Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee which are coffee berries which have been regurgitated by local weasels. In actuality the "weasel" is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet. For the several U.S. counties named Coffee, see Coffee County. ... Species Coffea arabica - Arabica Coffee Coffea benghalensis - Bengal coffee Coffea canephora - Robusta coffee Coffea congensis - Congo coffee Coffea excelsa - Liberian coffee Coffea gallienii Coffea bonnieri Coffea mogeneti Coffea liberica - Liberian coffee Coffea stenophylla - Sierra Leonian coffee Coffea (coffee) is a genus of ten species of flowering plants in the family... For the Physics term GUT, please refer to Grand unification theory The gastrointestinal or digestive tract, also referred to as the GI tract or the alimentary canal or the gut, is the system of organs within multicellular animals which takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and... Binomial name Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Pallas, 1777) The Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), also known as the Common Palm Civet or the Toddy Cat, is a cat-sized mammal in the family Viverridae native to south-east Asia and southern China. ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia). ... Java (Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an island of Indonesia, and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... Sulawesi (formerly more commonly known as Celebes, IPA: a Portuguese-originated form of the name) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. ... For other uses, see Weasel (disambiguation). ...

Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between $120 and $600 USD per pound, and is sold mainly in Japan and United States, but it is increasingly becoming available elsewhere, though supplies are limited only 1,000 pounds at most make it into the world market each year (Pg 23, The Gospel According to Starbucks; Sweet). One small cafe, the Heritage Tea Rooms, in the hills outside Townsville in Queensland, Australia has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at A$50.00 per cup. The locals line up for it, and it has gained nationwide press. This, however, is the only place it is available in Australia. ^[1] USD redirects here. ... // The Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms comprise of an historical cafe and a self-contained holiday cabin located at the top of Herveys Range, approximately 45 km north-west of Townsville and 32 km north-west of Thuringowa, in North Queensland, Australia. ... ‎ The Strand CBD from Museum of Tropical Queensland, features Castle Hill in background Townsville (Postcodes: 4810-4819) is an urban centre on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. ... Slogan or Nickname: Sunshine State, Smart State Motto(s): Audax at Fidelis (Bold but Faithful) Other Australian states and territories Capital Brisbane Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Quentin Bryce Premier Anna Bligh (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 28  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $158,506 (3rd... ISO 4217 Code AUD User(s) Australia, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island Inflation 2. ...

A 2004 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare led to thousands of these civets in China being exterminated ^[2], ^[3], but the demand for the coffee was not affected. Severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS is a respiratory disease in humans which is caused by the SARS coronavirus. ...

Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee, and luwak is a local name of the Asian Palm Civet. The raw, red coffee berries are part of its normal diet, along with insects, small mammals, small reptiles, eggs and nestlings of birds, and other fruit. The inner bean of the berry is not digested, but it is believed that enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee's flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste. The beans are excreted still covered in some inner layers of the berry. The beans are washed, and given only a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors that develop through the process. Binomial name Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Pallas, 1777) The Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), also known as the Common Palm Civet or the Toddy Cat, is a cat-sized mammal in the family Viverridae native to south-east Asia and southern China. ... Orders Subclass Apterygota Archaeognatha (bristletails) Thysanura (silverfish) Subclass Pterygota Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic) Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Infraclass Neoptera Superorder Exopterygota Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera (angel insects) Dermaptera (earwigs) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (stick insects) Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Psocoptera... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of sweat glands, including those that produce milk, and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex... Reptilia redirects here. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Fruit (disambiguation). ... Ribbon diagram of the enzyme TIM, surrounded by the space-filling model of the protein. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ...

Some sources erroneously claim that the beans are regurgitated instead of defecated. In early days, the beans would be collected in the wild from a 'latrine', or a specific place where the civet would defecate as a means to mark its territory, and these latrines would be a predictable place for local gatherers to find the beans. More commonly today, captured civets are fed raw berries, the feces produced are then processed and the coffee beans offered for sale. A newly-developed synthetic process intended to simulate the civet's digestive system may decrease the demand for farmed beans. Horse feces Feces, faeces, or fæces (see spelling differences) is a waste product from an animals digestive tract expelled through the anus (or cloaca) during defecation. ...

A theory to justify this coffee's reputation proposes that the beans are of superior quality before they are even ingested; though this is not to say that the digestive enzymes play no role. At any given point during a harvest, some coffee berries are not quite- or over-ripe, while others are just right. The palm civet evolved as an omnivore that naturally eats fruit and passes undigested material as a natural link to disperse seeds in a forest ecosystem. Where coffee plants have been introduced into their habitat, civets forage on the most ripe berries, digest fleshy outer layer, and later excrete the seeds eventually used for human consumption. Thus, when the fruit is at its peak, the seeds (or beans) within are equally so, with the expectation that this will come through in the taste of a freshly-brewed cup. As this may be true for the beans derived from wild-collected civet feces, farm raised civets are likely fed beans of varying quality and ripeness, so one would expect the taste of farm-raised beans to be less.

Kopi Muntjak is a similar type of coffee produced from the feces of several species of barking deer, or Muntjac, that are found throughout Southeast Asia. Unlike civet or "weasel" coffee, this type is usually not produced from captive deer and most commonly collected in the wild, especially in Malaysia and in the Indonesian Archipelago. Species See text. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

References

1. ^ Most-Expensive.net - Most Expensive Coffee in the World
2. ^ BBC - 'Civet coffee' sells - despite SARS
3. ^ BBC - China confirms two new SARS cases

External links

• University of Guelph article on the effects of the digestive system on coffee beans
• Report on Guelph research
• USA Today article on civet coffee
• Civet coffee selling well despite SARS
• cbc.ca article on "cat poop coffee"
• In the Philippines
• Foreign Correspondent - 11/09/2007: Sumatra - Extreme Coffee, television broadcast on Foreign Correspondent