Posted on 10/01/2009 8:37:47 AM PDT by JoeProBono
What I want to know is who was the FIRST person to think it was a good idea to make coffee from the beans in this critters ‘leavings’
All I can think of is the dog who ate the Mercedes keys in “Gone in 60 seconds” movie Yck!!
[Carter hands Edward an article about Kopi Luwak, Edward's favorite coffee.]
Carter Chambers: Read it.
Edward Cole: [reading] Kopi Luwak is the world's most expensive coffee. Though for some, it falls under the category of "too good to be true." In the Sumatran village, where the beans are grown, lives a breed of wild tree cat. These cats eat the beans, digest them and then... defecate.
[pauses]
Edward Cole: The villagers then collect and process the stools. It is the combination of the beans and the gastric juices of the tree cat that give Kopi Luwac...
[Carter starts laughing]
Edward Cole: ... its unique flavor... and aroma. You're shitting me!
Carter Chambers: [laughing] Cats beat me to it!
[Carter and Edward both laugh hysterically.]
This discussion satisfied one of the items on their list: "Laugh until you cry."
Sorry, I forgot to edit one of the words....
Looks like the offspring of a little cat-on-racoon late night hanky panky.
The answer is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak
Where coffee plants have been introduced into their habitat, civets only forage on the most ripe berries, digest the fleshy outer layer, and later excrete the seeds eventually used for human consumption. Thus, when the fruit is at its peak, the seeds (or beans) within are equally so, with the expectation that this will come through in the taste of the brewed coffee. The civet, by selecting the most flavorful beans, creates problems for the typical farmer, who often finds a significant portion of his best cherries missing in the morning after civets have been feeding. This led to a persecution of the civets, who in many regions became in danger of extinction. It is also possible that the quality of the civet coffee is somewhat reflective of the civet's natural ability to patiently select the best of the crop for consumption. Attempting to recover the lost crop led farmers to gather the civet droppings and try to reclaim them, resulting in the discovery that the droppings produced an exception coffee with unusual taste and lack of bitterness.
I'd like to see that "Dirty Jobs" guy on Discovery do this one....
Some produce that is labeled ‘organic’ is actually not! You can bet that there will be the same scam applied in selling these ‘poop beans’ too. A fool and money are soon parted.
You’re right. Can you see some guy waiting and watching for these things to poop? And how many of these rascals poop makes a pound and how long does it take them to poop a pound? ;)
Have you ever stopped to wonder who first tried this, and why?
I’ll have a double crappaccino please.
Read my earlier posting.
has anyone tried acid washing the beans to simulate this process?
oh wait.. maybe that is a million-dollar idea - forget I mentioned it
The cats come out of the jungle and feed at night. The farmer makes a tour around the edge of his coffee field in the morning. The poop beans are found there.
Let it stay rare and in Indonesia!
This was discussed in the book Elephant Walk. That was monkey coffee. They couldn’t grow coffee any more in the region and had turned to tea, but could still get coffee from monkey poop which somehow sounds slightly less disgusting than cat poop.
Unbelievable/
Yup.
http://www.trung-nguyen-online.com/legendee.html
Q. Is The Legendee truly an acceptable simulation of Kopi Luwak?
A. Over the years, consumers of both Kopi Luwak coffees and Legendee, both Classic and new Gold, have consistently told us that Legendee achieves many of the same characteristics of true Kopi Luwak. Legendee is easily 100X more popular as a Kopi Luwak equivalent than any other brand's attempt to duplicate the process of Kopi Luwak. The reason is simple, it is the only process using research by a team of German scientists contracted by Trung Nguyen in 1996 to study the effect of the Civet on coffee and duplicate a natural enzyme soak process that would approximate the same effect. All other Kopi Luwak simlations rely on choosing beans with specific profiles and artificial or natural flavorings to attempt to duplicate Kopi Luwak.
oh wait.. maybe that is a million-dollar idea - forget I mentioned it
Too late.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.