It was around 12:30 when we decided to find food. My grandma looked very ill, my female cousin was grumpy and my uncle was sick. On the way to the pine forest, we spotted an open warung with a sign, luwak captivity and warung. Prior to this, I know in Bali they also offer similar thing. So, we decided to visit this place for lunch. I was also curious because last month, I didn't get the chance to actually see this captivity. Warung is a small eatery typically family owned.
For animal lovers, these pictures are quite grim. A research from Carder et all who was examining civet tourist industry in Bali mentioned about the increasing civet coffee tourism industry and that day, I saw one of its dark side of the said most expensive coffee in the world.
Traditionally, people collect scats from wild-civet that roams free. These civet only picked the best coffee berries to eat and the coffee produced is allegedly containing less caffeine than regular coffee. But in captivity, these civets are fed certain coffee berries so these people could collect certain coffee variety. The price made sense to me when the scats collected are from wild-civet that roams free- the chance of finding civet scats are somewhat rare. But when it is held in captivity and breed for the purpose of making the said expensive coffee, It doesn't make sense. There is no more rarity and scarcity aspect to it.
The warung that we visited has a great view. But once you go to the next door; the captivity door, that's how you know where the luwak coffee is come from.
Before going down, I had to eat so my family and I ordered food. I also saw some non-luwak coffee beans that I wanted to try. There is this coffee called "liberika". It has jackfruit smell and quite distinct with light brown roast. So, I ordered that one.
Then after finishing my meal, I paused and started going downstairs. It was hidden behind the complex of the warung and below the praying room and toilet.
They were put in a battery cage. You can see the scats below. I don't think that has any coffee in it.
The cages were badly maintained. The water was put in a dirty bowl. In addition to that, the place they sleep in an old and fragile wooden board.
Some of the civets I saw lived in a smaller cage with another one.
This is the board they sleep in.
Then next to the civet's cages. There is a storage room with coffee.
After seeing around the cages and the place, I thought about how luwak should no more be promoted as the most expensive coffee in the world. It's already commercialized and the industry behind it needs to be assessed and monitored. These civets have to roam free and if people still want to taste civet's coffee, then it has to be from a wild-free civet. Sure it's harder to find the scats but I suppose that's also a factor why it was expensive the first place.
If you want to read the previous story, it's here Wonosalam Journal : Visiting Wonosalam Pine Forest Range.
That’s pretty grim. I will not be getting any that’s for sure. Good read and enlightening to have the curtsin peeled back like this. Good post!
Indeed it was quite disturbing seeing that. For Indonesian, civet is considered as pest. Now, they found out it could generate more income for them and that's when they started to put civet into battery cages in captivity. So, the essence of "rare" coffee is no longer there.
Yup, best avoided then. There's plenty of great coffee out there for us to enjoy :)
I never heard of it, but after reading this, I will defo never try it if it ever comes on my path. Poor animals :(
I hope you'll never have to come across this coffee. If you know a friend/family/anyone close to you considering to drink the coffee, let them know about this situation.
No, I never heard of it until I read your post, I don't want to support something this cruel, and I honestly don't understand why anyone would.. horrible :( You will probably never forget these images of them I reckon.. But it's good to expose this..
Hello @macchiata
Thanks for sharing this awesome article. Very enlightening!!
You're welcome @cinnccf !