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I can't think of a time I've deliberately eaten something expensive (as opposed to out of convenience), except for the kopi luwak, which was a gift.
It was from a relief worker I knew well, who had gotten it from a friend of his in SE Asia who collected the wild beans as a hobby. At market prices at the time I think the little cup I had worked out to around 40 dollars, and this was some time ago.
Anyway, was it worth it? It was a normal cup of Joe, except it had no bitterness to it at all. The cat's gut apparently takes all the bitterness out of it without touching the flavour much, At a similar price to normal coffee I'd buy it, but as an uber-luxury I'd say it's in no way worth it, unless you're just consuming conspicuously.
You can get that same experience with coffee for much cheaper, but it does require a little effort. You just need to find a good coffee roaster near you or online where you can get freshly roasted specialty coffee(arabica, not robusta; and from a single farm, not a blend), instead of the stuff at grocery stores that's been sitting for months. It might cost $15-$20 a bag, but that's still less than a dollar per cup! If you want the absolute best coffee, then grinding the beans yourself and using something like an aeropress or pourover brewer is ideal, but you can still get great coffee just by buying locally roasted beans from a nearby shop, letting them grind the beans for you, then brewing with a regular old coffee machine
I've had lots of gourmet coffee, actually. It still has some bitterness. Like, this stuff you could have given to a baby, as I remember it.
Even compared to something like a washed Ethiopian? To be honest I've never tried kopi luwak, I just figured it was overhyped and comparable to other specialty coffee lol
I mean I still think it's overhyped, except maybe as just an interesting concept. And, we got the most artisanal authentic kind imaginable, what with a guy on the ground we could trust. If you go and buy on the market it you'll probably get farmed or even counterfeit stuff.
I'm not the coffee gourmet myself, to be clear, but I know people who are including the guy that brewed the kopi luwak for us that time. I can't tell you exactly what I've tried, but I've definitely had various Ethiopian beans. Most good coffees taste better aside from the bitterness, it had a pretty boring flavour profile.
But, Jesus Christ, the amount of animal exploitation worth for such coffee. I say this because I think many suppliers of kopi luwak had to forcefeed palm civets with this, to catch up with demand...
Yeah, I hear the farmed product is much inferior on top of being unethical, so I got really lucky. I'd guess the commercial market is also flooded with counterfeits, because if you're a Malaysian guy who can sell some white dude "super special kopi luwak beans" that are actually just normal coffee for more money than you would otherwise make in a year, why wouldn't you? I can't even blame them.