Kopi Luwak, (Indonesian: “civet coffee”) the coffee bean or specialty coffee that is digested by, fermented within, and then excreted by theAsian palm civet—popularly called a luwak in Indonesia but found throughout South and Southeast Asia. The coffee bean produced in that manner was discovered and collected by native farmers in Indonesia during the colonial period of the 19th century, when the Dutch forbade local workers from harvesting their own coffee. Kopi luwak is frequently called the rarest and most-expensive gourmet coffee in the world, with a single pound of it selling for hundreds of U.S. dollars.
