Grand Civet cat coffee

During my vacation in Indonesia, i come across an extremely rare coffee called the Civet coffee. This Extremely rare and coveted, Indonesian Kopi Luwak coffee is produced by civets, a relative of the mongoose, who have a taste for the sweet, red coffee cherries that contain the beans. The beans pass through the civet after fermenting in the stomach and that's what gives the coffee its unique taste and aroma. Collected from the jungle floor, then thoroughly washed and dried - this is the coffee that everyone's been talking about.

With earthy Sumatra-like tones, the Indonesian Kopi Luwak has a heavy, caramel body and low acidity, but also a nuance in the taste that is hard to put the finger on. Perhaps that is unsurprising given the unorthodox method of processing.

The origin of Kopi Luwak is closely connected with the history of Coffee production in Indonesia. In early 18th century, the Dutch established the cash-crop plantations in their colony in Dutch East Indies islands of Java and Sumatra, including Arabica coffee introduced from Yemen. Between1830 and 1870, the Dutch prohibited the native farmers and native plantation workers to pick coffee fruits for their own use. Yet the native farmers desired to have a taste of the famed coffee beverage.

Soon the natives learned that certain species of Asian Palm Civet, or "musang" and "luwak" in the indigenous language, consumed these coffee fruits, yet they left the coffee beans undigested in their droppings. The natives collected these Luwak dropping coffee beans, and roasted and ground it to make coffee. The fame of the aromatic civet coffee spread from locals to the Dutch plantation owners and soon become the Dutch luxury favourite. Yet, because of its rarity and unusual process, the civet coffee was expensive even in colonial times. Colonization has also produces some positive effects.

The civets play two roles. Firstly, they tend to choose the best berries to digest. Experts say wild civets are the most discerning, but their droppings are also the most difficult to harvest.

Having nibbled off the thin outer layer of fruit, the civets put their digestive juices to work. The enzymes penetrate the beans -- usually arabica in Sumatra -- and change their chemical balance in subtle ways.

The end product, after a good wash and light roasting, lacks the bitterness of ordinary coffee and has a unique, soft flavour.