Regards, Ivan
Posted on 10/16/2004 5:29:03 PM PDT by MadIvan
At £12 per ounce, Kopi Luwak is the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world, but could a drink made out of cat droppings possibly be to everyone's taste?
After the disclosure last week that the world's most luxurious coffee is produced via the intestines of the Indonesian civet cat, connoisseurs and regular coffee drinkers assembled to test whether its flavour is really so superior. One of the first participants in the experiment, conducted at the Bramah Museum of Tea and Coffee in London, was Denise Basso, a 32-year-old designer. She was told only that she was tasting the world's most expensive coffee and was, naturally, grateful for the opportunity.
"Is that its natural flavour? It's really nice and sweet," she said, smiling happily.
When given its provenance, however, Ms Basso's expression fell and her complexion gained a greenish tinge. She pulled on her coat and fled hurriedly, looking more than a little queasy.
Silvia Civiero, 26, a shop assistant, looked close to tears when she was told that her coffee beans had been plucked from dung. "You actually had me taste this," she spluttered. "No more, thank you."
Clearly she was not seduced by Kopi Luwak's exotic-sounding name. Luwak is the native word for the Indonesian palm civet, which likes to feed on crimson Sumatran coffee berries. When it excretes the seeds, or beans, these are cleaned thoroughly and prepared for drinking.
Another of those present at the tasting was Todd Dalton, whose food company, Edible, is the sole British supplier of the coffee. He described the flavour as "chocolatey, with undertones of molasses and tobacco. It appeals to adventurous types - those who have seen a bit of the world", he said.
Among the other connoisseurs who agreed to test the coffee was Jeremy Torz, the roastmaster at Union Coffee Roasters, a speciality coffee mail order company. "Kopi Luwak has a curiosity value, but no coffee could be worth that much money. I tasted it once before - it had a gamey flavour," he said.
Giles Hilton, the coffee buyer for Whittard's, confided: "You don't know what else the animal has eaten at the same time. You know that civets eat rats and voles too."
Edward Bramah, the founder of the Bramah museum, said nothing, but looked mildly pained. This was a blind tasting. The Kopi Luwak was lined up with five other coffee varieties: Kenyan, Lyons Original Blend, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan and Aged Sulawesi. The panel insisted that the tasting proceed "properly". The coffee grounds were put into porcelain bowls, covered with boiling water and topped up with more water.
Jeremy Torz sniffed the dry Kopi Luwak grounds. "This smells stale to me. Like a cardboard box. What we'll get is a lot of body, a lot of weight and very low acidity. Acidity is like the crispness in a fresh white wine: a tingle around the edge of the tongue."
The coffee, ready for tasting, was ladled from the bowls, rinsed around mouths and ejected into a gold-coloured cuspidor. The Kopi Luwak was correctly identified by all the panel members. Unfortunately, the professional trio were underwhelmed. Jeremy Torz said: "I wouldn't buy it. All the flavours are compressed into a musky flavour. It isn't a clean flavour."
Giles Hilton cast a disapproving look at the offending bowl. "It should be renamed 'double chocolate truffle'. It tastes like flavoured coffee. I'm a purist - I don't like flavoured coffees."
"It tastes like Earl Grey," said Mr Bramah, glumly.
Todd Dalton opined that the rich, sweet flavour would complement alcoholic desserts, but Mr Hilton was unconvinced. "I couldn't drink that after a meal."
The honey-toned Aged Sulawesi coffee - which is also from Indonesia, but is subjected to a more conventional production process - won their vote.
Mr Dalton, though, was unmoved by the panel's conclusions. "I don't care when people say it is disgusting. Others tell me it is the nicest coffee they have ever tasted."
It is certainly true that Kopi Luwak is accumulating a fashionable reputation in Britain. Edible distributes almost 140lb of the world's annual yield via Selfridges and its mail order website: £24 buys a 2oz pouch.
Last week it was revealed that Professor Massimo Massone, a food scientist at the University of Guelph in Canada, had discovered the secret of the coffee's taste. He examined the excreted beans under an electron microscope to discover that their surfaces had been "exfoliated" by the civet cats' gastric acids. The beans' proteins had been partly broken down as a result. The coffee's unusual taste, he confirmed, was a direct result of its passage through the civet cat's digestive tract.
In the museum's bustling coffee shop, unsuspecting customers who were given Kopi Luwak to sample supplied mixed verdicts. Paul Niles, 39, the coffee shop manager, was surprised to discover that the coffee was "quite palatable".
Collette Frittelli, 28, a doctor, said: "It's not for me, but at least it doesn't taste of manure."
Monika Wentowska, 22, a waitress who grew up in Poland, declared herself a fan. "I like this, because it reminds me of home. In Poland, we have a similar-tasting drink, made from roasted wheat." When told about the coffee's origins, she declined the offer of a second cup.
Singo Kawahara, 25, and Yusuke Sakai, 28, two bar workers from Japan, couldn't understand why others were making such a fuss. They sipped the coffee in silence and praised its agreeable aroma.
Mario Venturi, 38, described the taste as "smoky, bitter and rather nice, really". Would he buy some? "No. There are plenty of cheaper coffees that haven't come from an animal's rear end."
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
This week's sign that the Apocaplyse is indeed upon us..
Ping!
Any recommendations for a good coffee that isn't exorbitantly expensive?
Its sales are based upon snob appeal. High price means only the snobs can afford it. Much like birds nest soup. The nests are made from twigs and bird saliva. Harvesting the nests is time consumping and dangerous, thus expensive. Most people (snobs) who eat the soup have no idea that it contains the bird saliva.
SARS jumped from the civet cat to humans so I wouldn't advise drinking or eating anything made from them!!! China killed 10,000 of them in January for this very reason. I found the BBC article about this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3381645.stm
I could only hope that having seen a bit of the world, I would know better than to drink cat sh@t.
"Tastes a bit nutty..."
How very........French.
Last week? This "secret" was been known for literally years. In fact, I have never even heard it wasn't acknowledged that is where the coffee came from.
At the rate this guy produces, I could keep the whole forum in coffee round the clock:
/john
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Every bird nest I have ever seen also contained liberal amounts of bird poop.
If you can get them, the Millstone beans are really quite good.
Thanks. I'll check it out.
Waiter! This coffee tastes like sh_t!
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