Friday, June 17, 2011

Most Expensive Coffee in the World - Kopi Luwak

One of my coworkers is from a pretty well-off family and likes to enjoy the finer things in life.  He decided to give me a packet of the most expensive coffee in the world - Kopi Luwak, an Indonesian breed.  I guess this coffee costs about $50 a cup.  I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I decided to give it a try even though it sounds quite disgusting how the coffee beans are collected - basically the raw beans are eaten by some birds and half way digested, then passes through their body, i.e. pooped out.  Apparently this process gives the beans unique flavor.  And because of the lack of quantity, it costs a lot.  I'm the type of person that would try most exotic foods at least once (with the exception of belut and some other stuff), so I did it!

Since we were at work, I probably didn't get the full experience of the $50 cup, as I had to make it myself.  Maybe the packet costs less than $50, who knows, I didn't ask.  It was designed pretty convenient for DIY, all I had to do was cut open the packet and pour hot water into it slowly.  I took pictures for fun!


Before I poured water into it
After adding water, waiting for it to sip through
So the coffee is definitely not as bitter as any other coffee I've ever had before.  In fact, it kind of had a sweet flavor, but very very mild.  I was told that I should not have any creamer or sugar with it because of the unique flavor.  Adding other things would just make it taste like regular coffee.  I really had a hard time drinking it, because it didn't taste particularly good to me.  Maybe it's because I don't normally drink coffee.  But I found it painful to drink on its own.  It's very possible though, that I made it wrong (maybe I don't know how to pour hot water properly - too much water?  Too little?  Poured too fast?  Too slow?).  And I also believe it probably would taste much better at an actual coffee shop.  But that was my experience with the most expensive coffee in the world!  I would not pay $2 for it.  Hahaha. 


7 comments:

  1. I give you kudos for even trying it, the process of how it is made would be enough to make me turn my nose up at it.

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  2. Hahaha I had to just not think about that part! Since it looked like regular coffee, it wasn't that hard to forget...

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  3. The animal that poops the coffe beans is not a bird. Is a Luwak, a species of "Asian Palm civet". Native to southeast Asia and Indonesia, this palm civet subsists on fruits, in particular the fleshy, red cherry of the coffee tree, which grows abundantly in those parts of the world.

    Kopi: Indonesian Word for coffee.
    Luwak: The animal.

    Kopi luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between US $100 and $600 per pound. The specialty Vietnamese weasel coffee, which is made by collecting coffee beans eaten by wild civets, is sold at $6600 per kilogram ($3000 per pound).
    Thought you might to know how :-)

    By the way, I LOVE your blog and read it often!

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  4. Wow! I really wanna try Kopi Luwak ever since I heard about it from a friend. She's been to Bali once and she told me that it was a lot better than Seattle's Best and heck, even Starbucks itself! By the way, you can also try Coffee Alamid. It's been featured in Oprah because of its rich chocolatey aroma and taste. I think it's now considered as the second most expensive coffe in the world next to Kopi Luwak!

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  5. Hmmm Coffee Alamid sounds yum! I will look for it. Thanks! =)

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  6. If somone would like to try Weasek Kopi Luwak I found out the company who selling this coffee.

    weaselcoffee.co.uk

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  7. Are you sure this coffee was a original one ??. It is really hard to find a good quality kopi luwak that live on natural diet. I also tried Weasel Kopi Luwak ( I hope that was original one) and was really delicious but I am not a barist.

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