La Maison Kopi Luwak @ Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta

I was preparing to leave Plaza Indonesia to head back to Four Seasons Hotel to check out when I caught a glimpse of this cafe at the corner diagonally opposite Mango. I knew I wanted to try this at least once and thus I asked Hue Gee to give this cafe a try. What attracted me was the name of this cafe - "La Maison Kopi Luwak" because I haven't really given a chance to savour one of the most expensive coffee in the world.

Back in 2009, I wrote about this coffee called Kopi Luwak here and I cringed at the thought of forking a small fortune for just a cup of coffee. Afterall, why are we paying gold to drink shit right? That's right, the coffee is really made from coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) or other civets and then the beans inside pass through their system undigested. While the bean is in its stomach, it undergoes chemical treatments and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system, and exits. The still-intact beans are collected and cleaned, then roasted and grounded just like any other coffee.

One small cafe, the Heritage Tea Rooms, in the hills outside Townsville in Australia, has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at US$33.00 per cup, selling approximately four cups a week, which has gained nationwide Australian press. However, I spotted this one here in Jakarta selling at USD$8 a cup or Rp 82,500 in their local currency. That is just about RM24 a cup and it's definitely worth a try. Afterall, RM24 would just get you 2 tall coffee at Starbucks.



The coffee powder comes in individual packs and they each comes with a nice cloth bag. A porcelain cup with gold rims and cover is used to depict its luxurious experience and the waitress makes the coffee right before your eyes. She first opens the pack and passes on for me to have a nose of the aroma. It's aromatic, nutty and earthy. Then she pours the coffee powder into the porcelain cup, adds 150ml water and then covers it for 2 minutes to brew.

As you can see, the colour is not really black or the darkest brown. It's brownish and thick. Mine has quite some amount of sediments and I think the 150ml water was a bit too little because I feel that it's too overwhelming in its taste and texture. I wasn't sure if all Kopi Luwak tastes like that but I certainly felt that USD$8 a cup won't get you good Kopi Luwak. The taste is earthy and bitter, almost like ginseng but with coffee aromas.

I don't believe that this is authentic Kopi Luwak as I know that nowadays the coffee beans are from civets that are kept and fed with berries instead of collecting the beans from the wild civets that fed on wild berries. Isn't it true that only the wild civets would be able to choose the berries they would want to consume and thus producing a better quality of beans?

Anyways, Hue Gee wasn't interested with coffee. She had a Rum & Raisin instead but I suspect there wasn't any much rum in that drink. All I can taste is caramel and sweetness. She had a taste of my Kopi Luwak but ended up having a stomach upset. I guess afterall, it's still an acquired taste.

But still, I think the person who came out with this way of appreciating coffee was brilliant. I can't believe someone out there would actually pick up the animal's feces and made good money with it! Cherry popped for Kopi Luwak!

La Maison Kopi Luwak
Lot E11, Level 2,
Plaza Indonesia
Tel: +6221- 299 23548