Kopi Luwak Indies islands of Java and Sumatra, including Arabica coffee introduced from Yemen. During the era of "Cultuurstelsel" (1830–70), the Dutch prohibited the native farmers and plantation workers from picking coffee fruits for their own use. Still, the native farmers wanted to have a taste of the famed coffee beverage. Soon, the natives learned that certain species of "musang" or "luwak" (Asian palm civet) consumed the coffee fruits, yet they left the coffee seeds undigested in their droppings. The natives collected these luwaks' coffee seed droppings, then cleaned, roasted and ground them to make their own coffee beverage. The fame of
Civet more common usage in English, the name also covers "Chrotogale, Cynogale, Diplogale, Hemigalus, Arctogalidia, Macrogalidia, Paguma," and "Paradoxurus" civets. The common name is used for a variety of carnivorous mammalian species, mostly of the family Viverridae. The African palm civet ("Nandinia binotata") is genetically distinct and belongs in its own monotypic family, Nandiniidae. Civets are also called "toddycats" in English, "Luwak" in Bahasa Indonesian and "musang" in Malay. The latter may lead to some confusion among Malay speakers and non-speakers alike as the indigenous word "musang" has been mistakenly appropriated to foxes by certain printed media over the years instead