We could not leave Indonesia without trying the Kopi Luwak (cat poo coffee). It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world, made from the poo of the Civet Cat. Kopi is Indonesian for coffee and Luwak is Indonesian for the Civets which eat the coffee. The cats eat the coffee cherries and then people pick the coffee from the partially digested cherries in their poo.
We looked down on the jungle below us, and could see the coffee plantations under the volcanoes. In the distance, we could see Mt Batur where we had hiked the previous day.
The civet cats eat the coffee cherries, and then their droppings are collected. Cute little things aren’t they!
Here you can see the collected and washed poo. We didn’t actually witness the washing process, but we trust that someone does it! They leave the droppings to dry and then rub them to remove the outer skins of the coffee cherries, and finally they roast them over an open fire. Christian wanted to have a go, and so he asked the old lady to move so he could take over.
The old woman strangely tolerated this, likely accustomed to tourists annoying her every day. Then staff gave us a variety of coffees to taste. Luckily, they indicated which coffee was the Kopi Luwak, avoiding the need for an ‘unlucky dip’ to find the shitty coffee. The significant variety of flavours mostly resulted from flavouring them with other ingredients.
