comes from them selecting the best cherries....

So as a coffeeholic my dilemma is do I support possible animal cruelty (obviously not deliberately, most suppliers claim they are ethical but how can you tell) and can I spare £20 for a one off taste experience.... (just about.....) so C.C'ers do I try it and have you and did taste it taste fantastically different to regular filter?

 

[jefmcg]

When I saw the title I was going to respond with an angry "don't buy it!" but I see you have the animal cruelty - and the paradox - well in hand.

I had a taste of it a number of years ago, before it was an industry. It was fine, but not remarkable. The taste was best described as "dusty" though honestly it might have been the grind, roast or brewing that caused that. A quick google tells me this must have been 2004 or 5, because it was at an Ignobel prize lecture night** at the Guardian offices. http://www.improbable.com/ig/2004/

There are lots of less harmful ways to pay too much for coffee.

**the coffee was not the most memorable thing that evening. That was probably the MRI video of heterosexual coitus, plus the scientist from a different paper coming up to me afterwards to ask me how much I "enjoyed" it.

 

[Booyaa]

I have tried it on several occassions. Some I have really enjoyed and some not so much, so much depends on the brew and you don't really want to mess about too much trying to get it just perfect due to the price of it. I wouldn't drink it regularly as there are several coffees I have preferred but a cup now and again is nice.

 

[vernon]

Using the cited source, Wikipedia, it seems that Kopi_Luwak is an expensive way of drinking unremarkable coffee.

Ultimately the decision is yours. I'm not curious enough to buy it and have an "I've tasted better" experience.

Few objective assessments of taste are available. Kopi luwak is a name for any beans collected from the excrement of civets, hence the taste may vary with the type and origin of beans ingested, processing subsequent to collection, roasting, ageing and brewing. The ability of the civet to select its berries, and other aspects of the civet's diet and health (e.g. stress levels) may also influence the processing and hence taste.[1]

In the coffee industry, kopi luwak is widely regarded as a gimmick or novelty item.[12] The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) states that there is a "general consensus within the industry ... it just tastes bad". A coffee professional cited in the SCAA article was able to compare the same beans with and without the kopi luwak process using a rigorous coffee cupping evaluation. He concluded: "it was apparent that Luwak coffee sold for the story, not superior quality...Using the SCAA cupping scale, the Luwak scored two points below the lowest of the other three coffees. It would appear that the Luwak processing diminishes good acidity and flavor and adds smoothness to the body, which is what many people seem to note as a positive to the coffee.”

Tim Carman, food writer for the Washington Post reviewed kopi luwak available to US consumers and concluded "It tasted just like...Folgers. Stale. Lifeless. Petrified dinosaur droppings steeped in bathtub water. I couldn't finish it."[13]

Some critics claim more generally that kopi luwak is simply bad coffee, purchased for novelty rather than taste.[12][13][14][15] Massimo Marcone, who performed extensive chemical tests on the beans, was unable to conclude if anything about their properties made them superior for purposes of making coffee. He employed several professional coffee tasters (called "cuppers") in a blind taste test. While the cuppers were able to distinguish the kopi luwak as distinct from the other samples, they had nothing remarkable to appraise about it other than it was less acidic and had less body, tasting "thin". Marcone remarked "It's not that people are after that distinct flavor. They are after the rarity of the coffee".[16]

 

[jefmcg]

 

[simon the viking]

Using the cited source, Wikipedia, it seems that Kopi_Luwak is an expensive way of drinking unremarkable coffee.

Ultimately the decision is yours. I'm not curious enough to buy it and have an "I've tasted better" experience.

I think that's the problem its become an industry and the quality has been seriously affected and I would be rather underwhelmed by it.....

 

[simon the viking]

Exactly my (first world V Third world) dilemma If I could be certain the coffee I was buying was collected rather than farmed I would order it but despite the promises on websites I can't... I'm sure the websites will write what we want to read....

 

[simon the viking]

[QUOTE 4008760, member: 259"]Should this not be merged with the cat's mess thread?

Yes, I know...[/QUOTE]

 

[simon the viking]

As O.P perhaps a more ethical alternative to me would be Jacu bird coffee similar idea but more 'free range' (at present) I believe, not intensively farmed

Maybe.....

I did buy some 'normal' coffee strength 06 the other day, Mrs V said 'Why do want strength 6?'

I replied 'because its one more than 5......'

 

[AndyRM]

A solid "Meh" from me also. You can get far superior coffee for a lot less money.

 

[Aperitif]

My son bought me some when he was dipping in and out of his post-university 'World Tour'. Had to wait until I got back to the flat before I could illustrate the thread!

Needless to say, it was always going to be a souvenir - unless he had bought me two, of course. The price tag on the back says 190.000 - which I guess means he paid £190,000 a pot.
I'm impressed.