9

I bought a coffee from a Duty free shop in Indonesia.

100g for ~14 USD, available on ebay for 23 USD

It says:

Mandailing estate coffee
Special Blends

Wild Kopi Luwak
Gibbon ridge estate

Mandailing Sumatra
Product of etc etc

What it is? Is it real for this price? Is it blended with kopi non-luwak? Like only 1 or 5 percent of kopi luwak?

Is it from wild luwaks? Website says yes, how does one know? They also have a video on youtube of a guy picking up excrements with his hand from a grass in a jungle. Why that?

They also had some little more expensive one in a box (this one is a bag), not sure if it was only a different packaging.

front back

Improve this question
0

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
9

I actually might say no.

This type of coffee is rather expensive at $100 to $600 per US pound. Yes, 100 to 600 USD. This is natural Kopi Luwak coffee at a normal price. The word blend sounds a little fishy to me, as it usually means that it is not entirely pure Kopi Luwak.

The thing is, it's really up to you to decide for yourself. If you can trust them, buy it. If you think the product isn't what you want, don't buy it. I will probably say no, but you make the final decision. Go with your gut and say yes or no to buying that product. Good luck!

Improve this answer
2
  • Thank you, I already bought it, I was just curious what it is.
    – premek.v
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 8:16
  • 2
    Then you could accept my answer by clicking the check mark...
    – Anthony Pham
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 10:52
7

I'll say yes it's "real" and it's "clever" marketing. If one had a coffee plantation with wild palm civets running about, it would be easy enough to have some folks collect some "civet processed" beans and roast and blend them with some of your regular stock. The result of this could be sold with bright stickers to the unwitting for a much higher price to supplement the income from you regular coffee processing.

Some people might feel this is misleading and I'd agree. However, I'd say it's far less evil than the plantations that have rows of caged civets and have reduced them to a processing machine.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks, sounds reasonable. Probably "real" but blended.
    – premek.v
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 8:17
4

By 'blended', I think what they're trying to tell you is that it's not single-source. It's really hard to say from the packaging, but I think you're going to be getting 100% Arabica from several different farms, and that's not uncommon.

An average farmer yields less than one kilo per day, so getting a single-source supply of this is quite difficult.

From the see-through portion of the packaging, it looks like the average quality / roast that you'd find on the shelves in most Philippine grocery stores. It's worth a try, looks like it's over-roasted for my tastes, but it lets you explore a really good coffee at a less than prohibitive price - why not?

Improve this answer
2
  • +1 for your optimism, though at < $8/oz. my dirty mind suspects "blend" has a less felicitous meaning.
    – hardmath
    Commented Apr 27, 2015 at 14:46
  • @hardmath It looks enough like them struggling and getting a little lost in English wording for me to want to stay on the positive side of it (since it is a common blunder in SE Asia).
    – user101
    Commented Apr 27, 2015 at 15:01
2

It's hard to say if it's real or not. Have you found a web site for the company? If it is real "wild kopi luwak," this is good in terms of quality, and you are also not supporting cruel treatment of kopi luwak.

Read more at about kopi luwak at:

These sites might have some tips on how to know if it's real or not...

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Hello and welcome to Coffee! Thanks for the links. I neatened up your answer a bit and added some more formatting; hope you don't mind. Find out more about our format by taking a tour or seeing the help center section.
    – hoc_age
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 1:38
1

Simple answer is "yes its real"

Mandailing Estate prides themselves on this specialist coffee. The plantation is deep in the mountain country of Sumatra.

As Civet Cats are a wild animal, they roam through the Sumatran jungle, and on occasion pass through the Mandailing Estate coffee plantation to feed on the coffee fruit.

They share the same jungle with Sumatran Tigers (yes, there still some left in the wild) Like any wild animal they follow food sources. So, when tigers are around the Civet Cats are not. Hence the rarity... Which is why Wild Kopi Luwak coffee is expensive.

Without some blending, it may be months or years without natural Luwak being on offer...

Like all good things in life... A connoisseur should enjoy that which is special

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks, what is your source?
    – premek.v
    Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 8:01
1

Mandailing estate Kopi Luwak is 100% real Luwak beans. It is my friends plantation. He goes out each morning and collects the scats himself. Into the jungle on the edge of his plantation in the Mandailing region of North Sumatra. His workers implore him to be careful when he is doing it. The risk of tiger attack is present. My friend said it all came home to him one day when he saw a tiger print in the mud on his morning rounds. He has learnt over the years where the civet cats do their business and cn pretty much go directly to each spot. There is a you tube video of him doing it if you are interested. He sells a blend ( that is still delicious ) for a cheaper price because, as you know, 100% unblended Kopi Luwaak can be up to $900/Kg.

Improve this answer
1
  • For those of us who don't have a friend in the business, I suspect the only substantial clue is to have tried real Kopi Luwak before. The taste/aroma is distinctively delicious.
    – hardmath
    Commented Mar 26, 2023 at 16:10
0

i bought this blend luwak too in indonesia, being tried various luwak's, i must say that this is very good coffee ( the word blend means it is mixed with arabica coffee and luwaks to give the good taste ). if it is 100% luwak then they will write 100% . by the way 100% luwak coffee doesn't taste good, in fact no single origin coffee taste as good as a blended one be it java, columbia or brazil

this blend is perfect mixture and it have the distinctive smell and taste of luwak poop which means it is original. don't worry

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    I don't think sweeping generalisations from subjective tastes, like all blends are tastier than all single origins, are any good.
    – Ivan Kapitonov
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 11:10
  • If you are familiar with the brand (and I'm not sure having bought it once in Indonesia at some unspecified time and place is much assurance), then your assessment has some value. However the phrasing of your answer seems to border on the inconsistent and incredulous. A better approach might be to compare the blend and a 100% Kopi Luwak in some specific respects.
    – hardmath
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 22:39

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.