Bali, Indonesia - And the Glories of Drinking Poo, AKA Luwak Coffee

Let’s get this out of the way.

If you’re looking for the top 10 Instagram-able places…this is not where you’ll find it.

If you’re looking for the best places to visit, I’ll post some of my most favorite links below for you to check out.

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So…if the above are what you’re looking for in my Travelogue section – honestly, you won’t find them here.

What I have are stories – most of them are directly connected to the places I visit and the people I meet. Some aren’t. Most stories are about good and happy experiences. A very few…not so much. I’ll be honest about all my experiences – with humor and no malice.

These are stories that have affected and changed me. I hope you like them as much as I’ve enjoyed experiencing them. Enjoy!!

Bali, Indonesia – And The Glories of Drinking Poo, AKA Luwak Coffee

By The messy optimist

So – I drank poo. AKA Luwak Coffee. Kopi Luwak. Or Poo Coffee.

Yesssss. No errors here. You read that right. I drank Poo when I was in Bali.

And I’m not a crazy-ass person for doing it (well, it is a little crazy, admittedly). I drank poo coffee because it’s a delicacy in Bali.

But before I get into all the itsy-bitsy details of Kopi Luwak…let me back up a bit.

Top Sights in Bali

So, first of all – I did everything that you do when you go to Bali. I saw the temples. I saw the beaches.

And rinse and repeat.

And rinse and repeat – AGAIN.

And it was all glorious.

Seeing the orange-hued sunsets at Kuta beach from my hotel (which was a two-minute walk from the beach).

Enjoying the the Balinian pronunciations of Pandava Beach and glorying at the texture of the Pandava Beach sands.

Then getting amazed at the performance of the Hindu mythology of Ramayana by way of Indonesia’s Kecak Dance against the breathtaking evening landscape at Uluwatu temple, marveling at the location and views from Tanah Lot temple.

Partaking of the sacred waters at Tirta Empul, seeing the majestic sight of Mouth Batur from a restaurant that my guide took me for lunch and so much more.

No Coffee Luwak yet – But Eating, Praying, Loving – a la Julia Roberts!

And then topping it all off by imitating and walking in Julia Roberts’ footsteps in the fields at Ubud and immersing myself in Balinese culture, walking up and down multiple waterfalls in the Balinian landscape, glorying in awe of the rice and paddy fields at Tabanon and then quickly comparing them to similar glorious fields in Ooty in India and then scolding myself about how we always seem to travel outside our own country for beauty.

Watching the pulsating dance dramas perfomed by many local theater artists.

Oh, and so, so, so much more.

But despite four days of breathtaking and non-stop sightseeing – my guide continued to make tsk tsk sounds and just when I wanted to launch into him for tsk tsk..ing me much – he turned around and launched into me intead.

“I’ve just about had it with you, ” he said. Trying to be angry but failing miserably he still tried the strict school master tone on me.

“Why…?” I responded mildly.

“You know why!” He retorted even as he did a little Riverdancing himself -stomping his foot down and hopping up and down – even as he demanded that I do the one thing that I’d been avoiding during my stay. No Bali trip would be complete if I did not partake of the Balinian specialty – Luwak Coffee (Kopi Luwak), he announced loudly.

I continued to demur.

Enter – Luwak Coffee – When a tea lover has to drink coffee!

Thing is – as a South Indian – I’m well known in my family for not being a coffee drinker. Or should I say – filter coffee or filter kapi. It’s blasphemous just how much of a chai (tea) drinker I am. Not the herbal fru fru tea but the rugged and macho Lipton/Brooke Bond Red Label chai with milk and sugar.

Over the years my family disowning me for multiple other reasons is a very common occurrence (and most of which, I assure you, I agree with) but when the disowning happened because of the coffee thing – fighting back became a new normal. Honestly, I still don’t get what the big deal is with coffee. Over the years I sporadically continue to drink filter coffee (especially at this restaurant in West Mambalam, Chennai, India called Data restaurant – which I absolutely love, love, love) but my general indifference to it continues.

Luwak Coffee – Kopi Luwak – Yikes!

And so when my Balinian guide kept pestering me about Luwak Coffee – I shrugged him off. Till the day came when I could no longer do the shrugging any more. So I finally caved, gave up and went to one of the ‘farms’ that sold Luwak Coffee.

At this point I still had NO idea what it was. To me – it was coffee and I just didn’t care.

It was when I arrived at the Luwak farm that I realized that Kopi Luwak literally stands for ‘cat poop coffee.’ LIKE. LITERALLY. CAT. POOP. COFFEE. Turns out, coffee beans are fed to this cat called Civet and then when the cat defecates it’s collected and processed and sold as coffee.

Yes. THIS is COFFEE DRINKING, Y’ALL.

Drinking an animal’s defecation and calling it coffee. OK, OK. I jest (or do I)? Obvi this is a joke but, honestly, how can defecation and drinking go together in the way it was meant to in this scenario?

To say I was HORRIFIED is putting it mildly. And Kopi Luwak is a delicacy in Bali, as well.

The people at the farm were – as all Balinians are – sweet, kind and incredibly friendly. BUT no amount of niceness could let me get over the fact that they were peddling poop coffee. I tried to run. But my guide who was also my car driver refused to let me get back into the taxi till I tasted the coffee. He just folded his hands and stood there like a dictator and said, drink, or else.

So, I did.

I drank. I drank poo coffee and…

And ok… I live to tell the tale.

The good and the bad news about Kopi Luwak…

The good news is – like I said, I lived to tell the tale. I think when I first sipped the coffee I expected some ‘poop’ like smell. It wasn’t there (but that’s not saying much since I cannot smell anything to save my life).

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The people at the farm told me that the poop is obvi distilled and fermented and other chemicals are run through and processed – so, no. You do not ‘smell’ the coffee. I believe that Luwak Coffee also does not cause the same levels of acidity that coffee in general does. Hence, why it’s so expensive and why they do it at all.

The bad news is – to me – it was/is…just coffee. I just couldn’t tell the difference between the various coffees I’ve drunk so far.

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Sorry. For all of you wondering is THIS IS BLOODY IT? If – after all the build up – THIS MEEKLY is how the story ends?

Uhh…yeah, actually.

Well…for what it’s worth, my guide stopped scowling from that moment on. Does that count? No?

Oh, well!

For more and other spectacular things to do in Bali – check out the following:

55 Best Things to Do in Bali (Indonesia)

12 Things You Must Do in Bali, Indonesia

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-things-to-do-in-bali

https://www.timeout.com/bali/things-to-do/best-things-to-do-in-bali