Luwak Coffee – One of the Most Expensive Coffee in the World

Trying Luwak coffee was one of top things on my bucket list I created before coming to Indonesia.

First of all, I personally am a coffee lover and I love my coffee in black. Just black. I like them dark and strong because of their flavors. Another thing is that it’s not healthy if you add other ingredients like milk, cream, sugar, etc. That gave me more reasons to drink my coffee black.

My point here is that I love tasting coffee the way they are without adding any other ingredients, so Luwak coffee was automatically on my list because of how it is well-known for its taste and how it is produced based on my researches and the sayings by the Indonesian locals I met.

Luwak is an Asian Palm Civet, also known as ‘toddy cat’ that eats only the prime coffee (kopi) cherries chosen by itself, intact, ripe and clean.

Through their digestion, they will process the cherries into coffee beans. Once they drop their poops in their cages, crew will collect them and bring them in to apply standard sanitation and hygiene but they preserve its natural, exotic taste and smell.

That’s why the Luwak coffee is very famous. It has become the preferred and prime choice of coffee lovers around the world. They really enjoy the superb, natural, exotic taste and smell.

Not only that, they are extremely expensive because of the process they made through the Luwaks. Even it would cost you around $40-$50 US Dollars for a small package that contains 100 grams (3oz).

When I told about this to couple of friends I met at a hostel in Bali, she was willing to take me to the company that would give me a tour to their coffee garden and a round of tasting coffees, teas and chocolates.

They decided to take us there via bike because they were able to lend me an extra bike from the hostel.

The bike ride was supposed to be nearly an hour, but I was so fast that I actually arrived in around 20 minutes!

Wait, is that even possible?

Have you seen Fast and Furious series? Well, I watched these movies so many times that I taught myself how to drive like them. That’s how I could drive so fast and arrived there in 20 minutes. =P

Not really, you know how I am… I exaggerate everything… Literally! Don’t forget that.. =P

The bike ride was around 40-50 minutes anyways. As soon as I arrived at the tour office, the owner was there and we hit off a brief conversation. My Deafness didn’t bother him at all, and he was very inviting. He brought me into a tour to the coffee garden where they grew different coffee beans and cocoas such as:

• Arabica Coffee
• Bali Coffee
• Rodusta Coffee
• Bali Cocoa
• and many more I can’t remember.

They would also show you how they harvest the beans, so you would be able to get an idea of how they decide when their beans are ready to be roasted, grounded and brewed.

By the way, I did saw a huge ass spider on the way through the garden, I was actually creeped out—I personally have Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)—but I was in awe of it because of how big it was. I could see its claws from its mouth plus its long and thin legs from its body. I quickly walked away anyways because I couldn’t stand looking at it any longer.

After that, I passed by the cage where they had Luwak climbing around. They were so adorable, so I took the time to take few good pictures. They were very entertaining to watch though.

Next part of the tour had three huge wooden bucket with Bali, Luwak, and Robusta coffee along with two procedures that had a man roast beans and then they will pass it on to another man who will ground the beans into powder. That’s when they would brew the coffee after it completed its process of roasting and grounding.

It was quite interesting learning how they process their coffee before they package them and sell them to the public.

I sat down under a pavilion where they served me numerous cups of different coffees including some teas. They took me through their teas first. I was truly mind-blown when I was going through different flavors and tastes of their teas. The flavor did come a variety of strong tastes like lemon, ginger, orange, raspberry and few more. I personally was impressed with their raspberry teas because of how well-balanced it is with their tea and the sweetness in the flavor.

When they finally brought in the coffee, I could smell the cups of coffee just five feet away. That was when I knew that I still had the genes of my super-smelling abilities from the dog in my previous life.

Does it smell any good, you ask?

HECK YES!

However, Luwak wasn’t even free although other coffees and teas were free. I was surprised that it wasn’t free. That was when I discovered that there were another farms that offer free samples of Luwak coffee.

Although I could have bought two nice and big meals instead of purchasing this sample of Luwak coffee, but it was worth paying to taste though. I tried their coffees first before the Luwak coffee came in. None of the coffees were as tasty as Luwak coffee.

Main thing about tasting the Luwak coffee was that it was really dark and strong, especially in black. It tasted the best although I could taste the coffee ground which they didn’t filter out well. That didn’t bother me much though.

Throughout the tasting session I had at the tour, I was talking with the owner about the business he was running with the tour company and their coffee garden (or in their words, farms).

He explained to me that he collects evaluation through free sampling to tourists and local visitors to keep improving their taste. They only charge people to taste Luwak coffee, but he did tell me that there are few other farms that do offer free sampling to Luwak coffee (I wished I had known about this beforehand, but I’m glad I paid to give support to locals.)

They started as a family business and it went down through generations because they recognize the high-demand in Luwak coffee in local visitors and international tourists.

They offer not just Luwak coffee, but also few other coffees, teas and chocolates to spread out their reach of customers. They wanted to give a range of options to get ahead of their competition because many of those do not offer that as they offer only Lumak Coffee or few coffees.

Besides, they wanted to grow to become internationally known, but shipping costs are their biggest issue to figure out before they grow further.

Psst, They do have a nice gift shop where you can get some extra free samples of chocolate and fruits! 😉 Haha, you also can buy their coffee ground on a scale and many more gifts.