Posted on January 10, 2011 // 2 Comments

In the islands of Indonesia you will discover that they have this way of producing the most unique gourmet coffee of the world. It is called Kopi Luwak by the natives of Indonesia, otherwise known as Civet coffee by the English people. This type of coffee is also known as Motit coffee in the Cordillera region and Kape Alamid in the Tagalog region in the Philippines. In East Timor, they call this coffee as Kafe Laku. Whatever the name of this coffee is, there is one thing that makes it distinct from all other types of coffee ion the world – it is actually the rarest and the most expensive coffee in the whole wide world.

Kape Alamid is known in the Philippines because of its origin – the Philippine civets. These animals are locally known in the Philippines where it is commonly known as Alamid. “Kape” is the Filipino term for coffee, thus the name “Kape Alamid” stands for Civet coffee in English, Kapi Luwak in Indonesia, and so on.

These civets only eat the ripest and red coffee berries. Only the pulp of the fruit is eaten but the beans are left undigested in the stomach of these animals. These undigested coffee beans will be released by these animals in the form of fecal matters and this is where Civet coffee actually comes from. It may sound strange and somewhat hilarious but it is actually the truth.

These animals are not able to digest the hard coffee beans so they are graciously deposited in the jungle and in the forest where they are painstakingly collected by the farmers. One by one, each civet dropping counts. That’s how precious these beans are.

These civet droppings are easily distinguished by the farmers because they usually appear in clumps.

The civets usually feed on the finest coffee berries from the finest Philippine Arabica coffee, Liberica, Excelsa, and Robusta coffees. These types of coffee produce a distinct sweet and chocolaty aroma that brings the senses to greater heights. While the undigested coffee beans stay inside the civet’s stomach, digestive acids and enzymes take into action that makes the fermentation process of the beans. These digestive actions remove the bitter taste and the caffeine content of the beans, thus making them as the world’s rarest and most unique type of gourmet coffee.

Kape Alamid is limited when it comes to its production. An average of 1,000 pounds or 450 kg only makes it into the world market. But this coffee actually costs a fortune. Would you believe that a cup of this rare coffee amounts to A$50? This is true is true in some places of Queensland, Australia. In fact, the international press in Australia has crated a staggering amount of A$5 million worth of media attention. That’s how famous Kape Alamid really is!

Kape Alamid is mainly sold in Japan and in the United States by weight. They are mainly served in coffee shops in most parts of Southeast Asia and are increasingly available in many places.

Category : Blog