LUWAK COFFEE

Coffee grows in many countries around the world. Some varieties even have special reputation, which is usually based on a combination of rarity, unusual circumstances, and a good flavor. But perhaps no coffee in the world, has such unique flavor and quite interesting background as Luwak Coffee or here in Indonesian known as Kopi Luwak. The price is also special which is about $ 75 per quarter pound. Pretty expensive, don’t you think?

So, what makes Kopi Luwak so special? Kopi Luwak also known as Civet coffee comes from the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is made from coffee berries, which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive system of one type of mammal, called the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus Hermaphroditus). A Palm Civet is a dark brown tree-dwelling cat-like creature that can be found throughout Southeast Asia. In Indonesia it is known as Luwak, which is the origin of the term Kopi Luwak.

The little mammals live in the trees and one of their favorite foods is the red, ripe coffee berry. The luwak will eat only the choicest, most perfectly matured berries. They eat the berries, bean, and all. Then while the beans are in their stomach, it experiences chemical treatments and fermentation. After they finish the journey through the digestive system, the beans exit. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest ground, then cleaned. After that they are roasted and ground just like the usual coffee. It is said that the result has a rich, heavy flavor with a bit of caramel or chocolate taste. Some refer it as earthy, musty, and exotic. It feels almost syrupy and very smooth.

Because of the strange method of collecting Kopi Luwak, there is not much of it produced in the world. This obviously affected the price to be quite high. In United States for example, in coffee vendors, Kopi Luwak is sold $ 300 or more per pound.

However, Indonesia now is not the only producer of Kopi Luwak. In Vietnam, there is also a type of coffee produced in the same way as Kopi Luwak. The Vietnamese call it caphe cut chon (“fox dung coffee”), because the luwak or civets resemble foxes to them. While in the Philippines this kind of coffee called Kape Alamid.

CARE FOR SOME YOGURT?

In the last few years, yogurt has become more popular among Indonesian people, especially people in big cities. What made it draw so much attentions from many of the people? Read all about it here.

Yogurt or yoghurt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. Several kinds of milk can be used to make yogurt, but today’s modern yogurt production is dominated by cow milk.

Yogurt is made by adding beneficial bacteria into non-pasteurized milk (to settle the balance between the bacteria and the enzyme of the milk) on a controlled environment temperature and condition. The bacteria will organize the sugar milk into a lactic acid. This will increase the acidity and cause the milk protein to subside into a compact or thick mass. The increase of the acidity (pH 4-5) also prevents proliferation (cell multiplication) from other pathogen bacteria. Generally, the yogurt’s texture involves two or more different kinds of bacteria for the fermentation process, for example Streptococcus salivarius and thermophillus, also genus Lactobacillus, such as Lacidophilus, bulgaricus, casei and bifidus. Moreover, since the texture of yogurt contains enzymes that can divide lactose, some people who suffered from lactose intolerance can enjoy yogurt without dealing with the negative side effects.


VARIETY OF YOGURTS

Back in the days, yogurt was only made with one flavor. Then it started to change little by little. Earlier, the yogurt producers added slices of fresh fruits on the bottom of its packaging so the consumers can mix them together before eating it. Gradually, the producers the mixed the yogurt with fruits and added fruits flavor, such as cherry, orange, berry, lime, to the yogurt. These days, yogurt appears in variety of flavors. Some producers even changed the thickness of yogurt to be a little more like some dessert dishes, such as chocolate mousse, lemon pie, and crème broulee.

Other than the variety of the flavors, there are several types of yogurt:

- Strained yogurt, which is type of yogurt that are strained through a cloth or a paper filter, traditionally made of muslin, to remove the whey, giving a much thicker consistency, and a distinctive, a bit sour taste.
- Dadiah or dadih, is a traditional West Sumatran yogurt made from buffalo milk, which is fermented in bamboo tubes.
- Labneh is yogurt from Lebanon. It is a thickened yogurt used for sandwiches. It can be thickened even more, rolled into balls, preserved in olive oil, and fermented for a few weeks. Sometimes, it is served with onions, meat, and nuts, as stuffing for variety of Lebanese pies called “Kebbeh”.
- Tarator/ cacik is a popular cold soup made from yogurt. It is popularly consumed during summer in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Turkey.
- Rahmjoghurt is a creamy yogurt with much higher milk fat content (10%) than most yogurts sold in English-speaking countries. This type of yogurt is available in Germany and some other countries.
- Caspian Sea Yogurt. This kind of yogurt believed to have been introduced by researchers returning from a trip to the Caucasus region in Georgia. Its taste is mild than other varieties of yogurts. Caspian Sea Yogurt is made at room temperature in 10 to 15 hours.


THE HEALTH BENEFITS

According to William Sears, MD, and Martha Sears, RN, the authors of “The Family Nutrition Book; Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children from Birth through Adolescence”, there are ten reasons why yogurt is good to consume.

1. Easy to digested.
Yogurt is easier to digest than milk. The existence of alive and active bacteria will produce the lactation enzyme, an enzyme, which is lack in amount on children with lactose intolerance. The cultural process will also divide the sugar milk (lactose) into glucose and galactose, so it can be a lot easier to absorb.

2. Good for the intestines.
Yogurt contains good bacteria such as Lactobacteria, especially acidophilus. The bacteria increase the amount of good bacteria inside the colon, so it will reduce the risk of colonic cancer.

3. Helping the process of nutrition absorption
Yogurt increases the absorption of calcium and vitamin B. The existence of lactic acid inside it will help digesting the milk calcium.

4. Improving the immune system
The study carried out towards 68 people who consume yogurt two cups a day showed a quite positive result. These people have higher amount of interferon. On the Dorland’s medical dictionary, interferon is a family of glicoprotein, which one of its formations can be motivated by bacteria, functioned as imunoregulater and produces anti-virus activities. Another study done on animal showed that yogurt contains factors, which have an anti-tumor effect.

5. Helping the healing of digestion channel infections.The existence of viruses and nuisance in the digestion channel will establish wound on the intestine layers, especially on cells that produce lactation. Although it is only temporary, children might experience lactose intolerance for 1 – 2 months, after the digestion-channel infections. With its low level of lactose and a lot of lactation enzyme, doctors often use yogurt to heal the condition of digestion organs. Research shows, yogurt quickens healing from diarrhea on children.

6. Reducing fungus infections.
Consuming one glass of yogurt per day will reduce the fungus growth on vagina. This will lower the risk of fungus infection on vagina.

7. Rich with calcium.
In one glass of yogurt, contains approximately 450-mg calcium. This mineral is very beneficial for colon health. People with high calcium diet, such as in Scandinavian countries, own lower level of colorectal cancer cases than in other countries.

8. Source of protein.
One glass of plain yogurt contains 10 – 14 grams protein or about 20% of daily protein needs. The fermentation process made the protein in the yogurt is easy to digest.

9. Lowering the cholesterol level
Experts assumed, living bacteria inside the yogurt is able to assimilate with cholesterol. This happens might because yogurt binds the bile acid, so it cause the effect of reducing the cholesterol level.

10. An aid food
The existence of easy-digested protein and the lactic acid that increase the mineral absorption, making yogurt good to consume by children with absorption nuisance inside the digestion channel.

So, care for some yogurt?

Written by: ME...
Information from many sources.