Kopi luwak: World's Most Exotic Coffee

The world's most exotic coffee, Kopi Luwak aka civet.

Two years ago, today, I took a trip to Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena to try the world's most exotic coffee, called kopi luwak, after seeing it on TV. It turned out that Jones' doesn't actually sell it. Since then, I've been keeping my eye out for an opportunity to try it. A few days ago, I bought some kopi luwak coffee beans, also known as civet coffee. I called on a friend, Isaac, who is a coffee aficionado, to prepare it for me. He had never tried it and he didn't have high expectations for it; he felt is was overpriced, much like Kona coffee. Kona coffee is expensive because it's the only coffee grown in the US. Kona workers are paid much higher wages than workers in developing countries, where most coffee comes from. Civet coffee isn't expensive because it's so tastily, rather it's expensive because of the bean preparation process.

I brought the beans over to Isaac's home. He was pleasantly surprised when he opened the bag and saw that the beans were a slightly roasted to a light brown color instead of black. A lighter roasted coffee bean tends to retain more flavor and more caffeine (by volume). Isaac weighed out 35 grams of beans, ground them up, placed them in a paper filter in a ceramic V60 coffee dripper, and poured hot water through the ground beans, while agitating them, as the coffee drained into his Chemex coffee maker.

Tools of the trade, including a "Breaking Bad" vacuum siphon.

We sampled the civet coffee without adding any cream or sweater. The only thing we did, to enhance the flavor, was lick a little butter before sipping the coffee. Isaac said that the fat in butter helps brings out a coffee's flavor in the same way that strawberries bring out the flavor in champagne. That's the reason why coffee goes so well with donuts.

I thought the coffee was tasty. Isaac's final verdict was, "The quality of coffee we tasted is good, professional grade. But you can get the same quality for 1/10th of the price."

If you've reached this point without understanding what makes kopi luwak so exotic, then you probably shouldn't ask. But, if you really must know.

When Reel Life Clashes with the Real World

The bearded barista in the background served my coffee.

I've watched several episodes of Jerry Seinfeld's web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The interview that captured my attention is the one with Jay Leno since they drove to Jones Coffee Roasters, in Pasadena, to drink the world's most exotic coffee. If you can spare 93 seconds then watch a clip of this episode starting at the 10:00 mark. (You'll have to endure the embedded advertisement, first.)

The coffee is called kopi luwak, better known as civet coffee. If you don't know how it's made then you probably shouldn't ask.

The happy bride and groom.

Last weekend I traveled to L.A. for the wedding of my closest high school classmate, Andy. The wedding and reception were at the beautiful Langham Huntington Hotel, a few minutes drive from Jones Coffee Roasters. I figured this was a perfect opportunity to try a cup of this "crap." It turns out I was wrong.

The Tisa Adamson band.

I bellied up to the counter and asked about the civet coffee I saw Leno and Seinfeld drink. The barista told me they don't stock it or sell it. The owner, Chuck Jones, brought in his personal stash of civet coffee for the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee episode. That was a bit of a bummer, but not a total loss since a cup would probably sell for at least $25. Their regular, cold brew, coffee was good – it was strong – but still good.

This cafe had a lot of character and the live band, Tisa Adamson, sounded great. I even saw one of the baristas from the episode, but, alas, no civet coffee. Sometimes... actually, most of the time... the reel world just isn't the real world. 

Copco Cup Design

I really like good design and beverage mugs are no exception.

I recently received three new beverage cups designed by Copco which they asked me to review. I've ended up using all of them almost every day.

Hydra Water Bottle
A unique design, which I haven't seen before, is the new BPA free Copco Hydra water bottle. It looks like a regular disposable water bottle with a colorful grip that holds just over a pint. But, the top third of the bottle unscrews so that you can add ice, lemon, etc. Best of all is that it's very easy to clean. About ten days ago, I ended up drinking out of my overused disposable water bottle, for a couple days, before I noticed that it had green slime which I couldn't clean out.

Cold Drink Tumbler
The new Copco tumbler is a particularly nice way to drink cold coffee on the go. It's a double walled cup, so it doesn't sweat on hot, humid days. Also, it forms a tight seal when closed.

The best part of this tumbler is that the straw is permanently attached to the lid. The straw is plastic, on the top and bottom, but the part of it that passes through the lid is made of flexible silicone. This enables a great feature which allows you to bend the straw 90 degrees to snap into the lid to form a leak proof seal. As a matter of fact, instead of stirring your ice coffee, you can clip the straw to the lid and shake the cup - just like a martini shaker - without any leakage (just make sure that the lid is fully secured).

Hot/Cold Coffee Cup Lid Design
As I mentioned about two months ago, one thing that I didn't like about Copco's new coffee lid design is that, when I flipped open the lid, the wet rubber stopper would hit my nose. Copco heard my feedback, along with others, and Vallory Farrasso, from Wilton Industries, Inc, the parent company of Copco, wrote to me:

I wanted to let you know that I met with a couple Copco product managers today and they are actually in the process of developing new lids for the cups. There was a lot of consumer feedback about those lids hitting people’s noses when sipping from the cups.

