Kopi Luwak - Cat Coffee

Kopi Luwak is colloquially known as cat coffee.
The brand name Kopi Luwak comes from Indonesia from the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi. Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee. Musang luwak is the Indonesian name for wild spotted musang - a creeping cat species.

The spotted musang feeds on the fruits of the coffee plant as well as other fruits. From the coffee fruits, however, it can only digest the pulp, the beans are excreted again and collected by the locals. It is helpful here that the creeping cats always visit their "litter box" in the same place. The beans are then washed and lightly roasted. They served the locals as "substitute coffee", since the then very valuable and laboriously cultivated plantation coffee was intended exclusively for colonialists and export.

Kopi Luwak is very expensive nowadays - in Europe in 2012 the roasted beans were retailing from 220 euros / kilogram.
So, since it is possible to earn good money with Kopi Luwak, some locals catch a spotted musang, feed it with coffee cherries and do not keep it species-appropriate in a small cage. Animal welfare organizations complain that tens of thousands of animals are now kept extremely cramped in battery cages.

But how does this cat coffee taste at all? British actor John Cleese perceives it as "earthy, musty, mild, syrupy, rich and with undertones of jungle and chocolate.