Kopi Luwak profile. Vietnamese companies sell an imitation kopi luwak, made using an enzyme soak which they claim replicates the civet's digestive process. Imitation has several motivations. The high price of kopi luwak drives the search for a way to produce kopi luwak in large quantities. Kopi luwak production involves a great deal of labour, whether farmed or wild-gathered. The small production quantity and the labor involved in production contribute to the coffee's high cost. Imitation may be a response to the decrease in the civet population. Initially, civet coffee beans were picked from wild civet excrement found around coffee plantations. This
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