You have to love great customer service like that!

Fortunately, Copco sent to me their newest coffee cup with a similar, yet bigger, lid design that turns out to be great. While the two white lids in this photo look the same size, the one on the right is bigger - big enough to completely miss my nose. This larger design coffee cup has become my daily favorite. Not to mention that it's also a double walled cup suitable for both hot and cold drinks.

Yes, lid design may seem trivial, but a lid that doesn't leak is a big deal when on the go - it really is .

Great Design: Coffee Cups Lids

I love great design, especially when it solves a problem in an elegant way. It's even better when the new solution doesn't have any side effects.

It's no secret that I really like my Copco coffee cups. Every morning, an overwhelming majority of adults in the U.S. drink coffee or tea. Since most of us drink it on-the-go, we can't use a traditional ceramic mug while driving to work. The key to drinking coffee on-the-go is to have a well designed lid. And there's no shortage of people who've taken notice of different lid designs.

Before 1990, coffeehouses and cafes weren't common in the U.S., so a lot of the coffee consumed before then wasn't grab-and-go like it is today. Over the past twenty years, the to-go coffee cup has evolved.

Originally, the to-go coffee cup included a simple lid that had to be removed in order to drink the coffee. Then a perforated tab was added to the lid so that you could open up a drink hole. The problem with the tab was that, once it was opened, it couldn't be resealed since the perforation was broken. Like most any other problem, over time, a better solution was engineered.

Singapore
About 15 years ago, I made a couple trips to Singapore where I discovered the innovative way that the locals carried their coffee: in a bag. Initially, I couldn't figure out what these bags were until I saw my driver buy a "cup" (bag) of coffee and hang it on the radio knob in his car. Pure genius. As he turned corners, nothing spilled and he could simply lift it up by its string and drink it through a straw sticking out of the side of the bag.

San Clemente

In the mid-1990s, I lived in an apartment that was formerly the Hotel San Clemente. It had (and still has) a cafe in the lobby that opens up into a courtyard. Needless to say, I drank a lot of coffee at this, my favorite, cafe. Nearly every day, I'd stop by, on my way out, and get a cup of their chocolate almond raspberry coffee.

In 1994, the lobby cafe provided simple coffee cup lids with the perforated tab which would leak as the coffee splashed around in the cup. To solve this problem, I'd always use two lids with the tabs opposite each other. While this nearly solved the problem, it wasn't possible to drink the coffee until I got to work.

About a year or two later, the owner began providing coffee cup lids that were designed like the ones now used at Starbucks. Since the hole in these lids is raised, it prevents most of the coffee from splashing out unless you just happen to rattle the cup the wrong way. Best of all, you can drink and drive without any spillage.

Kenya

When my wife and I lived in Kenya, we coined the term, "Kenyan full," which means filled to the very top. For some reason, bottles of water, cups of coffee, etc, in Kenya, were filled to the tippy top. I'm guessing that it's the equivalent of a baker's dozen. The problem with a cup of coffee that's filled to the brim, even with today's "Starbucks" lid design, is there's very little chance that your coffee won't spill out – it's just too full. But, the Kenyan's had a simple solution to this problem: masking tape. After they snapped the lid on your cup of coffee, they'd stick a half inch piece of narrow masking tape over the drinking hole to keep it from leaking. Hopefully, the masking tape glue wasn't unhealthy - but, regardless, you couldn't easily drink your coffee and then reapply the masking tape while you drove.

Dunkin' Donuts: The 100% Solution

In 2004, I noticed that Dunkin' Donuts had a 100% solution to this problem which matched my personal requirements for what a coffee cup lid should be. Simply put, Dunkin' Donuts provided a lid, similar to the Starbuck design, which had a flap that plugged the drinking hole in order to keep the coffee from splashing out. When you want to take a sip, you'd simply flip the flap up and it would snap into place on the opposite of the cup. After taking a sip, you could replug the drinking hole. A perfect solution without any side effects.

Copco Redesign: The 80% Solution

Today, I was at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (where I bought my first Copco cup in 2009) and I noticed that they were selling Copco cups with newly designed lids. It attempts to mimic the Dunkin' Donuts lid, but it has two small side effects that I don't care for.

First is the fact that they've raised the lip of the cup in such a way that you can't form a complete seal, with your lips, around the drinking hole. This just doesn't feel natural when drinking and it presents a risk where coffee can leak out while drinking.

Second is the fact that the rubber plug is too close to the center of the cup when it's in the open position and it interferes with your nose. This means, since the rubber plug will be wet with coffee, that the tip of your nose ends up getting coffee on it.

However, I have to say that I'm impressed with the seal that the plug forms. Not only does it seal the drinking hole, but it also plugs the air hole in such a way that, when fully secured, you could throw the cup, full of coffee, up in the air, while spinning it, and not a drop will leak out.

Taking it for a Test Drive

I'll give my new cup a try this week. I think I'm going to really like the fact that it won't splash on me as I get into and out of my car – a problem that ends up spilling coffee on my hand about once every week or two as I juggle my keys, lunch, and iPad while getting into and out of my car.