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The Indonesian Kopi luwak AKA civet coffee is the world's most expensive coffee at $160 per pound. Are there any testimonials, considering its premium price, that its taste even distinguishable compared to other premium beans?

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    In the spirit of skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/2849/5725
    – KMoraz
    Feb 19, 2012 at 17:03
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    Highly-priced coffee is not as absurd as highly-priced speaker cables. Coffee taste varies very significantly based on the growing region and the roast. Premium coffee from Kona, Hawaii often goes for ~$40 / pound and there are thousands of pounds produced every year. I imagine that Kopi Luwak is considerably scarcer. Plus, you know, you have to deal with a farm of full of jittery civets.
    – Larry OBrien
    Feb 20, 2012 at 18:18
  • One is made from roasting the seeds of coffee berries. Those seeds are extracted from and retain flavor from the berry pulp, more or less depending on the extraction method. The other is made from roasting the seeds after they've traveled through the digestive track of a mammal and interacted with various gastric and digestive juices, with the berry pulp digested. It would be pretty shocking if it didn't taste differently.
    – PoloHoleSet
    Mar 22, 2017 at 14:38

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Yes, there are testimonials that Kopi Luwak has a distinct flavor, at least to the trained palette of coffee enthusiasts. However, there seems little consensus that it's a particularly good coffee. One cupper says:

The kopi luwak was again smooth and silky with deep chocolate notes and a pleasant earthiness to it. The Honduran was vibrant and citrusy, popping out with tart berry flavors as it cooled a little bit. As both cups cooled down, the differences were night and day to everyone at the table; the difference in acidity alone was enough to readily distinguish the two.

Another says:

just exceedingly mild with little sign of regionally distinctive flavors.

A third says:

I picked the taste straight away as Kopi Luwak from my previous but recent cupping experience....I don't dislike the taste of Kopi Luwak however I have found that at least for my pallet, that I have had lot of nicer coffees and blends

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