Kopi Luwak gourmet coffee actually passes completely through the digestive tract of the exotic Indonesian Palm Civet (Luwak) without being digested by the animal.
The Palm Civet, long seen as a pest on coffee plantations, eats and eventually passes the undigested coffee cherries in it’s waste. The beans are then patiently harvested from the forest floor near coffee plantations, cleaned well and carefully roasted. The digestive juices of the animal are said to very slightly ferment the beans without harming them, adding a gentle nutty flavor to the roasted beans that is highly prized by the discriminating coffee gourmet.
The strange origins of this extremely rare gourmet coffee make it very labor intensive and time consuming for those gathering the coffee cherries from widespread animal waste. This expensive process starts a long strange journey with the Civet eating ripe coffee cherries from the coffee trees. The cherries then make their way through the digestive tract of the exotic Indonesian animal and finally to the ground to be gathered, separated, cleaned and sent to the skilled coffee roaster.
The first time the undigested coffee cherries were discovered in the waste of the Palm Civet, gathered and roasted cannot be traced with certainty, but gourmet coffee lovers willing to pay a premium for this extremely rare and exotic blend consider it worth the effort and trouble involved. This gourmet coffee can sometimes be seen priced as high as $300 per pound.