Recently we had the pleasant surprise of a sampling of a vary rare, expensive coffee, Kopi Luwak. I got to tell ya is there really that much of a difference between the finest "naturally" occurring variety of coffee and a digested, altered cherry? I was about to find out.
I was really excited about this coffee from the first time I saw it. The entourage of people who delivered the coffee was impressive enough. It was like having a Senator or governor enter into the room. Then the unveiling of the bean. There was some picture taking and a few secret handshakes. The only thing that was missing was a document signing.
In my possession was two versions of the most costly coffee on the planet. One version, was a 3 month old pre-roasted bean in a colorful bag. The other version, was a small sampling of green beans.
As a roaster, my eyes immediately were riveted on the green beans themselves. That was the holy grail to me. The very reason for getting a sample from anyone was to get green beans. In those beans I could unveil the very goodness of the bean.
They left, I tip toed into my secret lair like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas with all of the packages from the little Who's from Whoville slung over my bowed back. Now, how to roast this small quantity of beans on one shot and get the desired effect.
My roaster, a 5k microbatch roaster, had never worked with such a small amount of coffee but I was surely going to give it a try.
Tasting the pre-roasted beans side by side with my own house blend, a medium roast guat, proved to be only a confirming endeavor. The beans were just too old to really show me what they had. All I could taste was old beans. It was going to take freshly roasted beans in order to make me a believer.
For those of you who don't know what the Kopi Luwak coffee is all about, here is the short more sanitary version. There is a feline-like animal, the Civet, that loves eating the coffee cherries off of the bushes in the Phillipines. Once ingested the enzymes inside the stomach of the Civet does something miraculous to the coffee beans. Once the Civet is done with the coffee bean someone comes along and harvests the coffee log that is left on the jungle floor. (yes, the coffee log.) The coffee is separated from the log washed, dried and then roasted.
The transformation that takes place in the coffee bean is amazing. What is produced is a smooth coffee. This coffee is among the most expensive coffee in the world. It is called Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee.
So now we are left with the tasting and the judging of the fresh Kopi Luwak coffee. At this point the jury is still out. Our initial verdict is average at best. The issue with any coffee isn't so much how rare and expensive it is. The issue is whether or not your customers will appreciate it as it should be appreciated.
