Kopi Luwak aromatic civet coffee spread from locals to Dutch plantation owners and soon became their favourite, yet because of its rarity and unusual process, the civet coffee was expensive even during the colonial era. "Kopi" is the Indonesian word for coffee. "Luwak" is a local name of the Asian palm civet in Sumatra. Palm civets are primarily frugivorous, feeding on berries and pulpy fruits such as figs and palms. Civets also eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds. Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection and digestion. Selection occurs as the
Spilling the Spanish Beans Spain on 23 June 1937, escaping the Stalinist purges, and headed at first for the seaside for a holiday and went to Banyuls-sur-Mer. "Their holiday was not a success. Orwell found the place 'a bore and a disappointment'. It was chilly weather, a persistent wind blew off the sea, the water was dull and choppy... Orwell could not help feeling that his time would be better spent in writing articles which would 'spill the beans' about communist duplicity. He began writing such a piece in Banyuls, and sent a wire to the "New Statesman" asking if they would like to