Location of the countries that are geographically Indonesia right on the equator makes the area rich in natural resources including rich flora and fauna that has been and continues to develop into part of the national culture of Indonesia.
Diversity contained in the Earth Indonesia Indonesia has made the country more value to other countries. Rooted cultural diversity and develop to create and contribute greatly to the uniqueness of Indonesia.
Ting that we as a nation of Indonesia to always maintain and sustain the greatest gift is for sustainability to continue to be enjoyed by all Indonesian people in general and the world community at large.
One of the natural wealth of Indonesia which has a high economic value and cultures that together we need to keep and preserve is a Luwak coffee. Where at the time of its existence has been very rare because of narrowing of coffee plantations and declining animal populations Civet since eroded by the growth of human populations.
In this site we invite you to jointly explore the uniqueness and charm offered by the civet coffee, of course, while enjoying a hot cup of coffee mongoose ........
Minggu, 13 Maret 2011
Minggu, 10 Oktober 2010
Taste of Kopi Luwak Coffee
When a Kopi Luwak coffee bean, the world’s most expensive coffee, comes out the other end of a large cat after it’s been eaten by the animal – called a civet or Luwak – the micro-structural properties of the beans are altered, according to new research by a University of Guelph scientist published in Food Research International.
They’re harder, more brittle and darker in colour than the same type of bean that hasn’t been eaten and digested by the three- to 10-pound tree-climbing animal found in Ethiopia and Indonesia. “The changes in the beans show that during transit through the civet’s GI track, various digestive biochemicals are actually penetrating the outer coffee cherry and reaching the actual bean surface, where a chemical colour change takes place,” said Massimo Marcone, author of “Composition and properties of Indonesian palm civet coffee (Kopi Luwak) and Ethiopian civet coffee.” Marcone is an adjunct professor in the Department of Food Science.
Marcone travelled to Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2003 to collect the rare coffee beans that cost $600 a pound. “During the night, the civet uses its eyesight and smell to seek out and eat only the ripest coffee cherries,” he said. “The coffee cherry fruit is completely digested by the Luwak, but the beans are excreted in their feces.”
The internal fermentation by digestive enzymes adds a unique flavour to the beans, which Marcone said has been described as “earthy, musty, syrupy, smooth and rich with jungle and chocolate undertones.”
Since people are paying $50 for each cup of Kopi Luwak, he wanted to determine whether or not they are actually getting a different kind of coffee. In addition to the differences in size, colour and hardness of the bean, he found that the lack of protein in the bean results in its superior taste.
“The civet beans are lower in total protein, indicating that during digestion, proteins are being broken down and are also leached out of the bean,” said Marcone. “Since proteins are what make coffee bitter during the roasting process, the lower levels of proteins decrease the bitterness of Kopi Luwak coffee.”
In the coffee industry, wet processed or fermented coffees are known to have superior flavour to dry-processed coffee, he said. “When coffee cherries are processed through the digestive track, they actually undergo a type of wet processing due to acidification in the stomach and fermentation due to the natural intestinal microflora. Lactic acid bacteria are preferred in wet processing systems. Lactic acid bacteria happen to be major colonizing bacteria in the civet’s digestive track.” The unique Kopi Luwak flavour could be due to the type of wet process the beans undergo in the animal’s digestive tracks, he said.
Although certified blinded human tasters could find little difference in the overall flavour and aroma of the beans, an electronic nose machine could detect that the aroma of the civet coffee beans is also affected.
So it tastes good, but is the coffee, having travelled trough an animal’s digestive track, safe to drink? Marcone found that although civet coffee beans are significantly more contaminated than regular beans, the civet beans on the market are actually quite clean. “Civet beans are typically extensively washed under running water after collection, which dislodges bacteria,” he said.
They’re harder, more brittle and darker in colour than the same type of bean that hasn’t been eaten and digested by the three- to 10-pound tree-climbing animal found in Ethiopia and Indonesia. “The changes in the beans show that during transit through the civet’s GI track, various digestive biochemicals are actually penetrating the outer coffee cherry and reaching the actual bean surface, where a chemical colour change takes place,” said Massimo Marcone, author of “Composition and properties of Indonesian palm civet coffee (Kopi Luwak) and Ethiopian civet coffee.” Marcone is an adjunct professor in the Department of Food Science.
