A homegrown version of Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, developed on a wild hog ranch in the township of Beinan, Taitung County with the assistance of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, has helped to boost the eastern Taiwan county’s coffee sales.
Kopi luwak, which is mainly produced in Indonesia, is made with beans of coffee berries that have passed through the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet and other related civets.
It is the most expensive type of coffee in the world, with the priciest variety, made in Sumatra, Indonesia fetching as much as NT$9,000 (US$280) per pound.
The Taitung version, produced using a simulated “outside the body” fermentation process, is competitively priced at just one-third of the cost of the traditional civet coffee variety.
Ruan Yong-guang, operator of the Beinan hog ranch, said he had originally raised a small number of Asian palm civets while at the same time growing coffee plants. However, because of Taitung coffee’s weaker taste and lack of special flavor, Ruan said he had faced a perennial slump in sales. His financial woes were exacerbated by the heavy blow brought by flooding when Typhoon Morakot swept across southern and eastern Taiwan last August.
In desperation, Ruan decided to apply to the Ministry of Economic Affairs for subsidies under a small and medium enterprise innovative research and development program. The ITRI also provided assistance in developing the unique production method for the homegrown civet coffee.
The method uses bacteria collected from an initial batch of coffee beans that have passed through the civet’s digestive tract. Four types of lactic acid bacteria found in the civet’s intestines were isolated in the laboratory. Afterward, the Food Industry Research and Development Institute assisted in replicating the bacteria on a mass scale. The bacteria were then used in the fermentation process in the lab for production of the final product.
This production process not only results in a flavorful coffee, it is also much more hygienic than the traditional method of making Kopi luwak. Consumers also do not need to worry about the possibility of contracting a bacterial disease from consuming this Taiwan brand of civet coffee.
Ruan said the Taitung civet coffee makes up for the deficiency in taste of other locally produced coffee varieties. The coffee is sweet and full of flavor and not the least bit bitter, he claimed.
In addition, the coffee enjoys a competitive edge in costing just NT$2,724 per pound, making it an attractive alternative to the Indonesia-produced variety, which is significantly steeper in price, Ruan noted. (SB)