I'm a travelling Northern Irishman who likes a good pint of Guinness but earlier this year I had the chance to sample the world's rarest coffee! Swapping Guinness for coffee is a good idea sometimes!
So where is the world's rarest coffee produced? To be honest when you travel around, lots of places pretend they are the world's best, world's first, world's largest etc. and this sort of thing annoys me - especially in Singapore. It's cringeworthy to claim everything is the best in the world. But this post is for real - this really is a rare coffee!!
So earlier this year I was on a tour round North Bali in Indonesia with my Brazilian friend Rodrigo and we came across a coffee plantation in amongst the many rice fields of Bali. After a quick visit to the actual plantation, we were shown a bizarre creature living in a cage. This creature in the Luwak Fox! (The what? - it seemed to me to be a strange mix between a wolf, cat, dog and fox). Why am I telling you this? Because the Luwak Fox is a rare breed and it relies on red coffee beans to survive.
The oddest and most disturbing fact of this is that the Luwak Fox digests the coffee bean and it comes back out in its excretion (yes, it's sh1t!) and this is how they made the world's rarest coffee. It's coffee which has been digested and excreted by the Luwak Fox. When our guide told us this, I really didn't believe it, but reports later on confirmed it. So we had to try it. The name, obviously is Luwak Coffee.
The coffee costs a lot of money as it's so rare so we decided on the alcoholic version to get a bit of money's worth from it!
The cafe was called Kubu Kopi, but to be honest I'd imagine that in this part of Bali, the rare Luwak Coffee can be obtained. If you want to find it, I suggest you get your driver to take you to a coffee plantation in Munduk, and tell him the name of the cafe Kubu Kopi and mention the Luwak Coffee. It's not that easy to find if you've hired a car. It's hardly a tourist spot so the only other option for getting there would probably be to stay in Munduk itself, in which case you'd be guaranteed to find it and could probably walk it.
A menu arrives complete with a picture of the Luwak Fox in behind, just to tempt you even more. The special Luwak Coffee costs 85,000 Indonesian Rupiah (which today is about $8.2 US Dollars) so actually not as bad as you'd think considering it's the world's rarest. So after all that fuss, was the world's rarest coffee any good? Yes! We both loved the Luwak Coffee and would recommend it, plus it comes in an exquisite wooden cup and saucer and you can sip away with an amazing view into the fields of Bali. With not a care in the world...
It's coffee time for me now - will have to go for a more normal one this time! Happy travels!
Where can you sample the world's most rare coffee? Head to Munduk in Bali, Indonesia, though it is also exported!
What's the name of the world's 'rarest coffee'? - Luwak Coffee
How much is it? - About 8 US Dollars a cup
How's it made? - From coffee beans which have been digested and extracted from the Luwak fox
Is it worth trying? - Seriously of course it is - you can waste 8US Dollars on a lot worse!!
So where is the world's rarest coffee produced? To be honest when you travel around, lots of places pretend they are the world's best, world's first, world's largest etc. and this sort of thing annoys me - especially in Singapore. It's cringeworthy to claim everything is the best in the world. But this post is for real - this really is a rare coffee!!
So earlier this year I was on a tour round North Bali in Indonesia with my Brazilian friend Rodrigo and we came across a coffee plantation in amongst the many rice fields of Bali. After a quick visit to the actual plantation, we were shown a bizarre creature living in a cage. This creature in the Luwak Fox! (The what? - it seemed to me to be a strange mix between a wolf, cat, dog and fox). Why am I telling you this? Because the Luwak Fox is a rare breed and it relies on red coffee beans to survive.
The oddest and most disturbing fact of this is that the Luwak Fox digests the coffee bean and it comes back out in its excretion (yes, it's sh1t!) and this is how they made the world's rarest coffee. It's coffee which has been digested and excreted by the Luwak Fox. When our guide told us this, I really didn't believe it, but reports later on confirmed it. So we had to try it. The name, obviously is Luwak Coffee.
The coffee costs a lot of money as it's so rare so we decided on the alcoholic version to get a bit of money's worth from it!
The cafe was called Kubu Kopi, but to be honest I'd imagine that in this part of Bali, the rare Luwak Coffee can be obtained. If you want to find it, I suggest you get your driver to take you to a coffee plantation in Munduk, and tell him the name of the cafe Kubu Kopi and mention the Luwak Coffee. It's not that easy to find if you've hired a car. It's hardly a tourist spot so the only other option for getting there would probably be to stay in Munduk itself, in which case you'd be guaranteed to find it and could probably walk it.
A menu arrives complete with a picture of the Luwak Fox in behind, just to tempt you even more. The special Luwak Coffee costs 85,000 Indonesian Rupiah (which today is about $8.2 US Dollars) so actually not as bad as you'd think considering it's the world's rarest. So after all that fuss, was the world's rarest coffee any good? Yes! We both loved the Luwak Coffee and would recommend it, plus it comes in an exquisite wooden cup and saucer and you can sip away with an amazing view into the fields of Bali. With not a care in the world...
It's coffee time for me now - will have to go for a more normal one this time! Happy travels!
Where can you sample the world's most rare coffee? Head to Munduk in Bali, Indonesia, though it is also exported!
What's the name of the world's 'rarest coffee'? - Luwak Coffee
How much is it? - About 8 US Dollars a cup
How's it made? - From coffee beans which have been digested and extracted from the Luwak fox
Is it worth trying? - Seriously of course it is - you can waste 8US Dollars on a lot worse!!
About the Author:
To read more fascinating articles like the world's rarest coffee head to Jonny Blair's recommended travel, work and lifestyle website Dont Stop Living for more crazy stories and tips!. This article, A Rare Coffee for you to try!! has free reprint rights.
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