Marcone travelled to Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2003 to collect the rare coffee beans that cost $600 a pound. “During the night, the civet uses its eyesight and smell to seek out and eat only the ripest coffee cherries,” he said. “The coffee cherry fruit is completely digested by the Luwak, but the beans are excreted in their feces.”
The internal fermentation by digestive enzymes adds a unique flavour to the beans, which Marcone said has been described as “earthy, musty, syrupy, smooth and rich with jungle and chocolate undertones.”
Since people are paying $50 for each cup of Kopi Luwak, he wanted to determine whether or not they are actually getting a different kind of coffee. In addition to the differences in size, colour and hardness of the bean, he found that the lack of protein in the bean results in its superior taste.
“The civet beans are lower in total protein, indicating that during digestion, proteins are being broken down and are also leached out of the bean,” said Marcone. “Since proteins are what make coffee bitter during the roasting process, the lower levels of proteins decrease the bitterness of Kopi Luwak coffee.”
In the coffee industry, wet processed or fermented coffees are known to have superior flavour to dry-processed coffee, he said. “When coffee cherries are processed through the digestive track, they actually undergo a type of wet processing due to acidification in the stomach and fermentation due to the natural intestinal microflora. Lactic acid bacteria are preferred in wet processing systems. Lactic acid bacteria happen to be major colonizing bacteria in the civet’s digestive track.” The unique Kopi Luwak flavour could be due to the type of wet process the beans undergo in the animal’s digestive tracks, he said.
Although certified blinded human tasters could find little difference in the overall flavour and aroma of the beans, an electronic nose machine could detect that the aroma of the civet coffee beans is also affected.
So it tastes good, but is the coffee, having travelled trough an animal’s digestive track, safe to drink? Marcone found that although civet coffee beans are significantly more contaminated than regular beans, the civet beans on the market are actually quite clean. “Civet beans are typically extensively washed under running water after collection, which dislodges bacteria,” he said.
Rabu, 06 Oktober 2010
Sumatran Kopi Luwak
On our Sumatran civet farm, located in the Lampung province, civets dine on a fine strain of Arabica Typica, producing a bright and light-bodied brew, absolutely free of any bitterness, with a truly incredible and persistent aftertaste. We have never experienced a coffee with such a delightful aftertaste, drifting back into your awareness like a pleasant daydream and taking you once again to coffee nirvana.
Farmed civets are kept in cages at night but allowed to roam protected courtyards during the day, where they can "forage" for the coffee beans hidden for them to find by the farmers. The farmer selects beans for the civet to eat. The civets become quite tame and can be handled and accept treats from their caretaker's hand, and their population is preserved by the farm's breeding programs.
How is this coffee different from Coffee Alamid?
- Farm-raised civets
- Pure Arabica Typica
- Lighter roast
- Lighter flavor
Civet lapping coconut milk from a
saucer during his daily playtime
Minggu, 16 Mei 2010
Kopi Luwak
Kopi luwak (Indonesian [ˈkopi ˈlu.ak]), or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract.[1] A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, having kept their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world.
Kopi luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and also in the Philippines (where the product is called motit coffee in the Cordillera and kape alamid in Tagalog areas) and also in East Timor (where it is called kafé-laku). Weasel coffee is a loose English translation of its name cà phê Chồn in Vietnam, where popular, chemically simulated versions are also produced.
Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee. Luwak is a local name of the Asian palm civet in Sumatra. Palm civets are primarily frugivorous, feeding on berries and pulpy fruits such as from ficus trees and palms. Civets also eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds.[2].
When coffee plants are put into civet habitats, the civets forage on only the ripest and sweetest berries. Hence, farmers would often find their best coffee berries missing in the morning after civets had been feeding and they were seen as pests. Meanwhile farmers hoping to save their crop gathered the civet droppings and found these beans, which were darkened and more brittle, yielded a coffee with unusual taste and lack of bitterness.
