Tourists planning visits to Bali are being called to reconsider tours to visit civet cat coffee plantations and purchasing ‘kopi luwak’ to take home with them.
The calls come from animal rights organization PETA, though other leading animal welfare organizations like World Animal Protection and Four Paws Australia have also run campaigns raising awareness of the cruelty involved in producing kopi luwak.
@jameshoffmanncoffee Kopi Luwak has the reputation of being one of the best and most expensive coffees in the world. Clearly, unique does not always mean outstanding. #coffeetok #kopiluwak #coffeeaddict ♬ original sound – James Hoffmann
Kopi Luwak is the local name for civet cat poo coffee. Since civet cats don’t digest coffee beans and are known to occasionally eat coffee beans that have fallen from coffee plants in the wild, coffee producers in Indonesia feed captive civet cats a limited diet of mostly coffee beans to produce novelty products.
There is a misconception that civet cat poo coffee has a distinct and highly sought-after flavor, but coffee experts have confirmed this simply isn’t the case.
Civet coffee is known to be one of the most highly values types of coffee in the world with prices sitting upwards of USD 500 per pound.
With so much incredible coffee to try in Bali and across Indonesia, tourists can have their caffeine fix and more without knowingly or unknowingly supporting animal abuse and in some cases even wildlife crime.
@tsurutatifany BREAKING- New footage reveals tourists in Bali are being intentionally LIED TO about how Kopi Luwak is sourced. The truth is that civet cats are confined to wire cages so their poop can be harvested to make coffee. Kopi Luwa
♬ original sound – tsurutatifany
The Senior Vice President of PETA, Jason Baker, has spoken to reporters about kopi luwak in Bali.
There had been hopes in the animal welfare sector that this trend had had its day, though it seems tourists are still seeking out kopi luwak, largely on the basis that the whole process has now been normalised despite the abuses against the civets.
While many coffee plantations open to tourists and agrotourism projects in Bali claim to afford their citizens high welfare, the reality is that is very often not the case.
Civets, which are found in declining numbers in the wild in Bali, are captured from the forest. This is either coordinated by killing the mother and taking the kittens or by setting traps or breeding on farms.
Civet cats are largely nocturnal and require a rich and varied diet, including fruits, insects, and small mammals.
@knowledgequiz What's your opinion on Kopi Luwak coffee? #greenscreen #knowledgequiz #learnontiktok2021 #triviachallenge #coffeetok #kopiluwak ♬ Blade Runner 2049 – Synthwave Goose
The civet cats are mostly kept in tiny cages that are not kept clean. Most do not get any exercise, health stimulation, or enrichment, nor have access to fresh water or the varied diet they require.
Baker told reporters, “Tour guides in Bali often mislead tourists by claiming that kopi luwak is obtained from the faces of wild civets.”
“However the reality is that most of this coffee is the product of keeping these animals in captivity.”
Even those outlets claiming to sell high welfare kopi luwak, or even have a civet in a clean and spacious cage should be met with suspicion.
There simply aren’t enough wild civet cats in Bali, nor does coffee make up as much of their natural wild diet to create as much kopi luwak as is on the market.
As Baker told reporters “it is impossible to generate the qualities needed for export without caging civet cats. Despite global attention and condemnation, the inhumane treatment of these living, feeling being persist in the industry.”
He concluded “tourists be warned: stay away from civet coffee.” Studies and investigations conduced by World Animal Protection have revealed that there are no ethical animal tourism facilities in Bali or Lombok.
The undercover investigation by World Animal Protection resulted in an awareness campaign by the organization called ‘Holidays That Harm.’
The campaign highlighted that of the 26 animal entertainment and animal tourism venues assessed in Bali and Lombok, “no wildlife entertainment venue in Bali met good welfare standards for animals in captivity, and most didn’t even meet the basic needs.”
The investigation assessed the conditions of over 1,300 animals in Bali and Lombok, including elephants, orangutan and dolphins.
World Animal Protection’s finding showed that ten of the venues assessed during the investigation were categorized as wildlife entertainment venues, including Mason Elephant Lodge, Bali Zoo, Bali Safari Marine Park, and Bali Exotic Marine Park, which call failed to meet the animal welfare standards laid out by the organizations consulting biologists, veterinarians, and animal welfare specialists.
Remove All Ads & Unlock All Articles… Sign up for The Bali Sun Premium
Plan Your Bali Holiday:
Book The Best English Speaking Drivers For Airport Transfers & Tours
Choose From Thousands of Bali Hotels, Resorts, and Hostels with Free Cancellation On Most Properties
Book Cheap Flights To Bali
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance That Covers Medical Expenses In Bali
For the latest Bali News & Debate Join our Facebook Community
SUBSCRIBE TO NEW POSTS
Enter your email address to subscribe to The Bali Sun’s latest breaking news, straight to your inbox.
Shorty
Thursday 14th of March 2024
My feeling is Balinese sales of kopi luwak beans, coffee and visits to production places will will drop. Not primarily because of animal welfare concerns.
It got a huge boost 17 years ago from the movie Bucket List. But those viewers are now old farts.
