Civet coffee, aka Kopi luwak, sounds like an interesting concept at first glance. Coffee made from beans that have been partially digested by the Asian palm civet, a weasel-like member of the Viverridae family (they aren’t cats, but they look a bit similar, hence the “cat poop coffee” name). Civet coffee amateurs argue that this coffee is better because special enzymes and fermentation processes inside the civet’s digestive tract apparently improves the “flavor profile” of the coffee.
It all sounds good as long as you imagine the animals running around the Indonesian jungle, eating coffee beans as they please, and then workers walking around trying to locate civet droppings that contain that rare poop-coffee. It sounds like an Indiana Jones quest…
But the reality is otherwise, sadly. The high popularity of this coffee, combined with its high price, has created an industry that shouldn’t exist. See for yourself:
A PETA Asia investigator visited several civet coffee farms and villages in Indonesia and the Philippines, two of the world’s top producers of kopi luwak. Undercover footage from these farms, some of which advertise their coffee as “wild-sourced”, shows sick civets suffering from skin infections and exhibiting signs of zoochosis, a condition in which captive animals display neurotic behaviour such as pacing, spinning and bobbing their heads – indications that the animals are going insane from boredom and depression.
Products are often mislabeled as “wild-sourced”
puf
It all sounds good as long as you imagine the animals running around the Indonesian jungle, eating coffee beans as they please, and then workers walking around trying to locate civet droppings that contain that rare poop-coffee. It sounds like an Indiana Jones quest…
But the reality is otherwise, sadly. The high popularity of this coffee, combined with its high price, has created an industry that shouldn’t exist. See for yourself:
A PETA Asia investigator visited several civet coffee farms and villages in Indonesia and the Philippines, two of the world’s top producers of kopi luwak. Undercover footage from these farms, some of which advertise their coffee as “wild-sourced”, shows sick civets suffering from skin infections and exhibiting signs of zoochosis, a condition in which captive animals display neurotic behaviour such as pacing, spinning and bobbing their heads – indications that the animals are going insane from boredom and depression.
Products are often mislabeled as “wild-sourced”
puf