So you dropped $80 on a cup coffee. Now you’re wondering: “Is this really Kopi Luwak, the Joe that features palm civets as an essential worker in the production process?”. Because frankly, you can’t taste the difference. And at $80 a pop, someone might be tempted to undertake a little adultery.
Have no fear, science is here. This just in, from the American Chemical Society:
Eiichiro Fukusaki and colleagues … describe identifying unique chemical fingerprints that can be used to identify authentic Kopi Luwak and distinguish pure Kopi Luwak from Kopi Luwak that has been mixed with cheaper coffee. “This is the first report to address the selection and successful validation of discriminant markers for the authentication of Kopi Luwak,” the scientists state.