Removing bitterness from coffee the hard way Do you love coffee? Do you maybe even think of yourself as a coffee gourmet? Do you feel like there's nothing you wouldn't do for a truly top-of-the-line cup of coffee with no bitter aftertaste? If you answered yes, yes, and yes, then I've got the coffee that will test just how far you're willing to go for an unforgettable cup of joe. The coffee is called Kopi Luwak, and it costs upwards of $200 a pound. That's not a typo - that's a 2 and two zeros. No one would blame you if you balked at the price, but that's not the most challenging aspect of Kopi Luwak. In Southeast Asia there's a variety of cat called the palm civet. And the palm civet especially enjoys eating ripe, red coffee berries. And when the palm civet digests the berries, the inner beans are excreted intact with most of the outer berry stripped away. As the theory goes, palm civet enzymes neutralize certain proteins that are responsible for the bitterness in a typical cup of coffee. The result: A smooth and delicious coffee that's VERY hard to produce in large quantities. According to one source, a major Vietnamese coffee producer has come up with a process that simulates the palm civet's enzyme action so that a synthetic Kopi Luwak can be produced without having to coax just a few beans at a time through a cat. The upside: A more affordable coffee with zero kitty litter content. The downside: If your Kopi Luwak doesn't have a little meow in it, it's just not the real deal. | 
