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The peculiar origin of the most expensive coffee in the world
Coffee is the most consumed beverage in developed countries, being Finland the country that consumes it the most all over the world. This industry, in continuous expansion, also has its more ostentatious side and among the millions of types that there are of this traditional product, which many use as a combatant of the hours of sleep, is the most expensive variety: the café coffee luwak, from Indonesia. The Kopi Luwak or civet coffee owes its name to an Indonesian civet known as the Luwak.
A curious origin
To be the most expensive coffee in the world, it must have qualities that have nothing to do with the rest of the coffee industries around the world. And the truth is that the kopi luwak has a characteristic that differentiates it from the others: the exorbitant price This coffee is largely justified by its peculiar mode of production, since it comes from the excrement of the civet.
This animal eats coffee beans as part of its daily diet. The beans are digested and expelled through the feces and in theory your body only processes the fleshy part of the fruit, so the coffee bean remains intact after digestion. It appears that the ability of the civet to choose the product (it only digests the best quality beans, that is, the reddest and ripest) together with fermentation, it produces beans with a unique aroma and flavor that only a select gourmet public knows how to value and distinguish.
Obtaining this coffee follows a very meticulous process. First the agglutinated grains that are defecated by this animal are collected and then they are washed, obtaining the grains with their greenish skin. Later they are peeled and toasted. Unlike other coffee beans, these have already been subjected to a chemical process (which takes place in the stomach of the civet) and therefore the roasting that these beans will require will be considerably less. Finally they are ground to get this much demanded product.
An exorbitant price?
Apparently, this coffee is one of the most famous in Indonesia, where the cup may be around 4 euros. However, it is estimated that this coffee in Europe or America reaches 90 euros, a figure that makes it the most expensive coffee in the world. But two reasons could have been found to justify its high price. Their mode of production, not only by faeces but also by coming from a wild animal, and the shortage of the product: they are produced annually around 500 kg.
And if in Indonesia they have this coffee, in Brazil they have nothing to envy the kopi luwak. There they produce the “guan coffee”, Which comes from a galliform bird that eats local coffee beans. Like civets in Indonesia, the jacu chooses the best grains, of which only the pulp and skin are used. Unlike civet coffee, which ranges between 400 and 900 euros per kilo, jocu’s coffee is around 125 euros.