Now A Test Can Tell If Your Pricey Cup Of Cat Poop Coffee Is Fake
By measuring the citric acid concentration, together with that of malic acid and the ratio of two other compounds (pyroglutamic acid and inositol for all your flavor buffs), the team could successfully separate the real McCoy coffee from the fakes. It reported its findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
So could a boost in citrus acid be the secret behind Kopi Luwak's appeal? Perhaps, says coffee buyer Mark Overly, who runs Kaladi Coffee Roasters in Denver and blogs at The Coffee Heretic.
"Citric acid is highly prized in coffee," Overly says. "It has a nice lemony quality. It brightens a cup of coffee and makes it more lively — much like with a good glass of orange juice."
Ironically, he says, citric acid is an indicator that the beans are fresh and clean. "Having more of it in the civet coffee seems counter to what I thought sitting around in the cat's digestive tract would do," he says.
But still, the extra acid doesn't change Overly's mind about the civet poop coffee: He refuses to touch the stuff. "I won't taste it. I won't put it in my roaster," he says adamantly. "It goes against my philosophy about having clean coffee" — by which he means the unadulterated flavor of pure coffee beans.
The Salt
Here's The Scoop On Cat Poop Coffee