Would You Like Some Coffee With Your Poetry?

There are two main species of the coffee plant; Arabica is the traditional coffee, and considered superior in flavor. Robusta, which is higher in caffeine, can be cultivated in environments where Arabica will not thrive, leading to its use as an inexpensive substitute for Arabica in many commercial coffee products. Robusta is not usually consumed by itself, due to its bitter and acidic flavor. Higher quality Robustas are used as ingredients in some espresso blends.

Arabica coffees were traditionally named by the port they were exported from, the two oldest being Mocha and Java. The modern coffee trade is much more specific about origin, labeling coffees by country, region, and sometimes even the producing estate. Coffee aficionados may even distinguish auctioned coffees by lot number.

One unusual and very expensive variety of robusta is the Indonesian Kopi Luwak. The beans are collected from the droppings of the Common Palm Civet, whose digestive processes give it a distinctive flavour.

Kopi Luwak are robusta coffee beans which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Common Palm Civet. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, as well as the country of Vietnam.

"Kopi" is the Indonesian word for coffee and "Luwak" is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee 'cherries' as part of its usual diet. This animal eats a mixed diet of insects, small mammals and fruits along with the softer outer part of the coffee cherry but does not digest the inner beans, instead excreting them still covered in some inner layers of the cherry.

Locals then gather the beans -- which come through the 'animal stage' fairly intact -- and sell them on to dealers. It is believed that enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee's flavour through fermentation of some type.

The bean is usually given a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavours which develop through this process.