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Old 3rd March 2010, 10:15 PM   #30
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,697
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Coffee is one of life's essentials.

I've had kopi luwak a number of times, in fact, one of my wife's relatives in Bali produce the stuff as a hobby, they've got some luwak (palm civet) in a big cage, they feed them the coffee beans and then produce the coffee.

As noted, it can be unbelievably expensive-- I believe that the wife's relos charge something like 7 million rupiah for it if they sell it--- but to my taste, its not really anything special. Its less bitter than some coffees, but if it was given to you blind, and you didn't know it had been through an animal's guts, you'd only think it was some different sort of coffee. Its different, but not better.

In Indonesia you can buy coffee in the supermarkets that is branded "Kopi Luwak", but its just a brand name, not the real thing.

I currently get my coffee sent to me by a small custom producer here in Sydney. I used to get a custom blend that was arabica, blue mountain, and peabody, and that was very good, but the blend they send me now is just as good, and a lot easier to get. Mostly I use a plunger, but occasionally I'll do stove top espresso. In the past I used to wait while the beans were roasted, then I'd take them home and grind them myself, but I've found that if I buy freshly ground coffee in a vacuum pack, and store it in the deep freeze section of the fridge, there is not any noticeable difference in taste.
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