Humanity is always on the lookout for new and unusual rarities. In the case of coffee, this is Kopi Luwak. Its success is quite surprising given its origin.

It repeatedly attracts the attention of the press and the public: Ani mal Coffee – coffee that is ‘harvested’ or selected by animals. Mostly staged as a marketing gimmick and ranging from absurd to bizarre to disgusting, this coffee has found its niche in the market.

Unfairly so – because the consumption of coffee cherries by various animal species is just as common as the consumption of grapes or other agricultural products by animals in our regions. Large cultivated areas also represent richly laid tables for animals, which they gladly accept. And depending on the alternative food situation, the animals decide for or against ‘visiting’ a coffee plantation. It is therefore understandable that animals that consume coffee cherries are also considered ‘coffee pests’.

The best-known representative of animal coffees is undoubtedly Kopi Luwak – and almost everyone knows it, at least by name. An exclusive, curious coffee from Indonesia with a bizarre history. The history of the civet cat (with three subspecies: civet, palm civet and banded civet) is often misrepresented and confused. There are also many persistent misconceptions and scientifically untenable assumptions about the coffee associated with the civet cat – Kopi Luwak.

The spotted palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) belongs to the subfamily of palm civets. This omnivore feeds on fruit, insects, worms and bird eggs. A diet consisting solely of coffee cherries is not suitable for an omnivore. Nevertheless, most of the real Kopi Luwak comes from animals in captivity (numerous films on this subject now fill the archives of video portals). This cage rearing is similar to the cage rearing of chickens, which is now banned in Germany. This coffee, also known as ‘stuffed’ Luwak, has nothing to do with the coffee of the wild spotted musang. The resulting atypical taste is one side of the coin; animal cruelty is the other. But how does Kopi Luwak get its special taste? Is it all just imagination, or is there actually more to it than an absurd idea from profiteers? Contrary to popular belief, the special feature of Kopi Luwak is not ‘intra-animal’ fermentation – in other words, it is not the formation of special aromas by the animals' digestive enzymes. Otherwise, coffee from captive animals would have the same flavour profile as that from wild animals. However, this is demonstrably not the case.

All animal coffees are specially selected, as animals do not choose coffee cherries based on appearance alone, but also use the smell of the cherry as an essential criterion for selection. The special flavour profile of the coffees is therefore not the result of the frequently mentioned fermentation processes in the animals' digestive organs, but rather the particularly selective choice of coffee cherries – which are exclusively perfectly ripe coffee cherries. The animals do not choose underripe or partially overripe, fermented fruits.