The problem, stated plainly
As Kopi Luwak became a sought-after luxury product, operations began capturing wild civets, confining them in wire cages and feeding them exclusively on coffee cherries. Investigations by animal welfare organisations, reported in the international press, have documented cramped cages, wire floors, unbalanced diets, stereotypic behaviour and high mortality.
We have no interest in playing that down: it is accurate, and it concerns a significant share of the world market. Any company selling Kopi Luwak owes an explanation on this point.
Why farming also destroys the product
There is an ethical argument and a taste argument, and they point the same way.
The quality of Kopi Luwak rests entirely on the selection made by a free animal that eats only perfectly ripe cherries and supplements its diet with insects and fruit. A caged civet, force-fed whatever comes — unripe cherries included — selects nothing at all. Its digestive system, disturbed by an unbalanced diet, no longer produces the same enzymatic transformation.
Farmed coffee is therefore both the product of mistreatment and a mediocre coffee sold at an exceptional coffee's price.
Our purchasing criteria
- Wild harvest only
- No lot from captive animals, without exception or tolerance
- Named collector
- Name of the collector or cooperative required before purchase
- Collection area
- Precise location, in open plantation or forest edge
- Volume consistency
- Any supplier offering quantities incompatible with wild harvest is refused
- Stock-outs accepted
- We would rather announce unavailability than top up with a farmed lot
What we do not claim
We do not own the plantations and we do not live in Indonesia. Our control rests on partner selection, documentary requirements, visits by our contacts on the ground and the refusal of doubtful lots. That is a serious arrangement, not a universal independent certification.
If that honesty strikes you as insufficient, we entirely understand: there are excellent Indonesian coffees from conventional harvest, and we will gladly point you towards them. Write to us.