Have any of you tried this before?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

I have had it twice. The first time I intended to just watch some of my co-workers drink it until they told me it was surprisingly good. So I tried it, and it's very rich and dark. The beans sell for a few hundred dollars a pound.

It's served dripping into sweetened condensed milk (which I think is a common Vietnamese way to serve any type of coffee, but I could be wrong).


I'm curious what other places around might have it. I know Lotus Leaf Cafe in Cary has it, but it isn't listed on the menu. Maybe most Vietnamese restaurants would carry it and just not list it too. Not that I'd order it all the time, but it's an interesting thing to goad other people into trying.

12/16/2010 10:11:25 AM

I had no idea you could get this in the area. I may have to try it.

12/16/2010 10:15:46 AM

I only found out they had it because one of our writers interviewed the owner (or manger or something) at the restaurant and he told him about it.

12/16/2010 10:17:09 AM

Quote :

"The beans sell for a few hundred dollars a pound."

[pass]

12/16/2010 10:26:56 AM

A cup of it is $8 I think. Expensive, but not prohibitively so just to try it once.

12/16/2010 10:28:34 AM

i don't like normal coffee

i don't think poop coffee is gonna change my mind on that

12/16/2010 10:31:31 AM

I've heard it's supposed to be really smooth.

12/16/2010 10:33:02 AM

sorry but "smooth poop coffee" isn't going to start my morning off the way i'd like

12/16/2010 12:57:18 PM

i don't know, a "smooth coffee poop" is how i LIKE to start my morning

12/16/2010 12:59:27 PM

just reminds me of the bucket list.
maybe before I die.

12/16/2010 1:00:43 PM

I wouldn't drink this with breakfast.

Smooth afternoon coffee poop ftw.

12/16/2010 2:03:30 PM

da poo-poo beans

12/16/2010 2:06:49 PM

meh, most the stuff you get over here is not the real stuff. If you pay less than $20/cup for it, it's not real.

12/16/2010 2:25:59 PM

what is literally the cheapest shit we could convince stupid white people to buy

12/16/2010 2:26:16 PM

Yeah, my first reaction was that it can't be real if it's only $8 a cup. My second reaction was that if it is real, it's a crime to serve it dripping into sweetened condensed milk.

12/16/2010 2:34:15 PM

I don't know how it's supposed to be served but it seems like when I look up the coffee type anyone who talks about drinking it (so not stores that are selling the beans) have it served that way.

12/16/2010 2:37:04 PM

12/16/2010 2:37:40 PM

You can buy an 1/8 of a pound for only $50

http://portorico.com/store/civet.html

12/16/2010 2:40:13 PM

wait, wat

12/16/2010 2:53:44 PM

Quote :

"it's very rich and dark"

I know most of the poops I take are just like this.

12/16/2010 2:56:05 PM

I make coffee for you, k?

12/16/2010 2:56:07 PM

NOM NOM NOM

12/16/2010 2:57:19 PM

i will make for you the most exquisite payday bar you've ever tasted

IM MAGICAL

12/16/2010 2:58:25 PM

Especially given that this was a Vietnamese restaurant, it's almost certain that they're actually serving something like Legendee, which is produced synthetically. More info here: http://www.trung-nguyen-online.co.uk/legendee.html

Real civet coffee of the Vietnamese variety is even more expensive than the Indonesian version, but it's debatable whether it's any better, given that Vietnamese coffee is almost exclusively robusta instead of arabica.

There is a place near me in Santa Monica that serves Indonesian Kopi Luwak for about $70 a cup (LA prices, but still, $8 is a dead giveaway for a fake), and they proudly display the certificates of authenticity from the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute, the organization that monitors its sale and export. I haven't tried it, but it's a very fancy coffee shop (http://www.funnelmill.com/index.html), and they brew all their hot coffees to order with vacuum syphons. The owners take their coffee very seriously; they would offer condensed milk on the side, but I imagine they would be horrified to see kopi luwak being served mixed into anything.

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 2:59 PM. Reason : ]

12/16/2010 2:59:02 PM

and you can get a synthetic version here
https://coffeeprimero.com/store/Store/tabid/59/CategoryID/1/Level/a/List/1/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,UnitCost%20DESC

12/16/2010 2:59:52 PM

Coffee snobs ITT.

12/16/2010 3:00:46 PM

Quote :

"My second reaction was that if it is real, it's a crime to serve it dripping into sweetened condensed milk."

it's a real popular way of drinking coffee in Vietnam. Without condensed milk is the most popular way though.

