Throughout the world there are different types of coffee with different characteristics that mean that its price can range from very low prices to some exorbitant ones. Today we are going to talk about most expensive coffee in the world. This is the Kopi luwak. It is a coffee and it is prepared with grains collected from the feces of civets. Although it may seem somewhat gross at first glance, civet feces can provide an exquisite flavor for the creation of coffee beans. However, this expensive type of coffee hides very dark secrets.
Therefore, we are going to dedicate this article to tell you all the characteristics and secrets of the most expensive coffee in the world.
The most expensive coffee in the world
It seems somewhat ironic that the most expensive coffee in the world is made from excrement. In order to create this coffee, the civet must eat coffee beans and partially digest them and then defecate. The civet are animals that somewhat resemble degrees. Since the extraction of these coffee beans to make Kopi luwak is so rare, a single coffee can cost up to $ 80 in the United States.
The civet is an endemic animal to Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It is an animal that has a long tail like monkeys and has some facial markings similar to that of the raccoon. Its body is covered in stripes or spots that differentiate it from other animals. The role of the civet in the ecological balance and the food chain is quite important. This is because their diet is based mainly on insects, small reptiles and fruits such as coffee berries and mangoes.
This animal is preyed upon by predatory animals such as leopards, large snakes, and crocodiles. For all these reasons, the civet becomes a fundamental animal for the ecological balance of natural ecosystems.
Trade with the civet
As expected, if the human being discovers an activity that can leave great economic benefits, the origin or the environment does not matter. Knowing that these highly valued coffee beans can be obtained through the faeces of the civet has led to an illegal trade and hunting of the civet. At first the most expensive coffee trade in the world was a harbinger of good things for these animals.
The palm civet is frequently an animal that invades commercial fruit farms and is considered a pest in Indonesia. However, thanks to the development of the Kopi luwak industry, the locals began to protect these mammals for their valuable droppings. And it is that the digestive enzymes that these animals have are capable of modifying the protein structures of coffee beans. Thanks to these digestive enzymes, some of the typical acidity of coffee beans can be eliminated and a drink with a much milder taste can be prepared.
However, such the fame that civet coffee has developed that Indonesia has become a very popular destination with tourists. The problem for tourists who want to interact with wildlife is that more and more wild civets end up caged and located in coffee plantations. Apart from the production of coffee, numerous benefits are also generated thanks to tourists curious to meet these mammals.
All this has triggered a succession of events that put the civet in danger and cause overexploitation of the species. Various investigations were carried out and each plantation visited was found to be and met the basic requirements of animal welfare by the researchers. Some cages that the civets were locked in were smaller than want hutches. What's more, they were completely saturated with urine and feces everywhere.
Some very delicate civets were also found due to the fact that They restricted his diet to only coffee berries to increase the production of the world's most expensive coffee. On the other hand, other civets suffered from obesity since they could not move freely. Some were intoxicated with caffeine and the most terrible thing of all was the wire floor where many animals had to sit and sleep all day.
The secret of the most expensive coffee in the world
As expected, human beings overexploit everything that generates large-scale economic benefits. Such is the situation for the civet that it is better that we had never discovered that its fish can generate the most expensive coffee in the world. Not only is there excess exploited species to be able to obtain a large economic return, but their health is damaged.
It has also been discovered that many of the civets that are kept in captivity They do not have clean water nor do they have the opportunity to interact with other civets. Normally they are all exposed to the daytime noise of traffic and tourists, which particularly disturbs these nocturnal animals. This secret behind the most expensive coffee in the world is what makes us see that human beings have no regrets as long as an activity generates economic benefits.
Some scientific studies corroborate that the wild civet select and eat only the best coffee berries. This makes keeping them in cages and fed with any berry causes a production of a product with inferior quality. A coffee expert cited in an article that the Kopi luwak was not a coffee of such quality either since the conditions in which the civets live do not create the right conditions for a good coffee. Experts affirm that although the digestive process of civets softens the flavor of the coffee, it also eliminates the acidity that is desired and the characteristic flavor of a cup of coffee.
There is also no exact way to know if a Kopi luwak bag has been produced by wild civets or in captivity. Keep in mind that quality drops significantly.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the most expensive coffee in the world and its hidden secrets.