If you think the Pink Sauce was disgusting due to questions arising regarding safety standards, kopi luwak will seem downright gross. Except, unlike the Pink Sauce, this is actually tasty and worth the money. Kopi luwak is made from coffee beans that civet cats eat and then excrete. The flavor profile ranges from nutty to fishy, and can sell at 100 times the price of a regular brew. But why is this coffee so coveted?
Scientists have discovered two compounds used to flavor dairy products. These compounds give the coffee its unique taste. It is originally produced in Indonesia. Asian palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) consume coffee cherries or fruits from shrubs, and then the coffee seed or beans are collected from their feces.
Although we enjoy this luxury item, civets pay an even heftier price. They are caged under inhumane conditions, and animal-welfare activists have raised serious concerns over this. Zoologist Palatty Allesh Sinu at the Central University of Kerala in India says, “Once we know the enzymes involved in digestion and fermentation, we may be able to artificially make civet coffee.” The scientist and his team collected coffee beans from the poo of civet cats in the Kodagu district of Kerala, India, to examine what makes this coffee special.
A 2004 study on kopi luwak found that it is pitted and brittle due to the effects of gastric juices. It also has greater fat content than regular roasted coffee beans. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the scientists compared regular coffee beans with kopi luwak. They found excess levels of caprylic and capric acids, which are fatty acids that contribute a goat-like flavor to dairy products. The coffee beans undergo fermentation in civet cats, facilitated by Gluconobacter gut bacteria, whose enzymes play a significant role in this transformation. Although fatty acids make this coffee taste unique, these are not the only components that contribute to its taste. Further research will uncover further secrets about kopi luwak.
Civets selectively eat riper, larger coffee cherries, which can affect the test. Sinu has done his work on Robusta coffee, a local variety grown in that region. Research on Arabica coffee is needed, as it is the variety used to produce civet cat coffee. The effect of roasting on the fat content of this coffee bean needs further research.
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