Coffee Lovers!!!! Have you ever tried...

Kopi Luwak or even Kopi Muncak?

Amazingly, I almost did! Although, at the time I didn't know what it was.

I have to say I am conflicted now. Given it's popularity and it's, umm, uniqueness I feel regretful that I hadn't but, now that I do know how it is "processed" I am not sure I could knowingly attempt to try it.

 

I have had the beer brewed with it. My wife works at the local coffee roaster and the owner is quite into beer and (obviously) coffee. So yesterday I went down there to share my bottle of Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. I also took a bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout to try along side of it. The two of us, my wife and a couple of his employees drank them, and it was unanimous that the Founders was considerably better. The Weasel's aroma had slight chocolate but was dominated by alcohol, I got zero coffee from the nose. The flavor was pretty roasty with malt and alcohol flavors being pretty even in their intensity. I didn't get any coffee till the very end of the swallow and it certainly didn't stand out as a better than normal coffee. I would like to know what percentage of the coffee used in that beer was actually Kopi Luwak. Near the end I started to run into little chunks of a gelatinous texture. Not sure if this was bottle conditioned but it wasn't just yeast settlement and it certainly wasn't appealing.

Mikkeller is far better at novelty marketing than actually making great beer. They are extremely hit or miss. This beer was a brilliant gimmick, and right now the beer community is eating it up, but it will run its course in the next couple months and will no longer be the hot thing to get.

 

Yeah, that's just gross. I've heard of it, and would probably try it, but still gross.

 

Yep, I've tried it. Indonesian beans have a reputation for being 'funky' to begin with, though. It's a unique cup, for sure, but the price/lb is beyond criminal.

 

If I had the opportunity, I'd try it. But like flayangler says, the price is idiotic, so even if by some crazy off-chance you do find some, it'll be like paying for a glass of 40 year old first-growth Bordeaux.

 

They make their coffee with it just because they are too damn lazy to pick the beans themselves! Animal labor! ANIMAL LABOR!!!!

 

I might try some if it were free, but there are many, many things on my coffee want list above animal processed coffee.

 

My wife and I try to travel to Malaysia once every couple of years which is just across the strait from Indonesia. I have seen this stuff in quite a few places. Exchange rate is usually around 4:1 (3.5:1 currently) so, the price point becomes less rediculous in that it's more like a domestic StarBucks ( I know, I know).

But the concept.........

I think it'd be interesting to try and be able to say "Yeah, I have done that" but it's not something I'd hang a ribbon on.

 

I've been to Sumatra and tried the kopi they sell in restaurants and stalls. Funny as it seems, and given the fact that they grow some of the best coffee in the world, the stuff they sell is instant and looks like Nestles Quick and tastes terrible. I guess the good stuff is for export.

 

Nescafe' Classic Instant is a staple in my household for the makings of White Coffee, a favorite among Malays. It's horrible stuff when served black.

 

I haven't had it, but I've hear it tastes S-H-I-Tty.

 

I really want to try it but I can't justify the cost.

 

I saw a deal on discovery channel all about coffee. They talked about this stuff and sent it through a tasting panel. They said that it was rated the same as many low grade coffees. The quote that they ended with was "poop coffee tastes like poopy coffee"

Personally, I like Juan Valdez. My wife or I usually pick up several pounds whenever we go to Columbia.

 

I've had Brazilian Jacu Bird coffee. Same idea.

I think the reason the cat excriment coffee tastes bad is because the Palm Civet lives in a region that produces Robusto beans. In my experience, Rubosto beans taste like crap BEFORE a cat eats them.

On the other hand Jacu Birds live on farms that produce arabica beans. Since the birds have a taste for only the ripest beans, the farmers just go around and pick up the droppings instead of harvesting.

The Jacu Bird coffee was good. I don't think its nearly as expensive as the Palm Civet coffee either.

 

Had it, didn't like it.

But I'm a S. American junkie.. not a fan of Indo coffees.

 

There is another one that you missed:

Jacu Bird Turd Brew

As for cost per pound I think the Panama Esmeralda Geisha beans top the crop @ $125.00 per pound. And that is at raw green prices.

Panama Esmeralda Geisha

 

Well, aside from I had never heard of them before I hadn't really missed them. I was referring only to the ones that I have had the opportunity to pass on trying.

But still, it defies reason on how much can be paid by "otherwise normal" people to drink animal crap. It's kinda like picking out the bits of corn that don;t digest and marketing them as a "gourmet corn".

Boggles the mind on how acceptable this actually is.

 

The top lot this year went for $127 at auction...the roaster still needs to get it to his warehouse and add some markup

 

Wow, someone is getting ripped off there it seems.

Here is what Sweet Maria's has to say about the Jacu Bird coffee

Since it was in the archive, they didn't have any prices. I tried this coffee last fall in a class devoted to the cultivation, processing and brewing of coffee, tea, beer, wine and chocolate. Our professor actually bought and roasted all the coffee we tasted from Sweet Marias. If the price was any more than $10/lb green, I seriously doubt she would have bought it.