You Will Drink Cat Poop!

If you’ve never heard of Kopi Luwak, don’t be ashamed. Neither had we. After hearing the description, we had to see what this was all about. You see, Kopi Luwak, or Coffee Luwak, is a type of coffee. Sounds delicious, yeah? One made from coffee beans pooped out by an animal called a luwak (also known as a civet). It’s like a cat or maybe a mongoose.

Side Note: It seems that poop comes up quite often in this blog, doesn’t it? It’s a lowest common denominator. Everybody poops. Even the President. Who was just here in Bali just last month, don’t you know. We here about it from every local.

What happens is the luwak lurks around the coffee plantation at night, eating coffee beans as it pleases. The coffee beans are then magically transformed inside the luwak during digestion. The luwak then leaves little presents all over the place and the plantation staff are lucky enough to have the pleasure of picking it all up. It’s like liquid gold, I tell ya! More like nuggets, actually. Then, the poop is cleaned and then the regular coffee making process commences.

You may be thinking to yourself, why the heck would someone drink Coffee Luwak. Unless you aren’t thinking that and you’re thinking, “I love the stuff!” In that case, me and you should hang out more often and you’re buying. This crap is expensive. The first cup ever sold in a cafe was at Heritage Tea Room in Australia where it is listed at the rock bottom price of $50 AU per cup. That’s only $49.97 for you Americans. If you’re lucky enough to have a cup in London, you may be paying upwards of $75 per cup! Pretty fancy for something made from poop.

If you should be so lucky as to come to Bali, though, you can have this special treat at the very plantation it was pooped on for only 50,000 Rupiah or $5.50 USD. You know we did because we have to be able to say we did. The little luwak pets they had caged at the plantation weren’t so friendly, but that’s okay. They don’t need to be friendly, they just need to do their job.

Our Expert Opinions

Dusty: Tastes like regular coffee.

Wendy: It was smooth and delicious. I’d drink it for $5, but not $50.