Today's generations aren't in the main aware of it and have far more exposure to coffee varieties.
Cat poop coffee is just an expensive novelty. Like most other beverages we all have our favourite and stick to it.
In my Regency most of the Kopi Luwak warungs have closed, and I've not seen beans for sale.
Jay
Tuesday 12th of March 2024
People miss a huge point as to why this coffee had originally been considered to be of such high quality.
In the wild Civit cats are very selective over how much and which coffee cherries they eat. There is no scientific evidence to show that the coffee tastes any better due to having been eaten and pooped out of a cat’s butt, this fermentation theory has no evidence.
It literally comes down to one very simple fact, the Civit cats pickiness to the cherries they select to eat in the for place. They pick the most perfectly ripe cherries based on smell and density.
Therefore, farmed Civit cat Kopi luwak is never going to be “nice” because the Civit cats are forced to eat cheap, low quality coffee cherries with no thought or care into their ripeness when picked, and there’s obviously no consistency with the ripeness.
To be blunt, farmed kopi luwak is just crappy coffee cherries, crapped out by an unhappy Civit cat. You’re being ripped off whilst the cats are caged up and pissed off.
Alex
Monday 11th of March 2024
Disgusting, exploitative treatment of animals is the norm on primitive Bali. Go and visit one of the many wild bird sellers. All that the locals are interested in is easy money. However, anyone who has visited Yogyakarta, Jakarta and other zoos will find that animal maintenence in those big cities is far worse and quite appalling. From India, through South East Asia, to China they don't have anything that Europeans would recognise as empathy or feelings for the natural world.
Shorty
Thursday 14th of March 2024
@J Carmody,
Use your brain before you put your mouth into gear.
Indonesian per capita plastic usage in 2022 was 22.5 kg.
Germany was 95.8 kg.
USA was 139 kg which represents 19% of global production and 21% of global usage.
JoKer
Tuesday 12th of March 2024
@Alex, In all honesty, many of these countries should not have zoo's with non native species (nor native species quite frankly) Europe and North America included unless they are all rescues of endangered species. Not for the tourism market. In this day and age, it just doesn't make sense anymore.
J Carmody
Tuesday 12th of March 2024
@Miss maya, really? Westerners brought plastic to Indonesia? Seriously? You make Indonesian people sound like babies who get given things they know nothing about by big bad people.
Miss maya
Tuesday 12th of March 2024
@Alex, I really miss buying food without plastic,all material kitchen using bambu and banana leaves until 1950’s westerners brings up to Indonesia. For me thats is disgusting
Chris dembowski
Monday 11th of March 2024
Wow I had no clue being a orange county native born and still at 61 being here and still being raised to awareness to humans cruelty to make a buck it just boggles the mind of this life long animal lover and as of late just becoming an activist to defend the creatures that to me have as much right to live an uninterrupted life free from human cruelty, I still and always will im sure eat and enjoy charred mammal flesh sue me hate me whatever your case maybe but I do defend the treatment of the cow pig fowl or even fish be more than humane because so many humans haven't the first clue as to what humane treatment of other mammals even is obviously by this article so many nations in this cruel world still should be forced into extinction themselves by the actions they do to other living breathing creatures it is so maddening im shaking as I type how can a life form that is barley just using an adverage of maybe 8% of the Grey matter in their heads yet have achieved to levels of advancement even from the 61 years that I have been a techno geek from the old dial phone wired and mounted on the wall or in the booth remember those to the black and white TV with 2,4,5,7,9,11, 13, 28 and 56 all with the youngest person in the room at the time being the only remote to now the smart phone with no wires taking us anywhere in the world at the touch of a finger so far beyond any full library of encyclopedia and reaseach book manual and Havard and Oxford combined with every college in the world worth of accessible knowledge all from any comfort and pretty much anywhere at least in my great nation and there are still people like these that will cage a wonderful creature and treat them worse than I could ever imagine treating even them or my worst life enemy for that matter all to make a dollar in a world where you have to just be a lazy sod to not find a decent way to make a buck in the world today even the lowest of iq can make it rich with very little effort I just can't wrap my simple mind around the society of the world that finds it hard to actually abort adult humans that do this sort of action the death penalty should be the sentence for so many crimes that tens of thousands of humans would be euthanized a day for the first year alone then the masses would wake up and see that society has finally awoken and refuses to put up with your antics anymore better act right or we will find you and eliminate the issue once and for all time. That and only that will be the only solution to the cruelty of humans its sad bit a fact face and embrace it or cope with the cruel its on you but mark my words unless we take that action their actions are going to surly far exceed theses it is garenteed.
walt443
Wednesday 13th of March 2024
@Firechef, Dam, agreed could have used one comment. Bizarre.
Karen
Wednesday 13th of March 2024
@Firechef, exactly my thoughts.
Firechef
Tuesday 12th of March 2024
@Chris dembowski, Maybe in all of those 61 years you could at least have learned to punctuate instead of rambling on like a second grader. Sorry, I forgot, you live in California.
JoKer
Monday 11th of March 2024
In Bali, I thought there was supposed to be a reverence for nature. Greedy people will commit any acts of cruelty just to make money from ignorant tourists.