About

Project LUWAK SG is a campaign to:

• Raise awareness among coffee retailers and consumers in Singapore about the cruelty behind kopi luwak

• Encourage consumers to not drink/purchase kopi luwak

• Encourage companies (cafes/retailers/suppliers/roasters) in Singapore to not sell or endorse kopi luwak*

What is kopi luwak?

Kopi luwak is a type of coffee derived from undigested coffee beans passed out by common palm civets (Paradoxorus hermaphroditus). Kopi luwak is possibly the world’s most expensive coffee, coveted for its unique flavour attained through chemical reactions in a civet’s gut. But when ranked against several regular coffees using SCAA’s cupping scale, kopi luwak actually scored the lowest. Read the full scoop here.

In the caged kopi luwak trade, production involves feeding civets coffee cherries and collecting their faeces. Once picked out from the droppings, the coffee beans are cleaned, fermented, dried, roasted, ground and brewed: producing a prized cup of kopi luwak that can cost as much as SGD 60!

Kopi luwak can be collected in the wild from civets that roam through coffee plantations. However, the recent rise in demand has led to the cruel practice of farming civets i.e. the caged kopi luwak trade. This is an industry fuelled by curiosity – even if people try it just once, the returns can justify large-scale production. Read more about Cruel Coffee.

The Luwak Guardians

We are an independent group brought together by our common love for civets and coffee, and a genuine concern for animal rights. Aside from being nature lovers, the Project LUWAK SG team also consists of common palm civet researchers, environmental biologists, animal welfare advocates and baristas. We are not affiliated with any institutions or organisations.

Reach us at projectluwaksg@gmail.com.

The Project Luwak SG network

• Facebook – http://facebook.com/projectluwaksg
• Twitter – http://twitter.com/projectluwaksg
• Google+ – Google+

*This includes encouraging coffee establishments to have a closer look at where they get their coffee from. Who supplies their beans? Where does it come from? Does it inadvertently support the kopi luwak trade (e.g. their supplier sells them regular coffee beans but may be using the income to dabble in kopi luwak)?