The locals then cleaned and roasted the beans, and began to brew

their own coffee from them. Eventually, the plantation owners

caught wind of the local’s superior brew, tried it, and were swayed
that it was indeed the better coffee.

The Very Interesting History of Kopi

Luwak: Coffee Made by Civets
That’s Right: Coffee “Enhanced” by Traveling Through an
Animal’s Gut Contemporary Controversy Over Civet Coffee

You may have heard of kopi luwak, also known as Civet Coffee.
It’s coffee that’s partially processed in the digestive tract of the
palm civet, a type of exotic cat found in Indonesia and other parts
of Southeast Asia. In other words, the palm civet, a small animal
about the size of house cat, eats coffee cherries and passes the
coffee beans through its body undigested.
The beans undergo a process not unlike fermentation in the palm
civet’s gut. Digestive enzymes break down the proteins, shortening
the peptides, and freeing some of the bean’s amino acids. This
process results in a softer, smoother final result once the beans are
gathered, cleaned, roasted, ground, and brewed into coffee.
Kopi is Indonesian for coffee and the palm civet is known locally
as the luak. People then gather these beans, wash them, roast them,
and then sell them as some of the world’s most expensive coffee
beans.
Kopi Luwak can sell for more than fifteen hundred dollars a
pound, making it the world’s second most expensive coffee after
Black Ivory coffee, a Thai brand of coffee made from beans that
have passed through an elephant’s gut.
History of Civet Coffee, or Kopi Luwak
Back in the eighteenth century when Sumatra and Java were part
of the Dutch colonial empire in the East Indies, Arabica coffee was
introduced as a cash crop, using plants brought in from the Arabian
Peninsula.
Collecting beans from the excrement of wild palm civets is labor
intensive, and it is these labor costs that primarily drive the price of
kopi luwak up so high. Because of this, some industrious
Indonesians eventually decided to make it easier to harvest the
excrement of these animals.
In order to do this, they built factory farms for them, where the
animals are kept in cages and in some cases, force-fed coffee
cherries. There have been many complaints from international
concerns, as well as journalistic programs regarding animal cruelty
in these coffee farms.
Flavor Comparison of Kopi Luwak to Other Kinds of Coffee
Sure, there’s tons of controversy and fanfare, and the coffee is
known for being ultra expensive, but how does civet coffee
actually taste? It’s only natural to wonder how kopi luwak
compares to other gourmet coffees. Is it actually worth more than a
thousand dollars a pound?
Most coffee experts say no. In fact, the process that civet coffee
goes through, by nature, robs the finished product of most of its
acidity. Without acidity, coffee can be very bland, and not entirely
complex in flavor. But the civet coffee does supposedly have a bit
more body to it – you’ll just have to save your dollars, buy it, and
taste for yourself!

The Dutch plantation owners forbid the indigenous workers from

sampling the fruits of their labor. But the locals noticed that the
palm civet also ate the coffee cherries that they were harvesting,
and that the coffee beans appeared in the animals’ excrement
seemingly unchanged.