Kopi Luwak coffee. Demystifying the myth.

Kopi Luwak is probably one of the most recurrent topics when talking about coffee. Its fame of best and most expensive coffee in the world seems to beat anything and anyone on this planet. Let's talk about it.

What is Kopi Luwak ?

Kopi Luwak is the Asian palm civet. This famous coffee consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated. The cherries are fermented as they pass through its stomach, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected. Due to the increased popularity of this method, Asian palm civets are now increasingly caught in the wild and traded for this purpose.

the origins:

Back in the 1600’s the coffee market was very different from today. One of the most prominent sources of coffee was the Dutch East Indies –  a group of islands that is today known as Indonesia.

Indonesia was the first country, besides Ethiopia and Yemen, where coffee was grown on a large scale. At one point the Indonesian island of Java became almost synonymous with coffee in Europe.

But by 1830, the Dutch had created a more strict set of rules governing agriculture in the colony. This meant that the native farmers, who were already accustomed to drinking coffee, were suddenly no longer allowed to pick any beans for their own use.

Somehow these caffeine-craving farm workers discovered that a small cat-like animal known as the “Luwak” ate the coffee cherries and passed the seeds without digesting them. It didn’t take long before the workers began collecting, roasting and brewing these defecated beans.

Where is it produced ?

Kopi luwak is produced mainly on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, and in East Timor. It is also widely gathered in the forest or produced in farms in the islands of the Philippines, where the product is called kape motit in the Cordillera region, kapé alamíd in Tagalog areas, kapé melô or kapé musang in Mindanao, and kahawa kubing in the Sulu Archipelago. Weasel coffee is a loose English translation of its Vietnamese name cà phê Chồn.

The raise of Kopi Luwak

In 2007 Kopi Luwak was mentioned in the movie “The Bucket List” featuring “Jack Nicholson” and “Morgan Freeman”.

The interest boomed. Suddenly, a bunch of coffees in South East Asia had a Kopi Luwak stamp on their packaging even though they had never been anywhere near Luwak poop. With a bit of marketing, an average “robusta” bean could be sold at a premium price, to tourists who believed that they had bought the ‘best coffee’ in the world.

The big issue

The boom in popularity made some farmers in poor coffee producing Asian countries suddenly began capturing civets to force feed them the cherries.

The traditional method of collecting feces from wild Asian palm civets has given way to an intensive farming method, in which the palm civets are kept in battery cages and are “force-fed” the cherries. The conditions in which they live are tremendous, poor diet, small cages, continually forced to eat coffee cherries.

Considerations:

• It is possible that this combination of carefully selected cherries and efficient processing thanks to the “Luwak” made the coffee superior to anything available back then. However, it’s worth remembering that the general standard of processing wasn’t anywhere close to what we experience today in higher qualities and more professionally advanced industries such as “specialty coffee”.

• Kopi Luwak coffee is considered by professionals an average coffee, an inferior product. A lower quality grade and can not be compared to higher quality coffees such as “specialty”.

• Certainly drinking a certified ethically produced Kopi Luwak could be a unique experience. However today a large proportion of all coffee sold as Kopi Luwak is fake and not traceable.

• Kopi Luwak gained popularity thanks to its particular and unique method, to countless of marketing campaigns and thanks to famous movies appearances rather than for its quality attributes.

I hope you've found this article useful and provided much food for thought.

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I would like to hear your thoughts, opinions and experiences. If this was helpful and inspiring tag or use #gianmarcoierardi on instagram to connect with me ! 

“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”

— Socrates

All the above is based on our personal and professional experience, it is what we believe and what brought us here writing this guide.Onto the way to success there are no rules, just commitment and consistency.Ultimately the is no right and wrong but only different ways of thinking, different approaches and different methods.There is no perfection but only progression.Do not believe who says to know everything. Learning is ongoing and endless.What we believe is right today might be wrong tomorrow, stay always up to date.

Be curious.

I wrote this hoping to inspire others! If you made it to read all of this to the end..

THANK YOU !

Our Q Grader experience

About the course:

“The Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) designed the Q Grader program to create a skilled and credible body of specialty coffee cuppers. The role of these cuppers is to consistently and accurately assess coffee quality, both cup and grade, as a part of its Q Coffee System.” 

It is a 6 day course broken up into theory, practice and examinations consisting of twenty individual tests that must be passed in order to qualify for certification. The first couple of days are all theory and calibration. You get a good understanding of what the exams will be like and a base point of the coffees. 

The journey

In 2019 my wife, Veronica, and I had the opportunity to sit the Q grader course. It was held at 5 Senses Training Academy in Melbourne, AU, taught by instructor Ben Bicknell.  

Everything started, more then a year earlier, while sitting at the 5 senses stand, enjoying a beautiful coffee tasting experience, during MICE ( Melbourne international coffee expo ). We where talking and there we decided one day we would attend the “Q grader” course. 