Early production began when beans were gathered in the wild from where a civet would defecate as a means to mark its territory. On farms, civets are either caged or allowed to roam within defined boundaries.[1]
Coffee berries are eaten by a civet for their fruit pulp. After spending about a day and a half in the civet's digestive tract[3] the beans are then defecated in clumps, having kept their shape and still covered with some of the fleshy berry's inner layers. They are gathered, thoroughly washed, sun dried and given only a light roast so as to keep the many intertwined flavors and lack of bitterness yielded inside the civet.
Kopi luwak is a name for many specific cultivars and blends of arabica, robusta, liberica, excelsa or other beans eaten by civets, hence the taste can vary greatly. Nonetheless, kopi luwak coffees have a shared aroma profile and flavor characteristics, along with their lack of bitterness. Coffee critic Chris Rubin has said, "The aroma is rich and strong, and the coffee is incredibly full bodied, almost syrupy. It’s thick with a hint of chocolate, and lingers on the tongue with a long, clean aftertaste."[3]
Kopi luwak tastes unlike heavy roasted coffees, since roasting levels range only from cinnamon color to medium, with little or no caramelization of sugars within the beans as happens with heavy roasting. Moreover, kopi luwaks which have very smooth profiles are most often given a lighter roast. Iced kopi luwak brews may bring out some flavors not found in other coffees.
Sumatra is the world's largest regional producer of kopi lowak. Sumatran civet coffee beans are mostly an early arabica variety cultivated in the Indonesian archipelago since the seventeenth century. Tagalog cafe alamid (or alamid cafe) comes from civets fed on a mixture of coffee beans and is sold in the Batangas region along with gift shops near airports in the Philippines.
Research by food scientist Massimo Marcone at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada showed that the civet's endogenous digestive secretions seep into the beans. These secretions carry proteolytic enzymes which break down the beans' proteins, yielding shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Since the flavor of coffee owes much to its proteins, there is a hypothesis that this shift in the numbers and kinds of proteins in beans after being swallowed by civets brings forth their unique flavor. The proteins are also involved in non-enzymatic Maillard browning reactions brought about later by roasting. Moreover, whilst inside a civet the beans begin to germinate by malting which also lowers their bitterness.[4][5][3]
[edit] Safety
At the outset of his research Marcone doubted the safety of kopi luwak. However, he found that after the thorough washing, levels of harmful organisms were insignificant. Roasting at high temperature has been cited as making the beans further safe after washing.[3]
[edit] Economics
Kopi luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between US $100 and $600 per pound.[1] It is sold by weight mainly in Japan[citation needed] and the United States and served in Southeast Asian coffeehouses by the cup. Sources vary widely as to annual worldwide production.[6]
[edit] Sales by the cup
In November 2006 Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms, a small cafe in the hills outside Townsville in Queensland, Australia, put kopi luwak coffee on its menu at AUD50.00 (US $33.00) a cup, selling about seven cups a week, which gained nationwide Australian and international press.[7] In April 2008 the brasserie at Peter Jones department store in London's Sloane Square began selling a blend of kopi luwak and Blue Mountain called Caffe Raro for £50 (US $99.00) a cup.[8]
[edit] Simulated civet coffee
Civet coffee is a popular coffeehouse drink in Vietnam, where producers make simulated civet coffee.
In 1996 German scientists hired by Trung Nguyen Coffee Company in Viet Nam isolated six digestive enzymes in the civet's digestive tract and a patented synthetic soak with these enzymes was developed to simulate the natural effect. Trung Nguyen's simulated product is called Legendee and is often the first kopi luwak-like coffee tasted by tourists in Southeast Asia.[9]
Some kopi luwak simulations are not enzyme soaks but rather, roasts of high quality beans with added flavorings.
[edit] Kopi muncak
Kopi muncak (or kopi muntjak) is made from the dung of barking deer (muntjac) found throughout Southeast Asia. Unlike civet coffee, Kopi muncak is mostly gathered in the wild, chiefly in Malaysia and the Indonesian Archipelago.
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