Civet Cat Coffee - THE TRIAL

Yes, the one you have all been waiting for!! (Perhaps)

Very fortunately a friend's colleague's husband (are you following?) imports Kopi Luwak (Civet Cat Coffee). So he managed to get a sample for us to try.

To recap briefly, Kopi Luwak is 1) made from coffee beans that have been eaten and pooped by a Civet Cat. 2) extortionately expensive if you buy it in shops.

We don't have any fancy coffee-making equipment here in Singapore. I have a nice Italian number in London, but it was definitely not included in my 30kg baggage allowance! Instead another friend bought some nifty Vietnamese style coffee makers. Just put in the ground beans, push down the strainer, add hot water and wait for it to drip through.

Ground Kopi Luwak has a pleasant smell. Quite strong, quite earthy. The powder was mid-brown and looks similar to other decent roasts as far as I could tell. You will be very relieved to hear that it neither smells of, nor resembles, poop! Apparently there are two versions available now: the real 'expelled' version, and a version that has been treated to simulate the chemical reactions of the cat's gut.. without the cat. Ours was apparently the original.

The brew: we drank it black first. The flavour is strong and woody / charcoaly, but it does not have the acid kick that you'd expect from strong black coffee. It was smooth and a little nutty. Not bad at all. I'm not used to drinking coffee without milk and sugar, but I'm still not sure I would spend SG$30 / £15 on a cup of it. It is definitely worth a try if you can find it more cheaply, however!

Round 2: the control. As a 'compare and contrast' our friend also bought some good quality Vietnamese coffee with him. I had not realised this in the UK, but Vietnam is famous for its coffee culture and roasts.

I had a sip / sniff of this black. The aroma was lovely - strong but fragrant, less woody than the Luwak, maybe a bit more fruity! And the straight brew had an acidity that I would expect. Then we had it with traditional sweetened condensed milk. I like sweet, milky coffee, so it is possibly no suprise that I preferred this version! In fact I liked it a lot compared to several other coffees I have tried with milk and sugar (Italian, Javanese etc)

After this we tried the tiny remainder of the Kopi Luwak with sweetened condensed milk. Sadly it was not really enough to get the full experience of the coffee - but I think I preferred this to the 'unadorned' version. This is just personal preference of course.

So if you get a chance to try either of these delicious coffees, I would maybe recommend taking it black, and then adding a little bit of milk at a time until you reach the taste you like.