I am seriously thinking about doing a Coffee Stout Porter ale, using the famous Kopi luwak coffee.
Does anyone know what I am talking about??
I have about 8oz of the stuff. I plan to make a few cups of the coffee, drink it, then save 4oz of the coffee for the beer.
Mikkeller did this with their “Beer Geek Brunch :Weasel” beer which was scored 100 on RB and 95 on BA. Go for it.
[quote=“gdizzle”]I am seriously thinking about doing a Coffee Stout Porter ale, using the famous Kopi luwak coffee.
Does anyone know what I am talking about??
I have about 8oz of the stuff. I plan to make a few cups of the coffee, drink it, then save 4oz of the coffee for the beer.[/quote]if you don’t mind my asking, how much that run you? when I lived in Vegas (over a decade ago) it was a little over $100/pound. but that was Vegas.
Always wondered about that coffee. If you had to compare it to a standard commercial coffee how would it taste.
Ex: A really smooth starbucks dark…strong but smooth dunkin donuts…etc
Yep, I’ve had it. Very expensive! At one time it was toted as the most expensive coffee in the world.
Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it all. To me it tasted like a dark roasted Sumatran coffee and turd. Go figure, eh? :lol:
I’m a coffee snob and home coffee roaster. I’ve never tried the kopi luwak but I’ve always meant to just to say that I did.
I don’t have high expectations though, as Tom from Sweet Maria’s (sweet marias is the place I buy unroasted coffee from, and I highly recommend checking out their web site if you want to learn more about coffee) has rated it as “trucker coffee” and not even remotely worth the hype. Obviously this guy is in the biz to make a buck like anyone else, but I’ve been buying from them for years and I’ve come to respect his opinion.
I have had something similar (and considerably cheaper) called “Jaku Bird” coffee, which I believe was from somewhere in south america (Brazil maybe?its been a few years). The birds supposedly selectively eat the ripest coffee cherries, and they are then harvested after they, um, pass through. I found it to be a good coffee, but not remarkable in comparison to other very good coffees from the region. I enjoyed it but didn’t feel compelled to buy more.
If you like coffee, the best thing you can do to improve your experience is start homeroasting. Commercial roasters routinely sell you old burned mediocre quality beans. Not unlike BMC, they’re more interested in consistency than offering truly excellent coffee.
As to putting coffee in beer, a lot of the flavor compounds that make different varieties of coffee unique from one another are highly volatile, and aren’t going to survive in beer. As long as you’re not using total crap, I think you’re unlikely to see a significant difference from one variety to another, especially when adding to an already strong flavored beer. I didn’t say NO difference, just not significant.
Edit: Forgot to add my recommendation, which is: enjoy the coffee as coffee. Let us know what you think of it, and put something cheaper in your beer.
Great ideas. But if I don’t put in the beer, then I cant call my beer Cat Crap Coffee Stout Porter alehttp://forum.northernbrewer.com/post … &t=112240#
Just add one cup of brewed coffee to the secondary along with some regular, much cheaper, coffee and you won’t notice the difference but could still legitimately call it “Cat Crap”.
if it turns out less than good, you can just call it “Crap”. :lol:
Made it to Bali recently and got to try Luwak Coffee at a little plantation/agrotourism place. Brought some home (it’s outrageously expensive!) and brewed a little cup this morning. They advise brewing it like turkish coffee but my little cuban coffee pot worked perfectly.
This stuff is too expensive to use in beer but yes it’s exotic, rich and smooth as advertised.
@brew_cat as a coffee aficianado you’d appreciate this.
Is it possible the popularity of Kopi luwak increased after the release of the movie The Bucket List?
From the WIkipedia I just read the Asian palm civet that eat the coffee cherries (first I heard them called cherries, not beans) are not really cats but “cat like”. Poses the question who was the first one to try that? Hey that cat like creature just crapped coffee, get out the Mr. Coffee.
I’m happy with the Aldi coffee I’m drinking and afraid to get into another expensive hobby so I should stay happy with it.
@dannyboy58 please don’t take offense to my joke. Enjoy your coffee. I’m around Cuban coffee all winter and yet to try it. They say it is great.
VWell I don’t know about affectionado but i do spend a lot of money on coffee if that counts. Indonesia makes some fantastic coffee to start with I guess the process adds another layer so to speak. What does it cost per ounce?
No offense taken here…
I don’t recall The Bucket List. First I’d heard of the coffee was from the driver who took us from the airport in Denpasar to our hotel. He called it cat-poop-chino.
I had heard a similar term to “cherries” in south America. It refers to the whole fruit of which the coffee bean is the seed. The Luwak reminded me of the ring tailed cats in Canada.
Dry processed coffee you take the cherries and just lay them out in the sun and the fruit ferments off then they are dried and roasted. I guess this is similar to digestion. Makes for a lot of layers as opposed to dry processing. This is mostly done in arid regions like Africa thus the different taste of some African coffee. Indonesia has plenty of water so probably not done there. They do have some nice coffee to begin with. If I’m paying a premium for coffee I get single source traceable coffee which gets my $ to the farmer and region I want. Does that luwak have a name? I guess that would count
After it come out of the “Paradoxurus” they clean it off, air dry it then roast it in an open metal pan like a wok over wood fire. Then grind it into powder with a mortar and pestle. At least that’s the story they tell us tourists.
I bought some of their cafe robusto as well. Very good coffee indeed.
Off topic but The Bucket List is a must see with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman it was a sure thing.
Oh THAT bucket list…I remember now. I’ll have to rewatch it. I don’t remember the coffee being featured in it.
Cat Crap Coffee? No thanks! I may be anal about many things, especially around food but, I’m definitely anti-anal when it comes to the actual food (or drink) itself! 
We gnaw on frozen polar bear poop up here 
… Really? 
Poopy paws coffee? Sneezles61
