Dear Coffee Friends, it’s NOT time to put the Luwak cup down, but it is HIGH time to put the Luwak debate straight!!! I am — again — disturbed to see another HIGHLY sensationalistic article being cirvclated here. This kind of animal mistreatment and unethical practices should of course be banned, but this is NOT representative to the vast majority of Luwak coffee. This is yet another poorly written article, highly sensationalistic and based on ZERO research and while anyone of course is entitled to decide whether or not to give cat-poop coffee a try it is disappointing to see the industry rallying against something they clearly do not understand, nor have even tried to read up on and research before entering the debate. Just back from a 2-week crop trip specifically researching Luwak practices in Indonesia in December, I am PROUD to support this exclusive coffee and offer a voice to the hundreds of thousands of traditional Luwak farmers who for over 300 years have collected these droppings. My full report will be published soon. To all those of you with strong opinions about this, first of all remember that Luwak coffee is from Indonesia ONLY — I am not speaking for Civet coffee from Thailand and the Philippines among other countries, because I don’t know this. But do NOT issue a blanket discrimination against all Luwak coffee because of a few — very few — select research case studies which have found some of the Luwak supply to originate from caged or mistreated animals. Sure, there should be a debate about this, but it should be based on actual facts and knowledge and not random reports or comments for sensationalistic or protective reasons. Luwak coffee is real, and the vast majority of it comes from wild luwaks as also cited in the article. And no, it’s NOT difficult to track down the origins of this coffee and determine whether it’s real or not, because the few farms engaged in unethical practices are few and far between and well known. Do not issue a blanket discrimination based on a “feeling” — that is no better than to say that all coffee is a result of child labor because you’ve seen one single picture showing a child in a coffee farm, without even knowing what the reason for that child to be there is in the first place. And please stay tuned for the follow-up report.
Yes, any unethical and/or mistreatment of animals is disgusting but this is NOT the case in the vast majority of Luwak coffee. This is yet another poorly written article based on ZERO research and while anyone of course is entitled to decide whether or not to give cat-poop coffee a try it is disappointing to see the industry rallying against something they clearly do not understand, nor have even tried to read up on and research before entering the debate. Just back from a 2-week crop trip specifically researching Luwak practices in Indonesia in December, I am PROUD to support this exclusive coffee and offer a voice to the hundreds of thousands of traditional Luwak farmers who for over 300 years have collected these droppings. My full report will be published soon. To all those of you with strong opinions about this, first of all remember that Luwak coffee is from Indonesia ONLY — I am not speaking for Civet coffee from Thailand and the Philippines among other countries, because I don’t know this. But do NOT issue a blanket discrimination against all Luwak coffee because of a few — very few — select research case studies which have found some of the Luwak supply to originate from caged or mistreated animals. Sure, there should be a debate about this, but it should be based on actual facts and knowledge and not random reports or comments for sensationalistic or protective reasons. Luwak coffee is real, and the vast majority of it comes from wild luwaks as also cited in the article. And no, it’s NOT difficult to track down the origins of this coffee and determine whether it’s real or not, because the few farms engaged in unethical practices are few and far between and well known. Do not issue a blanket discrimination based on a “feeling” — that is no better than to say that all coffee is a result of child labor because you’ve seen one single picture showing a child in a coffee farm, without even knowing what the reason for that child to be there is in the first place. And please stay tuned for the follow-up report.
Two weeks is a LOT more than the BBC and other select crews and journalists have bothered to spend when writing up their sensationalist Luwak reports, in many cases just done from a desk with a few pictures provided to them by commercial/activist interests and not even including any attempt to original research. In the best cases, they have visited one single farm and then report on it as conclusive evidence that all civet or Luwak farming across South East Asia is based on cruel and unethical practices. You confirm the same basic lack of insight into the coffee practices that surround Luwak coffee at the source of origin as most in these forums do.
also, I asked for contributions to a SERIOUS debate, and that starts with getting the basic facts straight: Only Indonesia produces Luwak coffee — the local name for the type of civet in Indonesia — while other countries in South East Asia in large have jumped on the commercial train for Civet coffee but NOT based on over 300 years of culture and history.
-0-
My name is Maja and I’m a Danish born woman crazy beyond passionate about everything coffee. I have written about all aspects of coffee for over 25 years from 60 coffee producing countries across the world.
Leave a Reply