The origin of Kopi Luwak is closely related to the history of coffee cultivation in Indonesia. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Dutch opened commercial plantations in their colonies in the Dutch East Indies especially on the Java and Sumatra Island.
One of them is Arabica coffee seeds imported from Yemen. In the era of "Forced Cultivation" or Cultuurstelsel (1830-1870), the Dutch forbade indigenous plantation workers picking coffee for personal consumption, but locals wanted to try the famous coffee drink.
Then the plantation worker finally discovered that there was a kind of ferret that liked to eat coffee, but only the flesh was digested, the epidermis and the coffee beans were intact and undigested.
Coffee beans in civet droppings are then picked up, washed, roasted, crushed, then brewed with hot water, then created kopi luwak. The news about the enjoyment of aromatic coffee is finally smelled by the Dutch owners of plantations, then this coffee became a favorite of the Dutch rich. Due to its scarcity and unusual manufacturing process, Luwak coffee is an expensive coffee since colonial times.
Original Luwak Coffee
Luwak, or complete weasel mongoose, happy to find fruits that are quite good and cooked including coffee as a food. With a sensitive sense of smell, the mongoose will choose perfectly optimized coffee fruits as its food, and afterwards,
the coffee beans
that are still protected by hard and undigested skin will come out with civet droppings. This happens because the mongoose has a simple digestive system, so hard foods such as coffee beans are not digested. Luwak coffee beans like this, in the past until now often hunted coffee farmers, because it is believed to come from the best coffee beans and has been fermented naturally in the digestive system mongoose.
The aroma and flavor of Luwak coffee tastes special and perfect among fans and coffee lovers around the world.