The Rarest Coffee in The World (And the Most Expensive)

Kopi Luwak

Coffee grows in several countries in the world and some particular varieties are noted for their excellence or their fine reputation. Often, this is based on rarity and incredibly fine flavor. Several coffees including Jamaican Blue Mountain, Kona, and Tanzanian Peaberry, command a premium price due to quality and availability. These are all exceptional coffees.

However, there is one coffee that beats them all in uniqueness of flavor, rarity and strangeness of processing. This coffee, known as Kopi Luwak, is so rare that there is perhaps only as little as 500 Lbs of it available per year. The Uniqueness is reflected in the price and no other coffee even comes close. Kopi Luwak sells for $75 per quarter pound. This seems an unimaginably high price for a quarter pound of coffee but it’s the special "Processing" that makes it so incredibly rare.

Kopi Luwak comes from the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi which are part of the Indonesian Archipelago’s island chain. On these Indonesian islands, there's a small marsupial called the Paradoxurus. This marsupial is a tree-dwelling animal belonging to the Sibet family. Once regarded by the Indonesians as pests because they climb into the coffee trees and eat only the ripest, reddest coffee cherries. What these animals eat they must also digest and eventually excrete. Some brazen local gathered the beans, which come through the digestion process fairly intact, still wrapped in layers of the cherries' mucilage. The enzymes in the animals' stomachs, though, appear to add something unique to the coffee's flavor through fermentation. Yes the most expensive… the rarest coffee in the world is partially pre-digested and excreted by the Paradoxurus.

What began as, presumably, a way for the natives to get coffee without climbing the trees has evolved into the world's priciest specialty coffee. How does it taste? It's really good, heavy with a caramel taste, heavy body. It smells musty and jungle-like green, but it roasts up real nice. It's a most complex coffee with unusual flavor due to the natural fermentation the coffee beans undergo in the paradoxurus' digestive system. The stomach acids and enzymes are very different from fermenting beans in water. The flavor is earthy with a musty tone that’s heavy bodied. It's almost syrupy with a unique aroma. It's an unbelievable taste in your mouth: richness, body, earthiness, smooth.

Is Kopi Luwak worth it’s price? Those who have been fortunate enough to try it at a cupping are delighted with it’s intriguing chocolaty, syrupy taste and would enjoy it whenever it is available. By the cup, it costs no more than a fancy latte at around $5.00 per cup, when you can find it. Well worth a try…even if only for the novelty…until your taste buds tell you how delightful it truly is.

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