Senin, 29 November 2010

origin of Kopi Luwak

Coffee aficionados already know that Vietnam coffee is among the best in the world. In fact, according to Thaindian News, Vietnam is now the second-largest producer after Brazil, and has developed a strong coffee house culture in its capital cities, largely due to the efforts and quality performance of the Trung Nguyen coffee company. However, an off-shoot of the Asian interest in coffee and coffee production has been the introduction to the world of a peculiar coffee type variously known as weasel coffee, fox coffee, Kapfe Cut Chong (Vietnamese name) squirrel coffee or (using its more familiar Indonesian name) Kopi Luwak. In English, it should more properly be called civet coffee.
Kopi Luwak or Kapfe Cut Chong

This, of course, is not a coffee variety or blend. Each of the names above refers to one type of coffee only and that coffee is produced by one species of animal only – it is not the fox, squirrel or weasel but the rather ugly little palm civet, a fruit-eating mammal that has pest status in south-east Asia, (although, according to Agrihelper.com, it is apparently also popular as a BBQ treat in Vietnam). These nocturnal creatures developed a love for the ripe red coffee beans of plants introduced to Vietnam by the French in 1857. They would raid the plantations and eat the best of the crop.