Kopi Luwak, a coffee with legendary and mythical status in Indonesia, is widely believed to be the finest and most expensive. However, this claim is dubious, as Kopi Luwak is extremely scarce in the market.
The huge gap between supply and demand results in scarcity and challenges with tracing and verifying its origin and quality. This phenomenon inflates the price of Kopi Luwak to exorbitant levels. Recently, a friend named George from Cornell Toraja Coffee sold 1kg of green bean Kopi Luwak for a staggering 1.8 million Rupiah. Surprisingly, it surpassed the cost of Gesha coffee from leading South American farmers, known for clear transparency and traceability. This raises concerns about potential mislabelling of regular coffee as Kopi Luwak due to the visual difficulty in distinguishing the beans.
Beyond this, there's a concerning issue of animal cruelty associated with Kopi Luwak. Luwaks are often confined, fed only coffee cherries, contrary to their omnivorous nature, and kept in cages, leading to a short lifespan. These significant issues prompt industry players, like CATUR Coffee Company, engaged in export, import, and coffee sourcing, to explore alternatives to Kopi Luwak. Collaborating with Berlian Biotech, they are innovating to address animal cruelty and ensure a responsible Kopi Luwak supply chain.
CATUR Coffee Company and Berlian Biotech's collaboration extends to Kang Sunny, a farmer/processor in West Java's Loa region. They isolate dominant microbes from Kopi Luwak's digestive system, cultivating them for use as fermentation starters in Kang Sunny's post-harvest coffee processes. The anaerobic fermentation inside the tank performed on this coffee serves as an illustration of how coffee cherries enter the Luwak's stomach. Before being tightly sealed, coffee cherries are intentionally mixed with Luwak inoculum.
This Luwak inoculum acts as a starter, playing a crucial role in the coffee fermentation process. After 48 hours of fermentation with Luwak inoculum, the coffee cherries are removed from the tank and sun-dried for 4-6 weeks to reduce the moisture content until they are dry. During drying, the coffee cherries are turned and levelled to achieve uniform moisture levels. Once the desired moisture level is reached, the dried coffee cherries are peeled, and the coffee beans undergo hulling to separate the green beans from the parchment or coffee husk. Subsequently, the coffee is sorted based on weight, size, and colour.
The fermentation using Luwak inoculum aims to assist in breaking down the natural sugars and pectin in the fruit. Furthermore, Berlian Biotech has identified bacterial and yeast strains containing the enzyme fumarase and Kluyveromyces marxianus that contribute to the final cup flavour. The fumarase enzyme helps break down fumaric acid into malic acid. Malic acid is a type of acid found in Kopi Luwak, contributing to its unique profile and flavour. Therefore, Berlian Biotech and CATUR Coffee Company utilise microbes with high fumarase enzyme activity as inoculants. Through this process, we can achieve a coffee with a fruity and balanced cup profile.
On the other hand, another yeast that was found is Kluyveromyces marxianus. It is a type of yeast that belongs to the genus Kluyveromyces, which is closely related to the genus Saccharomyces. Kluyveromyces marxianus is different from other yeasts because it can grow very fast and at high temperatures, up to 52°C. It can also use many kinds of sugars, such as lactose, sucrose, fructose, and inulin, as sources of energy. It can produce ethanol, enzymes, and other useful compounds that have applications in food, biofuel, and biotechnology industries. Some strains of Kluyveromyces marxianus also have probiotic properties, which means they can benefit the health of the host organism. This is an effort by Berlian Biotech, CATUR Coffee Company, and Sunny Coffee Bean to minimize bad practices and replace them with better ones in the coffee industry. Specifically, this effort was undertaken to maintain sustainability in nature and bring innovation to the coffee industry.
The exposure of science and knowledge to the coffee industry is hoped to bring a renaissance to anyone working in this field. Moreover, the coffee born from the collaboration between Berlian Biotech, CATUR Coffee Company, and Sunny Coffee Bean is now available for your enjoyment at Omakafé.
At Omakafé, we journey into a world of taste exploration through three delightful beverages. This Season 2, we serve our Kamala Loa 08 as a pure black coffee. We aim to showcase the genuine flavour of this coffee, placing it as our "As Is" drink.
Moving on to the Milk Course, we mix the coffee with D.O.A milk, sparking possibilities for unique taste transformations with specially processed milk.
And then, in our Reimagined format, we get creative by blending coffee with various ingredients in cocktail/mocktail style, exploring a world of taste transformations.
This coffee, carefully processed to bring forth a distinctive flavour profile and address issues in traditional coffee processing, demands unique care to unlock its full flavour potential.
Omakafé is dedicated to realizing this vision and sharing the results of our flavour explorations with you.
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