When I was In Vietnam once in the restaurant I saw ridiculously high price for a cup of coffee. I was surprised, and asked a waiter why is so. She answered me it’s “Kopi Luwak”. At that moment this explanation didn’t help me much, but a few days after I had a chance to visit a local farm that produces this kind of coffee.
It was fun indeed.
So idea is: they have special animals, a lot of them.
They call it “palm civet” or like that.
They feed them by coffee beans, and then after a cycle, they collect partially digested beans for future coffee production.
There is a special cult about that process. It costs almost as gold, and I was warned that there are a lot of counterfeit products.
Frankly, I was not too eager to taste it but I managed.
I also bought a big pack of that for my friends (they asked me before my trip), but I still don’t understand why they asked me about that.
I am not impressed to say it mildly.
But it makes me think about the market of posh products in general.
It seems to me that people like to pay for legends even if they get worse products after.
I visited many restaurants in my life and tasted different things, but still think that the best products was just simple, fresh and ordinal dishes. Never in my life met I something great in posh restaurants excluding white cloth-tables and silverware.
As for me the same happened with kopi luwak, over-complicated process, ridiculous price and pretty average result at the end.
Would you like to try such a coffee?
Do you agree with my conclusion?
Grammar tips
When I was in Vietnam once in a
therestaurant, (1) I saw a ridiculously high price for a cup of coffee. I was surprised (2) and asked a waiter why this (3) is so. She answered me, (4) “It’s Kopi Luwak.” At that moment this explanation didn’t help me much, but it did (6) a few days after I had a chance to visit a local farm that produces this kind of coffee. It was fun indeed. (5)So the reason
ideais that they have a lot of special animals, a lot of them, calledThey call it“palm civets” or something like that. They feed thembycoffee beans, and then after a cycle, they collect these partially digested beans for future coffee production. There is a special cult about thisthatprocess. It costs almost as much as gold, butandI was warned that there are a lot of counterfeit products.Frankly, I was not too eager to taste it, but I managed. I also bought a big pack of this coffee
thatfor my friends (they asked me before my trip), but I still didn’t understand why they asked me foraboutthat. I wasamnot impressed, to putsayit mildly, but it made me think about the market of posh products in general.It seems to me that people like to pay for
legendsspecial characteristics even if they result ingetworse products afterwards. I have visited many restaurants in my life and tasted many different things, but I still think that the best products werewasjust simple, fresh,and ordinalordinary dishes. Never in my life have I foundmet Isomething great in posh restaurants besidesexcludingwhite cloth-tables and silverware.As for me, the same thing happened with kopi luwak — over-complicated process, ridiculous price, and pretty average result at the end. Would you like to try such
acoffee? Do you agree with my conclusion?Teacher Notes
Thank you very much T.Lee!
As always it’s extremely useful for me.