Few months after MICE, on December 13, Veronica was handing me, what was my birthday present. Was the “ Le Nez Du Cafè” aroma kit and Organic acids kit. From there we started to train daily covering as many topics as we could. End of march, 5 Senses released the “Q grader” dates. Although the price of the course was intimidating, being around 2900$ per person, we immediately booked our spots and we were in. 

It was a mentally challenging experience. Everyone’s tip is to face it for what it is, a course, where you will learn heaps and whether you will pass it or not surely you will walk out being a better taster. In reality is not as simple as that. 

It’s a big effort in terms of money, time and energy. As the week goes on, the intensity raises to another level. It becomes harder and harder to taste and stay focused. We found the hardest exams were the sensory component ( Sweet, sour, salt ), organic acids was another tough one, washed mild triangulation being very tricky for the similarities among the cups. 

We both pass during week one, along with Alex ( Roaster for Rumble coffee roaster ) and we were extremely happy and proud for that.

Challenges

The biggest challenge we have had was to have never cupped with a Q grader before in order to calibrate ourselves. Our role within the coffee industry was “head baristas”, while most of the people attending the “Q” are already working in “QC” ( quality control ) or within a roastery, cupping lots of coffees every day. However for the more experienced one sometimes can be hard to calibrate following different standards.

The biggest advantage we have had was ourselves. During our experience within the coffee industry from day 1 we literally spend every single day trying to learn new things. We kept studying, practicing visiting cafes and more especially after working hours. As a couple we kept pushing each other and did countless hours of training and calibration. A month before the “Q grader” we met a beautiful person, now close friend of us, which was too going to attend the course and we teamed up intensifying even further our Training program. 

The tests

Green Grading

You are given 3 x 350g green coffee samples that have been tainted with a certain number defects. The aim is to identify the defects and then correctly name the type of defect it is.

Cupping Skills

The core exams of the Q Grader course. Evaluating 4 flights (Naturals, Milds, Africa, Asia) using the SCA form. Each flight contains 6 coffees. The whole cupping session will be run exclusively by you and the other attendees, therefore working as a team is key. 

Olfactory Skills

Olfactory skills tests uses the Le Nez du Cafe scent vial kit. I found that each kit was quite different in intensity and some off them were totally off as well which made this test very tricky. The aim is to recognise all thirty six aromatic scents often found in the fragrance and aroma of coffee.

Triangulation Skills

Triangulation tests are designed to increase your sensitivity in the differences of coffee characteristics. Test subjects must taste and identify the one different cup in each set of three for six sets in each test for purposes of quality control.

Organic Acids

Firstly you will be introduced to each of the six primary acid components of coffee. However, only four will be present in the test ours were Citric, Acetic, Phosphoric and Malic. In the exam you are asked to match and name the pairs. Eight sets of four cups of brewed coffee are placed on a table; participants must identify which two coffees have been fortified with one of the common acids in each set and which ones are plain, as well as name the acid. This was one of the hardest tests of all, on top of that the cups were very lightly tainted therefore the presence of acids was not as obvious, also the reference was not as mild and diluted as we were expecting.

Sensory Skills

Test subjects must identify three intensities of salt, sour and sweet odorless solutions individually and when combined in mixtures.

• Part I: Reference – Participants are provided three samples (low, medium, high) of each taste group (salt, sour, sweet) which must be ranked by intensity.

• Part II: Blind Identification – All nine sample solutions are provided blind and must be identified by group and intensity.

• Part III: Mixture Set – Subjects are provided with eight mixtures of samples containing either two or three base solutions. Students must correctly identify the number, type and intensity of base solutions in each mixture.

Easy to say that this is the test everyone's fear !

Roasted Coffee Grading

Probably one of the easiest tests in the course. You must correctly identify the number of quakers which are underdeveloped beans that do not roast properly.

Sample Roast Identification

Test subjects are given four trays of coffee; one of the trays meets SCA Cupping Protocol specifications and the other three are either unacceptable as, Under-develop, Baked or Over-roasted / dark. Participants must correctly identify each sample.

General Knowledge

The general knowledge exam is the only completely written test, consisting of 100 multiple choice questions about coffee cultivation, harvesting, processing, cupping, grading, roasting and brewing.

 Here 11 tips that helped us get through the week:

• Stay calm

• Do not second guess yourself

• Use all the senses 

• Do not over cup 

• Stay well hydrated 

• Do not drink alcohol

• Avoid eating food heavily spiced, salted or with lot of garlic and onion

• Do not wear perfumes or cologne 

• Enjoy the experience

• Get enough sleep

• Take lots of notes

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If you would like to have a chat regarding in-depth details, tips, training methods and routines in preparation to the “Q grader” hit the “learn more” button now.

