What Boedhi said about luwaks and ripe coffee beans got me thinking. I'd heard this comment from somebody else too, years ago, but had forgotten it. So I thought it might be an idea to follow up on what the wife's relos do with their luwaks and how they produce the coffee.
I've had the coffee they produce a few times, but I've never visited them, and only know what I've been told, that they keep the luwaks in a cage and feed them the coffee beans.
Funny the way things get lost in translation.
I got my wife to ring them and find out exactly how they run this kopi luwak hobby.
It turns out that the "cage" in which the luwaks are kept covers about 3 hectares (about 7 1/2 acres), and it encloses a coffee grove as well as some more or less natural ground cover.
The area is tended by 10 gardeners who look after the luwaks , the coffee trees, and the enclosure, and gather the luwaks droppings for processing.
So yes, the luwaks do choose the best and ripest coffee fruits to eat.
Even when kept in a "cage".
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