12/16/2010 3:01:36 PM

Quote :

"mimics the changes produced in the coffee beans by the civet and produces a coffee every bit as distinctive and good as the genuine article but at about a tenth of the price (and, fortunately, without any involvement from the weasels)"

So basically, tastes the same and isn't quite so $$. Fine by me. Still a damn tasty coffee beverage.

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 3:04 PM. Reason : the restaurant guy did claim it is real, but of course that doesn't mean it actually is]

12/16/2010 3:03:12 PM

Even though I don't usually put anything in my coffee, I really did like putting condensed milk into my coffee while in Vietnam, even though the cans of condensed milk on the tables were usually sketchy as hell

12/16/2010 3:03:40 PM

^^^ I totally get that; I love coffee served that way. But if you're ordering the most expensive, smoothest coffee in the world, that already has a relatively sweet and balanced flavor, shouldn't you actually taste the coffee as it is instead of inundating it with sugary sweetness?


[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 3:05 PM. Reason : ]

12/16/2010 3:04:11 PM

Quote :

"Edward Cole: Kopi Luwak is the world's most expensive coffee. Though for some, it falls under the category of "too good to be true." In the Sumatran village, where the beans are grown, lives a breed of wild tree cat. These cats eat the beans, digest them and then... defecate. Edward Cole: The villagers then collect and process the stools. It is the combination of the beans and the gastric juices of the tree cat that give Kopi Luwac... Edward Cole: ...its unique flavor... and aroma. You're shitting me! Carter Chambers: Cats beat me to it!"

12/16/2010 3:16:33 PM

exported vietnamese coffee is basically trash anyhow

you might as well rake your yard and brew that

12/16/2010 3:17:17 PM

I am going to try an experiment: Force feed my cats coffee beans, collect them afterward and brew them.

I foresee myself making millions.

12/16/2010 3:19:29 PM

I wonder if this would also work on pigs. Pig farmers could sell bacon and coffee!

12/16/2010 3:21:29 PM

Frosh knows what's up. Cheap robusta crap.

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 3:22 PM. Reason : How about bacon coffee? Bacon strip coffee stirrers?]

12/16/2010 3:21:36 PM

Frosh and Shadowrunner acting like they drink a cup of the Essence of Jesus Piss every morning ITT.

12/16/2010 3:23:04 PM

I feel sure there is already bacon coffee, given there's bacon [any other food product that exists].

12/16/2010 3:23:06 PM

I don't know how I feel about bacon and coffee in the same cup together

12/16/2010 3:25:49 PM

yep

12/16/2010 3:27:23 PM

Fareako said:

Quote :

"Frosh and Shadowrunner acting like they drink a cup of the Essence of Jesus Piss every morning ITT."

I'm not being a snob here. When I say it's trash and you may as well brew your yard trimmings, I mean it. Most of the robusta coffee exported from Vietnam is mechanically harvested rather than handpicked. The machines pull in fucking leaves and branches and all kinds of shit.

What do you think an industrial roaster does with that? Yeah, they have some screens and separators that manage to filter out the big stuff, but lots of little bits of detritus still make it through, and that shit still gets roasted. It's gross.

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 3:38 PM. Reason : let's not point fingers]

12/16/2010 3:37:38 PM

S&D is nasty...

robusta are 'filler' beans for most coffee...

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 3:39 PM. Reason : robusta = mediocre at best]

12/16/2010 3:38:27 PM

Not talking out of my ass here, by the way. I interned several summers and holiday breaks in the roasting plant for one of the big industrial roasters, and I had to work with Vietnamese coffee and tea every day.

12/16/2010 3:39:43 PM

i feel your pain

12/16/2010 3:40:27 PM

I don't drink coffee when I'm in the US, but when I'm in Vietnam, I drinks one every morning. It's the way of life over there.

12/16/2010 3:46:14 PM

I love condensed milk in my coffee, that's how I always took it in central america.

12/16/2010 3:50:01 PM

Quote :

"I'm not being a snob here. When I say it's trash and you may as well brew your yard trimmings, I mean it. Most of the robusta coffee exported from Vietnam is mechanically harvested rather than handpicked. The machines pull in fucking leaves and branches and all kinds of shit."

another reason why you should buy whole beans and ground it up yourself.

12/16/2010 3:51:29 PM

Yes! But that won't help you if that junk got roasted with the beans. Buy non-Vietnamese whole bean if you're not in Vietnam.

12/16/2010 3:54:08 PM

BUT do they have weasel poo coffee that isn't from Vietnam? Because they don't eat sticks and stuff you know. Very picky weasels.

12/16/2010 3:55:28 PM

you know that vietnam is not in fucking indonesia don't you

12/16/2010 3:57:57 PM

Yes. So why are you talking about this issue in the first place?

12/16/2010 3:59:11 PM