Kopi Luwak

On a recent trip to Bali I was able to sample a rare type of coffee that I had heard about & never imagined that I'd try: Kopi Luwak.
Why is this coffee so special? I guess its due to the "additional" processing steps that the raw coffee berries go through.

In Indonesia a local wild animal, an Asian Palm Civet (above), eats the raw coffee berries when they are at the pinnacle of ripeness - it doesn't eat the over or under ripe berries. It does this for roughage to help its digestion. the berries then pass through the digestive tract & the stomach juices react with the berries. 

The animal droppings (above) are then collected, cleaned, roasted & ground in the usual manner, though the little girl (below) was showing the traditional Balinese way of pounding the coffee beans rather than grinding.

The Kopi Luwak I had was prepared in the typical Balinese style: ground to almost a fine  powder, to which hot water is added - no filtering of any kind. The coffee is allowed to settle before drinking.
After the first sip all I can say is: wow!! the taste, flavour, aroma, smoothness are all on a totally new level. 

 
When converted into AUD, the Kopi Luwak at the plantation was for sale at AUD30.00 for 100g, so its not cheap! Unfortunately quarantine regulations prevented me from taking any home with me.


If you ever have the chance to try this coffee, do so, you wont be disappointed! 

Some stuff from the web..

Surfing the net you do come across some amazing sites. This is one of them: Darkside of the Force/ & these are a few of the photo's on there..

Spire..

Melbourne Randomness

Just 

Just because

Just Melbourne...

It may not have a harbour, or a tower, or be steeped in ancient history, but my home town of Melbourne has a wonderful diversity that never fails to surprise me.  Whether its the walk home, the view of a storm, the art in the laneways the evening light reflecting & highlighting structures, or even the area where I live, its all Melbourne.

A reason...

There is a saying "everything happens for a reason".

Today's tram trip into work proved this saying.

I missed my first tram because it was early, for some reason the next one ignored the 4 people waiting at the stop & sped by, the next one was late & crowded, and then had the nerve to terminate early so that they could maintain their schedule. By this time i was really annoyed & frustrated with the start to my morning.

Then got off the tram & looked up and saw this.

If I wasn't delayed by the trams I never would have seen it, everything does happen for a reason.

Street Art

Its always amazing what you can find down the alleyways of Melbourne....

In this case I had to squeeze past some parked cars & rubbish bins to find these:

Weekend Wanderings

No motivation = no recipes or food pics :(

So you have to make do with some of my weekend ramblings in Melbourne.

Australian Natives

Australian native plants are always unusual & full of surprises...

Like this one:

The flower pod

Flowering

The seed pod...

Or this one that looks like an exploding firework

Spaces

Reading today's The Age website they had these amazingly beautiful photo's by Alex Cherney:

Full article is here: The Age

random thoughts

Sometimes

Just because...

I can!

Looking up

Looking down...

The green path

The shining

Is it greener on the other side?