COFFEE TEA CACAO VANILLA
Luwak Coffee at the Spice Forest
The most expensive coffee in the world
I’m in Bali for ten days. I’ve hired Wesnawa, or Wes, a local, to show me around. After a morning of temple hopping and terraced rice fields, he surprised me with this stop.
On our return trip from Ulun Danu Beratan Temple and the rice terraces of Jatiluwih, Wes asks if I’d like to learn about luwak coffee, the most expensive coffee in the world.
Never heard of it so sure, I’m in.
As he eases the car into the car park, he tells me about the luwak, also called a civet.
“The luwak is a kind of cat that lives in the jungle. It likes sweet things — banana, mango and the red coffee bean. It eats the red, ripe coffee bean, which is sweet, but luwak cannot digest the bean itself; it poops the bean out. Workers go into the jungle and collect the luwak poop.
“They wash it thoroughly. The bean is protected by a coating, like cellophane, that is pinched to remove it, then the beans are roasted and ground. Then brewed into coffee.
“The coffee has a very distinctive taste, having gone through the luwak’s digestive tract, which ferments it before it is expelled.
“That gives the coffee a special taste,” says Wes.
We’re greeted by a young woman, Dewi, who takes us on a tour through the trails of this small farm.
She points out a cinnamon tree, picks a couple of leaves, folds and presses them between her fingers before handing them to me.
“Smell,” she says. Indeed, the leaves smell like cinnamon.
“We use the bark, of course, but the leaves have the same fragrance.” She smiles.
Further down the trail are coffee shrubs, but very few ripe red beans.
Roots: turmeric and ginger — both white and red. The white is stronger, spicier, used for cooking and teas, Dewi tells us. Hibiscus flowers are used for tea, but January is not the season for flowers.
Trees: clove, nutmeg trees, cacao. Though there are cacao fruit, it’s not the season for clove or nutmeg either.
There’s also a vanilla orchid, though it’s already bloomed and she shows me the beans produced. They’re long and green, something like green beans, though a bit fatter, and of course, the foliage is very different.
I use my “Picture This” app to identify one of the shrubs our guide has pointed out but it comes up as Ceylon spinach. Dewi shakes her head, no, that’s not right, it’s ginseng. It definitely resembles Ceylon spinach though, with its tiny purple flowers.
On the trail, we reach the Luwak cage. The cat is inside a wooden enclosure, just the right size for a cozy den.
Our guide uses a pliable stick to prod him awake — he’s a nocturnal being. I snap a photo and then he’s right back to sleep.
Dewi is quick to point out that they just keep two luwak in cages so that guests can see them.
“In the forest, you never see them. They sleep hidden away during the day.
“All luwak coffee come from wild luwak, all poop harvested from forest. Just two caged luwak for tourist to see.”
We make our way to the enclosure where baskets of bounty from the farm are on display. Dewi picks up a clean coffee bean between thumb and forefinger. She squeezes it a bit and the bean snaps free from its protective clear membrane.
So the bean passes through the digestive tract of the luwak without compromising that bit of “shrink wrap”.
She deposits the bean in the bin to be roasted, which is done in a wok.
It’s a brief tour.
“Would you like try some tea we make from spices and plants we grow here?” Dewi asks.
“Those are free, but luwak coffee is dear. That is 50,000 rupiah per cup.”
I tell her we’ll take two.
The “barista” serves a tray of 12 sample-size cups of coffees and teas flavored with spices, vanilla and chocolate grown here. Plus a regular Balinese coffee, and the precious luwak coffee.
Note: 50k rupiah is $3.20 USD.
Of the coffee combinations, I like the avocado and pandan flavors best.
The white ginger tea is surprisingly spicy.
There’s definitely a difference in the taste of the Bali and the luwak coffees. I’m not a coffee connoisseur; I do not have the language for the nuanced differences between coffees.
Which one did I like better? The luwak — it had more flavor, more body, a richness that the Bali coffee lacked.
But again, I’m not all that particular about my coffee. I confess, when traveling, I use instant.
I am, however, a cook and baker and I loved seeing the vanilla orchids, cacao, and root spices and spice trees growing in the wild.
On the way out, I purchase a selection of those.
How about you? Would you drink coffee made of beans that had gone through the digestive tract of a luwak?
Here’s a great story from Debra Urbacz in keeping with a nature theme: It’s all about bees.
