We had a tour on a coffee plantation where they produced "Kopi luwak or civet coffee"

Kopi luwak or civet coffee refers to the seeds of coffee berries once they have been eaten and defecated by the Asian Palm Civet

Click on the photo to enlarge

The name is also used for marketing brewed coffee made from the beans

Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection and digestion

Selection occurs if the civets choose to eat coffee berries containing better beans

Digestive mechanisms may improve the flavor profile of the coffee

beans that have been eaten

The civet eats the berries for the beans' fleshy pulp, then in the digestive tract,

fermentation occurs

The civet's Protease enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter

peptides and more free amino acids

Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated

with other fecal matter and collected

The traditional method of collecting feces from wild civets has given way to intensive farming methods in which civets in battery

cage systems are force fed the coffee beans

This method of production has raised ethical concerns about the treatment of civets due to "horrific conditions" including isolation, poor diet,

small cages and a high mortality rate

Intensive farming is also criticised by traditional farmers because the civets do not select what they eat, so the beans are of poor quality

compared to beans collected from the wild

Although kopi luwak is a form of processing rather than a variety of coffee, it has been called one of the most expensive coffees in the world with retail prices reaching €550 / US $700 per kilogram close to the

€850 /US $1,100 price of Black Ivory coffee

Genuine kopi luwak from wild civets is difficult to purchase in Indonesia and proving it is not fake is very difficult

There is little enforcement regarding use of the name "kopi luwak", and there's even a local cheap coffee brand named "Luwak", which costs under US$3 per kilogram but is occasionally sold online under the guise of real kopi luwak

An investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia found fraud to be rife in the kopi luwak industry, with producers willing to label coffee from caged civets with a "wild sourced" or similar label

Kopi luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago

The origin of kopi luwak is closely connected with the history

of coffee production in Indonesia

In the early 18th century the Dutch established the cash-crop coffee plantations in their colony in the Dutch East Indies islands of Java and Sumatra,

including Arabica coffee introduced from Yemen

During the eraof Cultuurstelsel (1830-1870), the Dutch prohibited the native farmers and plantation workers from

picking coffee fruits for their own use

Still, the native farmers wanted to have a taste of the famed coffee beverage

Soon, the natives learned that certain species of musang or luwak (Asian Palm Civet) consumed the coffee fruits, yet they left the coffee seeds

undigested in their droppings

The natives collected these luwaks coffee seed droppings, then cleaned, roasted

and ground them to make their own coffee beverage

The fame of aromatic civet coffee spread from locals to Dutch plantation owners and soon became their favourite, yet becauase of its rarity and unusual process, the civet coffe was expensive even during the colonial era 

We had a tour on this coffee plantation where they produced "Kopi luwak or civet coffee"

We got a tour and explanation about the production of the Luwak coffee

Then we could taste different kinds of coffee and tea

You could order a cup of real Luwak coffee which was made in a special way

I think it's not right to let animals suffer for a cup of coffee