I would like to hear your thoughts, opinions and experiences. If this was helpful and inspiring tag or use #gianmarcoierardi on instagram to connect with me ! 

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you”

— Fred DeVito

All the above is based on our personal and professional experience, it is what we believe and what brought us here writing this guide.Onto the way to success there are no rules, just commitment and consistency.Ultimately the is no right and wrong but only different ways of thinking, different approaches and different methods.There is no perfection but only progression.Do not believe who says to know everything. Learning is ongoing and endless.What we believe is right today might be wrong tomorrow, stay always up to date.

Be curious.

I wrote this hoping to inspire others! If you made it to read all of this to the end..

THANK YOU !

Arabica and robusta explained

Before jumping straight into the juicy conversation about Arabica and Robusta we need to consider where they are coming from and what they are.

Coffee is represented as a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans. Seeds are found inside of drupes, a type of fruit with a fleshy mesocarp and a hard, stone-like endocarp with a seed inside, commonly called coffee cherries, which are the fruits of the coffee plant that grow in over 70 countries, along the equator line in a preferred tropical climate. Higher quality coffees grows best at high altitudes on nutrient-rich, frequently volcanic, soils.

Coffee is a living thing

Coffee is a living thing, cultivated, observed and enjoyed by mankind. The study of living things is Biology, therefore the study of coffee must include this science.

Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their physical structure, chemical processes, molecular interactions, physiological mechanisms, development and evolution.

A division of Biology is Taxonomy which is all about the laws and principles of classifying things.

In biology, taxonomy  is the science of naming, defining and classifying groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. The principal ranks in modern use are domain, kingdom, phylum class, order, family, genus, and species.

Coffee plant belongs to a coffea genus of ten species of flowering plants of the family Rubiaceae. It is an evergreen shrub or small plant that may grow up to 10 meters tall with horizontal branching pattern.

The two most commonly grown species are Coffea canephora, know as robusta and Coffea Arabica. Less popular species are liberica, excels, stenophyla, Mauritania, racemosa.

Arabica

- Was the first and until 20th century, the only spieces of coffee grown for human consumption.

-Currently it represents 60-65% of the world coffee production.

-Cherries are often oval and bigger than Robusta with a curved middle cut.

-Grows at higher altitudes than Robusta

-It is self pollinating, producing a cluster of small, white, fragrant flowers

-Has 0,8-1,4% of caffeine content

-Chlorogenic acid (CGA) content It’s a significant antioxidant and an insect deterrent. Arabica has 5.5-8% CGA.

-It has sweeter more acidic fruitier and smoother characteristics than Robusta

-Contains a higher number of oils and sugar than Robusta

-The arabica coffee shrub typically grows between 2.5-4.5 meters (8.2-14.7 ft) in height, requires a temperature between 15°-24°C (59-75°F) and an annual rainfall of about 1200-2200 mm/yr.

-In terms of yield, Arabica produces less coffee per hectare than robusta, making the cost of growing arabica much higher.

-It has 44 chromosomes

Robusta

-Currently it represents 35-40% of the world coffee production.

-It is nearly always used as a part of a blend

-Cherries are often smaller and rounder than Arabica with a straight middle cut and develop in large centralized clusters.

-Grows at lower altitude than Arabica

-It depends on cross pollination

-Has 1,7-4% of caffeine content

-Chlorogenic acid (CGA) content It’s a significant antioxidant and an insect deterrent. Robusta is 7-10% CGA.

-It has more bitter, nuttier, more persistent characteristics than Arabica

-Robusta’s high caffeine and CGAs content makes it more resistant to deseases, pess and fungi as the extra caffeine is a chemical defense for the coffee seed as the quantity is toxic to bugs.

-Overral it is easier and cheaper to cultivate

-Tolerates higher temperatures and humidity then Arabica

-Robusta grows slightly taller at 4.5-6.5 meters (8.2-21.3 ft), requires a warmer temperatures of 18°-36°C (64-97°F) and slightly more rainfall (2200-3000 mm/yr) than arabica.

-It has 22 Chromosomes

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If you would like to have a chat regarding in-depth details such as how to recognise Quality, how to know what coffees to purchase and much more; Hit the “learn more” button now.

I would like to hear your thoughts, opinions and experiences. If this was helpful and inspiring tag or use #gianmarcoierardi on instagram to connect with me ! 

“Be curious, not judgemental ”

— Walt Whitman

All the above is based on our personal and professional experience, it is what we believe and what brought us here writing this guide.Onto the way to success there are no rules, just commitment and consistency.Ultimately the is no right and wrong but only different ways of thinking, different approaches and different methods.There is no perfection but only progression.Do not believe who says to know everything. Learning is ongoing and endless.What we believe is right today might be wrong tomorrow, stay always up to date.

Be curious.

I wrote this hoping to inspire others! If you made it to read all of this to the end..

THANK YOU !