Rabu, 03 Maret 2010

The Most Expensive Coffee in the World According to Forbes Magazine


Kopi Luwak are robusta or arabica coffee beans which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Common Palm Civet. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago."Kopi" is the Indonesian word for coffee and "Luwak" is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee 'cherries' as part of its usual diet. This animal eats a mixed diet of insects, small mammals and fruits along with the softer outer part of the coffee cherry but does not digest the inner beans, instead excreting them still covered in some inner layers of the cherry.Kopi luwak (pronounced [ˈkopi 'luak]) or civet coffee is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then decaffeinated, having kept their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world.Kopi luwak is produced on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines (where the product is called motit coffee in the Cordillera and kape alamid in Tagalog areas) and also in East Timor (where it is called kafé-laku). Weasel coffee is a loose English translation of its name in Vietnam where popular, chemically simulated versions are also produced.Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee. Luwak is a local name of the Asian palm civet in Sumatra. Palm civets are primarily frugivorous, feeding on berries and pulpy fruits such as from ficus trees and palms. Civets also eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds.When coffee plants are put into civet habitats, the civets forage on only the ripest and sweetest berries. Hence, farmers would often find their best coffee berries missing in the morning after civets had been feeding and they were seen as pests. Meanwhile farmers hoping to save their crop gathered the civet droppings and found these beans, which were darkened and more brittle, yielded a coffee with unusual taste and lack of bitterness.Research by food scientist Massimo Marcone at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada showed that the civet's endogenous digestive secretions seep into the beans. These secretions carry proteolytic enzymes which break down the beans' proteins, yielding shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Since the flavor of coffee owes much to its proteins, there is a hypothesis that this shift in the numbers and kinds of proteins in beans after being swallowed by civets brings forth their unique flavor. The proteins are also involved in non-enzymatic Maillard browning reactions brought about later by roasting. Moreover, whilst inside a civet the beans begin to germinate by malting which also lowers their bitterness.In November 2006 Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms, a small cafe in the hills outside Townsville in Queensland, Australia, put kopi luwak coffee on its menu at AUD50.00 (US $33.00) a cup, selling about seven cups a week, which gained nationwide Australian and international press. In April 2008 the brasserie at Peter Jones department store in London's Sloane Square began selling a blend of kopi luwak and Blue Mountain called Caffe Raro for £50 (US $99.00) a cup. from forbes.com (US $160 per pound).




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