CoffeeGeek • Kopi Luwak

Kopi Luwak

This is officially the last thing I will ever write, discuss, or answer about Kopi Luwak ever again.

Not a week goes by when I am asked at least 2 or 3 times about this coffee. It usually goes like these scenarios:

Scenario one - talking socially to someone in the food or beverage industry (a chef, a food writer, a bartender, a waiter, a sommelier etc), and they glean my involvement in specialty coffee. At some point in the conversation, they ask “hey, you ever hear about that coffee from cats? from animals who shit out the coffee? Ever try this?”

Scenario two - talking to someone in mass media, giving an interview, providing background, etc, and they go “hey, you ever hear about that coffee from cats? from animals who shit out the coffee? Ever try this? Anywhere I can get some sent to me?”

Scenario three - someone emails me as the owner of CoffeeGeek and says “hey, you must know a lot about coffee. Ever hear about that coffee that some cat shits out?”

And so forth.

For the record:

a) I’ve tried Kopi Luwak on several occasions. In fact at one point I had two pounds of the stuff green, and at another point, had five pounds of the stuff. It is a mediocre, non-descript coffee when it comes to taste.

b) Something like 10x the amount of Kopi Luwak is sold vs. how much is actually produced. In other words, for every 250lbs produced, over 2500lbs are sold. It is a scam, folks

c) for the scant amount of “real” kopi luwak coffee produced, there have been serious questions about the ethical treatment of the animals used to produce it. Bottom line - there is a lot of evidence the animals are inhumanely treated.

d) I will never, ever again answer any question or query on Kopi Luwak. Don’t ask me.