The Case of the Missing Bananas......

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It was 6:30 again when my eyes opened and I was awake completely. Jetlag....*sigh* still here... I suppose it could be worse, it could be 3am instead! I crawled quietly out of bed to clean up (we had about 15 people over at our villa last night for cheese and beer before a great dinner), and figured I could read a bit and have a nice relaxing swim. I noticed 7 banana peels on the small table in the kitchen where our fruit bowl sits. It didn't even cross my mind as being something strange. I just figured one of the boys had gotten a little hungry and ate a few before we headed out to dinner. I went back into the bedroom and at this time Al was awake and I told him about the banana peels and questioned who he thought would have eaten 7 bananas! We both had a bit of a chuckle and went on our day.

It wasn't until Al was sitting at the table looking up at the TV when he noticed black footprints on the wall going up and down.....we immediately went back to the banana story and couldn't stop laughing. We had a visitor last night who ate all our bananas while we were sleeping!!!!!!!!! At first we assumed a monkey, what else would eat fruit right? We were thankful for all our camera equipment since we've heard so many stories of monkey's taking peoples belongings, so we took a few pictures of the footprints and wished we had seen the little critter!

When the 2 Balinese women came to make us breakfast, we showed them the almost empty stalk of bananas and put them next to the footprints. Ahh...they said, Luwak.... well, hmmm we didn't know what to say, I asked "monkey??" and they giggled and said no no no, big cat, big cat! Al and I looked at each other in shock....TIGER??? heheheheheh yes, we always seem to get excited over tigers, but no no not a Tiger. We didn't have internet at the time and we wanted to get our day out Shopping in Kuta underway, so we left curious about what this critter/big cat was that visited our villa overnight.

As we were shopping and meeting some locals, we asked what the Luwak was....no one understood us. We attempted to tell the story about it to the women at the Spa and we ended up with a Banana in our hands!!!!! It was so funny all we could do was smile and giggle away.

When we got back to the villa this afternoon, it took much research and one more person to actually spell the animal when we finally found what our mysterious animal was!!!!!!!!! It's name is the Indonesian Palm Civet otherwise known to the Balinese as the Kopi Luwak. There seems to be little information about this animal on the internet. What I have found so far is that the Civet is referred to as a breed of cat or weasel but is neither. It belongs to the family Viverridae, along with the similar genets and linsangs. Viverrids are medium-sized carnivores with long bodies and relatively short legs. Their bodies range from around 300 mm in length (excluding the tail, which is usually moderately long) to 1000 mm in length. Weights range from slightly less than 1 kg to 14 kg. Most species have relatively small heads with short, pointed or semi pointed, erect ears and a relatively long, pointed muzzle. Their eyes are of medium size. Most species have stripes, spots, or bands on their bodies, and their tails are often ringed with contrasting colors. Their claws can be retracted. Most have perianal (not anal) glands that produce a strong-smelling substance; in some species the odor is sufficiently potent to ward off predators. The secretion of these glands, called civet, is used as a perfume base and medicine. Thankfully, there was no crazy smell in our villa! Basically.... it looks a bit like a big possum! The biggest surprise of this animal is there is actually coffee produced from it's feces!!!!!!! This coffee is named Kopi Luwak which is where this animal gets the Balinese name.

The coffee is a product of when the civets consume the red coffee cherries containing the fruit and seed, and they tend to pick the ripest and sweetest fruit. Thus there is a natural selection for the ripest coffee beans. The inner bean of the berry is not digested, but a unique combination of enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee's flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste. The beans are defecated, still covered in some inner layers of the berry. The beans are washed, and given only a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors that develop through the process. Light roasting is considered particularly desirable in coffees that do not exhibit bitterness, and the most pronounced characteristic of Kopi Luwak is a marked reduction in bitterness.

This coffee is apparently the most expensive coffee in the world. The average price being $100.00-$600.00 US per pound of coffee. It's claimed to be sold mainly in Japan and the US, although I have never seen it in the US, maybe some of you have!?? They also seem to have lots in Vietnam so on our next adventure we will surely be looking for some Kopi Luwak!!!!!!!!

We so badly wish we could put a sensor camera up tonight! Cross your fingers, we're leaving the rest of the Bananas out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Comments

[anonymous]

get pictures of the animal !!! hahaha Nelson