There is a repulsive charm to the story of this black beast called the Kopi Luwak. The creature itself is very shy which is why it wanders only at night among coffee plantations choosing the choicest cherries for itself. It selects only the ripest fruits to eat but the problem here is that it does not spit out the seeds and it cannot digest stone which is why the seeds are eliminated in its feces. It’s ironical that the most expensive coffee in the world has turned out to be crap coffee literally.
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The coffee bean undergoes some sort of fermentation within the civet’s digestive system. The most amazing thing found regarding coffee seeds from civet poop is that there are negligible amounts of bacterial organisms in the feces. The endocarp of the cherry is partially digested and this is what farmers collect when they find clumps of the pop left behind in the plantations.
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The collected coffee endocarp is washed thoroughly to eliminate any remaining bacteria and is then roasted which is also removes further traces of bacteria. Combined with the possible musk imparted by the animal anal glands and the roasting is what gives the coffee its aromatic musky flavor of exotic roasted coffee.
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The biggest tragedy about such a situation is that when people go wise to the massive popularity of the civet poop coffee and its worldwide demand. Local farmers resorted to trapping civets and keeping them caged for the sole purpose of feeding them cherries to collect their poop. Reports abounded about how civets were force-fed with coffee fruits. There are cruel farms existing in Indonesia where poached animals are reared in the most sordid conditions becoming only tools for greedy farmers.
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